I want to propose using the default value for validate-serializable-object in dunit tests instead of forcing it on for all dunit tests. I'm sympathetic to the reason why this was done: ensure that all existing code and future code will function properly with this feature enabled. Unfortunately running all dunit tests with it turned on is not a good way to achieve this.
Here are my reasons: 1) All tests should start out with the same defaults that Users have. If we don't do this, we are going to goof up sometime and release something that only works with this feature turned on or worsen the User experience of Geode in some way. 2) All tests should have sovereign control over their own configuration. We should strive towards being able to look at a test and determine its config at a glance without having to dig through the framework or other classes for hidden configuration. We continue to improve dunit in this area but I think adding to the problem is going in the wrong direction. 3) It sets a bad precedent. Do we follow this approach once or keep adding additional non-default features when we need to test them too? Next one is GEODE-4769 "Serialize region entry before putting in local cache" which will be disabled by default in the next Geode release and yet by turning it on by default for all of precheckin we were able to find lots of problems in both the product code and test code. 4) This is already starting to cause confusion for developers thinking its actually a product default or expecting it to be enabled in other (non-dunit) tests. Alternatives for test coverage: There really are no reasonable shortcuts for end-to-end test coverage of any feature. We need to write new tests or identify existing tests to subclass with the feature enabled. 1) Subclass specific tests to turn validate-serializable-object on for that test case. Examples of this include a) dunit tests that execute Region tests with OffHeap enabled, b) dunit tests that flip on HTTP over GFSH, c) dunit tests that run with SSL or additional security enabled. 2) Write new tests that cover all features with validate-serializable-object enabled. 3) Rerun all of dunit with and without the option. This doesn't sound very reasonable to me, but it's the closest to what we really want or need. Any other ideas or suggestions other than forcing all dunit tests to run with a non-default value? Thanks, Kirk
