thanks for the great reply jeff. i'm going to get a virtual machine set up
on my system later tonight so at the very least, i myself can start testing.

steve - haven't heard from you in almost a week. I'd still really like to
get a look at the test cases and such you set up.

Arklan

----------
As long as there is light, the darkness holds no fear. And yet, even in the
deepest black, there is life. - Arklan Uth Oslin

I want to leave this world the same way I came into it: backwards and on
fire. - Arklan Uth Oslin



On Tue, Oct 9, 2012 at 5:12 PM, Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@exmulti.com> wrote:

> Copying from a response posted to "Bitcoin software testing effort"
> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117487.0 as it is relevant to
> a recent thread here...
>
> Any level of testing is useful and appreciated.  Various types of
> testing that are helpful:
>
> * "it works" testing:  Simply run the latest Release Candidate (or
> latest version, if released).  Make sure all the basics work (for
> whatever definition of "basics" you desire).  This is the level most
> accessible to casual users.
> * Major features testing:  Develop a short checklist of must-work
> features, and organize volunteers to work together and go through that
> checklist, item by item.  Test each major feature on each major
> platform.
> * Stress and fuzz testing:  Attempt to "stress" the system somehow, or
> randomly corrupt bits of data.  See what breaks.
> * Regression testing:  Record bugs fixed, and develop automated test
> cases that successfully reproduce the bugs on older versions, and
> verify newer versions remain fixed.
> * Unit function testing:  Rigorously exercise each C++ class to ensure
> it behaves as expected at a micro level.
> * Full peer automated testing:  Automated testing of RPC and P2P
> functions is non-existent, because of the difficulty in doing so.
> Find a solution to this problem.
> * Data-driven tests: If possible, write software-neutral, data-driven
> tests.  This enables clients other than the reference one (Satoshi
> client) to be tested.  Embed tests in testnet3 chain, if possible.
>
>
> The community at large can be a big help simply by doing the first
> item:  download and run the Release Candidates and the latest version,
> and report any problems.  Even reporting success is fine by me, for
> example: "Version 0.7.1 works for me on Windows 7/32-bit" posted on a
> forum thread.
>
> It is always very difficult to organize any sort of testing regime
> with open source volunteers that come and go.  Each volunteer chooses
> their level of involvement.  Any amount of testing and test-case
> writing, large or small, is helpful to bitcoin.
>
> --
> Jeff Garzik
> exMULTI, Inc.
> jgarzik@exmulti.com
>
>
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