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Xref: sserve comp.os.linux:36180 comp.bugs.2bsd:398 comp.bugs.4bsd:1948 comp.lang.tcl:3533 comp.os.386bsd.bugs:571 comp.os.linux.announce:563 Newsgroups: comp.os.linux,comp.bugs.2bsd,comp.bugs.4bsd,comp.lang.tcl,comp.os.386bsd.bugs,comp.os.linux.announce Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!doc.ic.ac.uk!warwick!uknet!mcsun!news.funet.fi!hydra!klaava!wirzeniu From: andyo@ora.com (Andy Oram) Subject: Testing GNU utilities and Linux -- please join us Message-ID: <1993Apr26.214433.18601@klaava.Helsinki.FI> Followup-To: comp.os.linux Keywords: testing Sender: wirzeniu@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Lars Wirzenius) Reply-To: andyo@ora.com Organization: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1993 21:44:33 GMT Approved: linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu (Lars Wirzenius) Lines: 177 If you have built up your own tests for system calls, library routines, networking protocols, or common utilities, this posting offers you an opportunity to put them to good use. You can do a good deed for the Linux community, the Berkeley UNIX community, and the wider world of free software users. Also, if you would like to learn some good test tools and strategies, and devote some time on a volunteer basis to writing tests -- perhaps a couple of weeks full-time, or a couple hours per week over a period of several months -- then here is a project you should get involved in. I am helping to coordinate a test effort for Linux. In the following four sections of this message I will describe the goals, the process, the people trying to do it, and what you can do to help. Goals Linux and BSD share a number of libraries and utilities, both because BSD software was ported to Linux, and because several free software (GNU) utilities have been ported to both operating systems. Linux can show unexpected differences and failures across different releases of the OS and different ports of utilities; some PC hardware combinations may cause additional problems. People who hope to base their own commercial products on Linux would like to see proof that it is robust, portable, and standard-conforming. The problem is that cross-platform testing is very hard to do, and few decent test suites exist either for free software or for UNIX. (Look at all the differences you find among systems that are SVID-conforming, particularly at higher levels such as the utilities.) Therefore, a number of us who are interested n Linux have decided to enter the modern age of formal, automated software testing -- but in a manner that is proper for the free software community. Using DejaGnu, a test platform developed by Cygnus Support and placed under the GPL, we want to collect the best tests we can from people everywhere, and integrate them into suites that any user can download, run, and interpret with a few commands. DejaGnu already runs under BSD, and Cygnus is porting it to Linux. Our goal is to test as many parts of the system as possible, including system calls (particularly for POSIX 1003.1 compliance), libraries in the official distribution, networking protocols, and utilities. We need help with 1) integrating good tests donated by the community (and probably written in a variety of programming languages and command shells) into the DejaGnu framework, and 2) writing new tests for major functional areas for which no adequate tests exist. The tests we use will be placed under the GPL and distributed by Cygnus Support along with DejaGnu. H. J. Lu, who maintains the C library for Linux, has offered to run the POSIX 1003.1 tests and as many others as he can. Process First let me summarize the advantages of using DejaGnu, a free software product that will be the umbrella for all the tests, and then explain how we plan to conduct this project. Cygnus Support released DejaGnu to the public on January 3, along with several test suites for GNU language tools. The product is designed for portability and easy cross-platform development and execution. It works more uniformly than typical tests using the UNIX shell, and also supports interactive testing better than most test platforms -- for instance, Cygnus has written over 1300 unit tests for the gdb debugger using it. The implementation of DejaGnu is based on tcl and expect, two simple existing languages for writing commands. You can develop new tests in two major ways: by placing keyword-based comments in C source code, or by writing tests in tcl. While Cygnus is still increasing their body of tests for language tools, they are also turning their resources toward the libraries and GNU utilities. While most of the tests are written at Cygnus, they have reached out to communities of testers and are now porting substantial sets of donated tests. We are hoping to broaden this successful use of collaboration across user communities. We hope that suites of useful tests are sitting in desk drawers out there. We also hope to gather and mobilize people who appreciate the value of formal tests in legitimizing free software, and would like to help write them. I am not an employee of Cygnus, but have volunteered to talk to interested people and do an initial classification of tests, just to offload some of this routine work from them. I will discuss all offers with Cygnus staff to find out what is most needed and decide which tests to incorporate into DejaGnu. There are several criteria for choosing tests, including the degree to which an area is covered, and its importance in the overall stability of the operating system. Some tests may have to be rejected just because they are hard to fit into the DejaGnu model. People Now you can find out why each of us got involved with this project. Cygnus writes and distributes free software, selling support as a means to make money. The company is not directly in the business of supporting operating systems or common UNIX utilities, so this kind of testing is tangential to their main goals. But they may want to support those things in the future. In any case, they would like to see Linux do well, and this big test project will be a good promotion for DejaGnu. H. K. Lu, as a volunteer for Linux, has been using his own system to implement, port, maintain, and ensure ANSI and POSIX compliance for the C library (mostly the GNU C library along with the iostream class from the g++ library). He is looking for ways to validate the work that he and many other contributors have put in. As an editor at a publisher of computer books, my relationship to Linux and BSD is even more distant than that of Cygnus. But we are thinking about putting out books about Linux, from either the Linux Documentation Project or independent authors, and would like to make sure Linux is stable enough to be documented. The testing of utilities is particularly important to me, because it can provide quality assurance for our books, including the BSD version of UNIX in a Nutshell. What you can do We ask people who have written tests in the areas I have described to donate them to this project and see them benefit the public. Don't just send me stuff -- write or call to discuss what you've got in general. You also have to assign the tests to the Free Software Foundation (a simple matter, so long as you are the owner of the tests) so that they can be distributed under the GPL. Also, please don't starting flaming about the GPL. Either join our project and donate your tests, or don't. Personally, I do not take a side in this war. People who are interested in testing as a discipline, and have some time to donate, are invited to contact me to help write tests. Tell me: Your knowledge of computer languages and tools Previous software test efforts you have engaged in, if any How much time you can devote What functional areas you think are important and have a particular interest in Cygnus staff will tell volunteers which areas need testing, and offer guidance while you learn and apply DejaGnu. The most important trait for the project is rigorous thinking along the lines of software quality (so the best preparation is to have done some formal testing before). You do not need to know any particular language or tool; you can learn tcl or other aspects of DejaGnu fairly quickly. Contact information for me is in my signature. I am at the phone number during traditional U.S. business hours. So send mail any time, or try calling from Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Eastern Daylight Saving Time (four hours earlier than Greenwich Mean Time). Feel free to distribute and repost this message elsewhere, in its entirety. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Andy Oram O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. andyo@ora.com 90 Sherman Street, Cambridge, MA 02140 (617) 354-5800 fax (617) 661-1116 ----------------------------------------------------------------------