[Koha-devel] Proposal for a change in guidelines for the sign-off process in the Koha-community

[Owen Leonard]

> I’d like to put forward a motion for removal of the guideline that one
> company shouldn’t sign-off on the same company's patches within the
> community.

I think this is a good rule, and I think our current process has
proved that by showing that with many different points of view looking
at the code more issues can be found which need to be addressed before
something is ready.

I realize how frustrating it is to have something big and hard to test
languish in the QA process, but I think the right solution might be to
get more creative about how to help things move along.

>From my perspective as a bug tester the biggest thing I can say about
it is to have good test plans. I mean really really good test plans.
List, explicitly, every possible step that the tester could take to
test the patch.

The obvious example here is Bug 6427 - Rewrite of the accounts system
(http://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=6427). A big
patch that touches a LOT of files and involves one of the most
mission-critical aspects of Koha's circulation functionality. Pushing
it before it was properly tested could be disastrous for libraries who
collect fines throughout the day.

The bug has a pretty good test plan, but is that enough? What else
could we do to make sure it's ready for production? Perhaps set up a
dedicated test instance with some good sample data, give out logins
which give permission to circulate and collect fines, assign multiple
days' worth of tests to be performed by multiple testers?

Getting volunteer testers is hard, and getting multiple volunteer
testers is harder, but sometimes I think we need to take a more active
hand in soliciting and promoting testing.

  -- Owen

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Web Developer
Athens County Public Libraries
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