Re: [boost] [1.36.0] Libraries with unmerged changes?

From: vicente.botet (vicente.botet_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-07-17 05:21:53

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Dimov" <pdimov_at_[hidden]>
To: <boost_at_[hidden]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [boost] [1.36.0] Libraries with unmerged changes?

>
> David Abrahams:
>> That was one of the kinds of cases I had in mind when wondering if it
>> was a good idea to rely on dependent libraries' tests to discover
>> problems in a library.
>
> Having dependent libraries act as regression tests is a good thing. It 
> increases the test coverage and helps us uncover regressions before our 
> users.

Hi,

You are right, when you increase the test coverage you reduce the risck of 
errors for new users, but this do not protect the current user from 
incompatible evolutions.

I would like to know, as a user, if all the test done by developpers 
themselfs or by the testers on the release branch help to identify possible 
regressions on the user code, and if these regressions will be explicitly 
described on the release contents.

One way to detect some incompatible evolutions could be to run the tests 
from the preceding release (1.35) with the new release headers and sources 
(1.36). I don't know SVN enough to know if such a view (snapshot?) is easy 
to create. If all the test and examples where in a separate directory this 
will be surely easier to do.
The cost of making these test work without modifying at all the new release, 
will give us an idea of the cost the users will have on their migrations.

Vicente