RE: [PHP-QA] RFC:PHP Release Cycle

> I don't disagree that there needs to be some method put into place to > control the code that is being tested for the RCs. > > However, I seem to remember that one or more of the developers (Zeev ?) > really hate branching (AFAIR due to problems with merging the branch back > into the main tree.) > > Personally, I am afraid to get into this discussion - it is outside the > scope of my experience. > > However, not knowing what I am doing has rarely stopped me in the > past, so > here are my thoughts on this topic. > > I think that QA and preparations for a release should be an ongoing, > semi-automated process. > > The QA team members set up a cron event to update cvs. > Each morning, build the source, run the tests and report any bugs or > problems. Bugs will be marked for fix on an upcoming release. Yes but I have (as others do limited time) plus I work on windows so cron is possible but is a bitch I also pay for internet access and dont want to have to automate anything as it varies from day to day when I am on the internet (althought that might well just be me...). To be honest running the same tests again ang again daily on the three platforms I test isnt realistic. Im happy to do it once every release and may be more often on my primary platforms but daily for me at least isnt an option. > When it is time for a new RC, the codebase gets frozen for a day. > Problems > get reported, changes get made and either a new RC gets rolled or the > release gets rolled. I personally think we need more time for testing and you will get far more opposition to freezing the cvs than branching it, branching does not involve any disruption to most people and only some to bug fixers. > Having a group of people building and testing each day should really cut > down the accumulation of bugs, making the whole RC process a lot > faster and > easier. How?? What tests do we run.. we need to get a better testing base first and then to build on that, I think every bug that a qa member verifies should be added to the test scripts and tested. Then its easy to spot and we will soon get some good test scripts. we should also write scripts to check how functions are working (IE what they should output) but this will have to be done over a period of time once we have sorted everything else (IE release cycle). James