[Dovecot] Test suite? Was [Dovecot-news] 1.0.rc21 released
Eric Rostetter
rostetter at mail.utexas.edu
Mon Feb 5 02:56:46 UTC 2007
Quoting Ethan Sommer <sommere at gac.edu>:
>> Maybe a test suite next time,
> A test suite sounds like an excellent idea, which I might be interested
> in implementing. How would such a beat work.
Best practices is a unit test suite, to test every function/routine
as thoroughly as possible.
> I'd imagine a program which takes a "test case" which comes with
> 1. an initial mailbox
> 2. a series of IMAP commands to execute on the mailbox
> 3. a final test which has a IMAP command to run and a regular
> expression which its result should match.
This might be one group of tests, but it wouldn't be sufficient by
itself.
> I would think that non-programmers could come up with test cases given
> such a system.
Non-programmers can at least suggest tests that should exist for others
to code. In effect, every bug report should spawn a new unit test when
it is fixed. So there is always opportunity for non-programmers to
at least suggest tests if not code them.
> Off the top of my head, the downsides I see are: doesn't test deliver,
> regular expressions might wind up being too specific and generate false
> failures when doing regression tests, requires knowledge of IMAP
> protocol.
That is why a complete set of unit tests is better. It tests everything.
Of course, it takes more time to develop and maintain.
> What do people think?
I think any project this size, with the goals it has, shoujld certainly
create a unit test suite. But then, Timo only has so much time, and
volunteers would be very helpful here. It could almost be started
as a separate project inside the main project in CVS.
> --
> Ethan Sommer
> Systems Administrator
> Gustavus Adolphus College
> 507-933-7042
> sommere at gac.edu
--
Eric Rostetter
The Department of Physics
The University of Texas at Austin
Go Longhorns!
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