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Here are some
guidelines for submitting test results and bug reports:
- Choose a
descriptive subject that can be used to track the progress of the bug or
feature. This is the same as for any post to the support or rcr
lists. "GEMS 1.7.4" is not a descriptive subject. "GEMS 1.7.4
testing" is also not a descriptive subject. We use the subjects to track
bugs, features, and operations.
- It is not necessary
to submit only one test result in a post; that would be pedantic.
It is necessary that you keep the report to at least one
topic. If you are doing testing on download and you find three problems,
post those three problems under the heading "1.7.4 download test
results".
- Post test results
separately from questions on how GEMS should behave. If you are unclear
on how GEMS should behave while testing, post a separate message to support
asking what the correct behavior should be. If GEMS deviates from the
intended behavior, include that in your test results. Either way
contact Rita to clarify the behavior in our documentation. Never
post a given behavior as a bug unless you know it is not intended, since it is
very confusing to those reading the report.
- Post test failure
conditions separated clearly from success conditions. Strictly speaking,
development is not interested in the success conditions; we only need to
know what went wrong to fix it. You might want to include in the post
your test procedures, including those items that pass, for the interest of
other ESG staff that want to reproduce your results. Just keep them
separate.
- Narrow down the
cause of the bug to the extent of your ability. This means eliminating
variables that are not relevant to the problem. As a simple
hypothetical example, you might get an "out of sync" error when downloading
memory cards. The database you are using might happen to use Kansas
rotation. Don't include that fact in the report though unless you think
it is relevant to the "out of sync" error. If you are unsure, then
re-run the test using no rotation or some other rotation and find
out.
I will be setting up
a new mailing list today for discussion and tracking of bugs and testing.
I will follow up to that list on Nel's results, one topic at a time.
Everyone on the support list will automatically get subscribed to the bug list,
so don't worry about missing anything.
Ken
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