Re: RFC: implementation of package pools
Arthur Korn wrote:
>
> Hi Eray
>
> Eray Ozkural schrieb:
> > My point is this:
> > specify an interface for test suites that the package developers
> > themselves write. for their own convenience. in any case, they can write
> > that themselves, but formalizing it will encourage them!
>
> You don't seem to understand that debian source packages are
> built with a makefile (debian/rules), which could definitely run
> some tests. If a test fails, the build fails, and the thing
> won't get uploaded.
>
That's exactly my point. If you'd notice, I've already stated what you say.
I agree. "in any case, they can write that themselves". In addition
to what you express, I'm saying that if it is agreed upon what
kinds of tests would be generally useful, then simple tools that
declared the existence of such tests could be written.
The first thing that I offered was having some "strictness" levels
for tests. Like the menu package, only people who declare having
such tests would subscribe to this test system. The use of having
a uniform interface is obvious. Since it's a formal interface other
people can integrate testing into their own programs. The way I
presume build daemons use the build interfaces in debian/rules.
> All developers should test their packages before they upload
> them, wheter they use some kind of automated test suite or not
> doesn't really matter.
I'm in favor of automated test suites. I can't even think of writing
code that has no test suite in it. Why not use the same practice
for distribution testing? ajt's code (is that right spelling?) already
makes some testing, but if test code could be specified so that if
defined certain tests for various subsystems (mail, X, ...) and
tests per package could be performed (install in a chroot environment,
run the test suite, if it fails mark as failed, and uninstall... some
simple procedure like that) it could be useful. Topic for another thread
I presume.
I will post my ideas about test suites soon.
Thanks,
--
Eray (exa) Ozkural
Comp. Sci. Dept., Bilkent University, Ankara
e-mail: erayo@cs.bilkent.edu.tr
www: http://www.cs.bilkent.edu.tr/~erayo
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