145 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
145 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
The purpose of GCC pretesting is to verify that the new GCC
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distribution, about to be released, works properly on your system *with
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no change whatever*, when installed following the precise
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recommendations that come with the distribution.
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Here are some guidelines on how to do pretesting so as to make it
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helpful. All of them follow from common sense together with the
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nature of the purpose and the situation.
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* It is absolutely vital that you mention even the smallest change or
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departure from the standard sources and installation procedure.
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Otherwise, you are not testing the same program that I wrote. Testing
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a different program is usually of no use whatever. It can even cause
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trouble if you fail to tell me that you tested some other program
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instead of what I know as GCC. I might think that GCC works, when in
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fact it has not been properly tried, and might have a glaring fault.
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* Even changing the compilation options counts as a change in the
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program. The GCC sources specify which compilation options to use.
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Some of them are specified in makefiles, and some in machine-specific
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configuration files.
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You have ways to override this--but if you do, then you are not
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testing what ordinary users will do. Therefore, when pretesting, it
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is vital to test with the default compilation options.
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(It is okay to test with nonstandard options as well as testing with
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the standard ones.)
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* The machine and system configuration files of GCC are parts of
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GCC. So when you test GCC, you need to do it with the
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configuration files that come with GCC.
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If GCC does not come with configuration files for a certain machine,
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and you test it with configuration files that don't come with GCC,
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this is effectively changing GCC. Because the crucial fact about
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the planned release is that, without changes, it doesn't work on that
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machine.
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To make GCC work on that machine, I would need to install new
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configuration files. That is not out of the question, since it is
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safe--it certainly won't break any other machines that already work.
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But you will have to rush me the legal papers to give the FSF
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permission to use a large piece of text.
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* Look for recommendations for your system.
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You can find these recommendations in the Installation node of the
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manual, and in the file INSTALL. (These two files have the same text.)
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These files say which configuration name to use for your machine, so
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use the ones that are recommended. If you guess, you might guess
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wrong and encounter spurious difficulties. What's more, if you don't
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follow the recommendations then you aren't helping to test that its
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recommendations are valid.
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These files may describe other things that you need to do to make GCC
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work on your machine. If so, you should follow these recommendations
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also, for the same reason.
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Also look at the Trouble chapter of the manual for items that
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pertain to your machine.
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* Don't delay sending information.
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When you find a problem, please double check it if you can do so
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quickly. But don't spend a long time double-checking. A good rule is
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always to tell me about every problem on the same day you encounter
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it, even if that means you can't find a solution before you report the
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problem.
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I'd much rather hear about a problem today and a solution tomorrow
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than get both of them tomorrow at the same time.
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* Make each bug report self-contained.
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If you refer back to another message, whether from you or from someone
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else, then it will be necessary for anyone who wants to investigate
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the bug to find the other message. This may be difficult, it is
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probably time-consuming.
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To help me save time, simply copy the relevant parts of any previous
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messages into your own bug report.
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In particular, if I ask you for more information because a bug report
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was incomplete, it is best to send me the *entire* collection of
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relevant information, all together. If you send just the additional
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information, that makes me do extra work. There is even a risk that
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I won't remember what question you are sending me the answer to.
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* Always be precise when talking about changes you have made. Show
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things rather than describing them. Use exact filenames (relative to
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the main directory of the distribution), not partial ones. For
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example, say "I changed Makefile" rather than "I changed the
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makefile". Instead of saying "I defined the MUMBLE macro", send a
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diff that shows your change.
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* Always use `diff -c' to make diffs. If you don't include context,
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it may be hard for me to figure out where you propose to make the
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changes. I might have to ignore your patch because I can't tell what
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it means.
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* When you write a fix, keep in mind that I can't install a change
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that would break other systems.
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People often suggest fixing a problem by changing machine-independent
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files such as toplev.c to do something special that a particular
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system needs. Sometimes it is totally obvious that such changes would
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break GCC for almost all users. I can't possibly make a change like
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that. All I can do is send it back to you and ask you to find a fix
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that is safe to install.
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Sometimes people send fixes that *might* be an improvement in
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general--but it is hard to be sure of this. I can install such
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changes some of the time, but not during pretest, when I am trying to
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get a new version to work reliably as quickly as possible.
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The safest changes for me to install are changes to the configuration
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files for a particular machine. At least I know those can't create
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bugs on other machines.
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* Don't try changing GCC unless it fails to work if you don't change it.
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* Don't even suggest changes that would only make GCC cleaner.
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Every change I install could introduce a bug, so I won't install
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a change unless I see it is necessary.
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* If you would like to suggest changes for purposes other than fixing
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serious bugs, don't wait till pretest time. Instead, send them just
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after I make a release. That's the best time for me to install them.
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* In some cases, if you don't follow these guidelines, your
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information might still be useful, but I might have to do more work to
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make use of it. Unfortunately, I am so far behind in my work that I
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just can't get the job done unless you help me to do it efficiently.
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Thank you
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rms
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Local Variables:
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mode: text
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End:
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