Re: package testing, autopkgtest, and all that

[Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Michael Hanke writes ("Re: package testing, autopkgtest, and all that"):
> On Wed, Feb 02, 2011 at 02:28:14PM +0000, Ian Jackson wrote:
> > As for "also" running tests which are "not part of a source package",
> > it is very easy to wrap up some tests in a dedicated source package if
> > that's desirable.  The source package is then just a convenient
> > container format.  There is no requirement in autopkgtest that the
> > source package containing tests generates any binary packages at all,
> > let alone that it generates the particular things being tested.
> 
> I wonder how that would look in detail. For software in "our" field we
> also need to deal with test suites that upstream intents to be ran by
> users, that comes as a separate download with substantial size. Would I
> have to wrap them into a source package that builds no binary packages?
> Is that possible with the current infrastructure at all?

I don't know how possible it is with the current Debian archive but I
guess you could have it generate a dummy package with priority extra.

Ian.