I mostly agree, but I’ll mention the big hurdle I came across the first time I wrote a test for openbabel.
Many times, one comes across a bug when using the command line tools, e.g. obabel , so debugging and testing goes through using that program. I think (correct if I’m wrong), the easiest way to go from an obabel command line run to a test is through writing a test in python like those that import functions from testbabel Having a document we can point to that walks them through that process, and shows them that it is quite easy, might be helpful. I know my first few times looking at the test directory, I said “well, I’m not using the python bindings, so I’ll ignore those files and try to figure out the c++ files and how they run tests”, when the reality is that the python files provide the easy route to testing the command line programs. -David > On Apr 3, 2018, at 4:42 AM, Noel O'Boyle <baoille...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi all, > > Very few PRs come with test cases. Basically, we just don't know if any of > them do what they say, and even if they do, they probably will bit rot at a > future date due to other PRs. The irony is that the person who wrote the code > clearly tested it (one would assume) - but just didn't check in the test > case. I would argue that the majority of developer time spent on Open Babel > is on fixing bugs (or bitrotted code) which would never have existed in the > first place if a test had been added. > > When I refactored the code to handle implict valence, I relied on the small > number of existing tests to help return the code back to its preexisting > state. Anything that wasn't tested may (still) not be working. For example, > recently David Koes found that my changes broke the PDBQT format. > > In short, I propose that we require a testcase for every PR. There may be > special circumstances (huge test files, build system changes), but this would > be the general rule. As a lower bar, one could imagine requiring them for > every new feature implemented. > > Regards, > - Noel > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most > engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! > http://sdm.link/slashdot_______________________________________________ > OpenBabel-Devel mailing list > OpenBabel-Devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/openbabel-devel ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ OpenBabel-Devel mailing list OpenBabel-Devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/openbabel-devel
