[boost] Re: 1.31.0 regressions

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-02-12 13:34:20

Beman Dawes <bdawes_at_[hidden]> writes:

> At 08:30 AM 2/12/2004, David Abrahams wrote:
>  >Beman Dawes <bdawes_at_[hidden]> writes:
>  >
>  >> Anyhow, I think your point about multiple reporting is a good one. The
>  >> volume of tests is just too high. Fewer, more comprehensive, tests
>  >> would be easier to monitor. Also fewer compilers. Do we really need to
>  >> test every version of GCC and VC++ for the last four years?
>  >
>  >Yes, IMO, if people want to support those compilers, we do need to
>  >test them.
>
> It comes down to resources. I suppose if people really care about
> older compilers, they will be willing to contribute testing.

Yes.  And as far as I can tell, they have been.  meta-comm has been
running the tests with vc6 and vc7, and Martin Wille (?) has been
running the tests with nearly all versions of GCC ever produced ;^)

> It would be easier to know if any particular tests was a resource
> problem if there was a bjam option to time the build and run aspects
> of the tests. The change Jeremy made recently to one or two of the
> graph tests noticeably sped testing, but it was only happenstance that
> I realized they were problems.

Yeah; it's doable but as usual it's a question of resources.  When the
amount of time we waste by having problems like this one becomes
painful enough, though, I guess we'll all be willing to devote those
resources ;-)

>  >Human monitoring is just too error-prone.  Why risk it?  Why not have
>  >comprehensive tests with automated notifications when something
>  >breaks?  It seems to me that less testing can only result in fewer
>  >things working, and coupled with human monitoring it's just going to
>  >make things worse, not better.
>
> Great! Let's give it a try. Who has to do what to start?

Someone has to get BuildBot up and running.  I'm too busy until at
least 3/1. Rene said he might be able to try it earlier, but he only
really has a sizeable chunk of time starting 3/1 as well.  If someone
else would like to do the community a great service, (s)he can be a
pioneer:

   http://buildbot.sf.net

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
www.boost-consulting.com