Re: [boost] Boost regression notification (2005-12-05 [RC_1_33_0])

From: Stefan Seefeld (seefeld_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-12-07 14:18:59

Daryle Walker wrote:
> On 12/6/05 6:00 PM, "Stefan Seefeld" <seefeld_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> 
> 
>>Daryle Walker wrote:
>>
> 
> [SNIP a library that failed on every compiler]
> 
>>>This could be another case to watch out for: when a library fails on every
>>>compiler (or a least a lot of them).  Here it would be the library that's
>>>possibly broken.
>>
>>Isn't that exactly what these tests are supposed to measure ? Or do you mean
>>that in case *all* tests fail the report could just mention a single failure,
>>on a different granularity scale ?
> 
> 
> Yes, I meant the latter.  If we suddenly see a compiler fail on every
> library, or a library fail on every compiler, then we probably have a
> configuration issue.  (But how do we implement "suddenly," since the tests
> don't keep a history of past results?  We only want to block blooper runs,
> not compilers or libraries that legitimately fail everything.)

Indeed. One thing I already proposed in the past: some dummy tests (akin
to autoconf macros) that make sure a sane configuration / environment is
available at all. These tests could cover a specific toolchain, or even
some lightweight library-specific code. If these are known as dependencies
for the rest of the test suite(s), quite a bit of computing power (and
mail bandwidth) could be spared whenever these fail.

Regards,
                Stefan