Development/testing issues

​Beaker test framework

Should we start configuring a dedicated testing framework for OpenVPN? This idea will be presented by mattock.

• Rationale
  • Would allow testing that OpenVPN works on a large number of predefined platforms and configurations
  • Replaces part of the manual testing effort by testing the external behavior of the application automatically
  • Would allow spotting bugs early

• Limitations
  • Only tests for external behavior of the application
  • Does not replace human testing for those classes problems which are difficult/impossible to test programmatically.

Continuous integration server

Should we build a continuous integration / automated release management server? This idea will be presented by mattock.

• Rationale
  • Would allow spotting build problems early on by building "allmerged" and reporting developers of build problems
  • Would reduce developer frustration
  • Would allow automated packaging of openvpn-testing for various platforms and publishing those on a web server
  • The above would translate to increased use of openvpn-testing, leading to earlier bug reports and would thus make the release process (new code -> acceptance to testing -> acceptance to stable -> release) faster
  • Could also allow centralized automated searching of code problems

• Limitations
  • Does not replace human testing
  • Only tests the build process (and possibly code problems)

Developer bounties

Should we have a bounty system for writing missing features? This idea will be presented by ecrist.