Boost logo

Boost :

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

Boost list run by bdawes at acm.org, gregod at cs.rpi.edu, cpdaniel at pacbell.net, john at johnmaddock.co.uk