Hello -

We have recently hired another Developer (Elliot Davis - libsysguy ;) ), who is charged with creating a more integrated testing suite for ByWater and getting/challenging some of our partners to complete testing that isn't automated already or would be difficult to automate.

As for the options...  I totally agree with Colin that the releases are an Event and should be promoted as an exciting EVENT.  That being said, I would not want to delay any major new features being put into a new release no matter the time (we can never really fight the timing of things).  I think my thought and my response is that We (ByWater at least) need to do better testing (what does that mean - well we are still working on that). 

I think the thing that I struggle with is the definition of a "Freeze"...  Please speak up and correct me if I am wrong here.  This is what I think it means currently - if something has an enhancement bug listed (i.e. the idea is out there before the freeze date) - then it could still be included as long as the developer gets the code onto the bug report sometime around the freeze date.  What I think should happen - The code should be pushed to master before the freeze date - nothing new after the freeze date....  (I hope that makes sense - with what I am trying to explain).  But as others have said - this is really up to the RM.  Here's a hint - whomever is going to be the next RM, please include a definition of "Freeze" for me ;)

Thanks,
Brendan





On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 8:43 AM, Colin Campbell <colin.campbell@ptfs-europe.com> wrote:
On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 06:54:36AM -0500, Elliott Davis wrote:
> I think I too side with option 1.
>
Releases are inherently evil things, (like all deadlines). There is a
temptation always to pack stuff in there to make a release an event. I
dont think having beta releases helps ( or skipping .1 releases in
deployment) because a lot of that testing just does not occur until the
release goes out into the world no matter how good our intentions are.
How can we improve things, well any big changes should go into master
sooner rather than later. The longer big changes are promised the more
pressure the RM is to ship them. The key task for the RM is really
deciding what's not yet been proved, and should not make this iteration.
We do need lots more tests. We rely on far too much untested
functionality (which may mean we're wrong in our assumptions of what it
does)
We have a specific problem that it is much easier to add bits of
functionality to the system, bits that up the level of entropy in the
code base, rather than make the strategic changes that build reliability
into core.
A specific problem is that we tend to test functionality of an
enhancement not necessarily how that enhancement integrates with the
eco-system of Koha and its these kind of conflicts that tend not to
surface until its been deployed in the real world.
Colin

--
Colin Campbell
Chief Software Engineer,
PTFS Europe Limited
Content Management and Library Solutions
+44 (0) 800 756 6803 (phone)
+44 (0) 7759 633626  (mobile)
colin.campbell@ptfs-europe.com
skype: colin_campbell2

http://www.ptfs-europe.com



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Brendan A. Gallagher
ByWater Solutions
CEO
Headquarters: Santa Barbara, CA