Re: [boost] [serialization] Header Ordering Fixes

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-05-27 22:56:48

"Robert Ramey" <ramey_at_[hidden]> writes:

> As for not running the cross product of the various
> combinations - the problem is that failures now occur
> in just a couple of select situations that can't be
> predicted in advance.  BCB failed on text archives
> only in some cases.  STLPort 5.0 failed when
> using mapped collections.  etc. Paring down the
> test suite would likely have missed these failures.
> The selected tests would all pass - thereby giving the
> false impression that the library was bug free.

Oh, there's a lot you can do to reduce it without losing any
interesting data.  For example, there is no reason to believe you're
going to uncover serialization library bugs by testing against both
static and dynamic runtimes, or especially by testing both
singlethreaded and multithreaded builds, since you're not doing any
threading in your tests.  If you discover a test failure that appears
only in one of these cases it is undoubtedly due to a compiler or
standard library bug, not anything having to do with your code.

Also, you could cut the testing time by 2/3 instantly if you'd just
test all the archive types in a single executable, rather than
building a separate executable for each one.  And that would cover the
case where multiple archives are in use, which I don't think you're
covering today.

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