Notes from 2 November 2011 #testing breakout

Here are the IRC notes from the November 2 #testing breakout (copied below):

http://www.w3.org/2011/11/02-testing-minutes.html

(I've made a couple of slight editorial changes in the text copy below.)

-ArtB

    [1]W3C

       [1] http://www.w3.org/

                                - DRAFT -

                      #testing breakout @ TPAC 2011

02 Nov 2011

    See also: [2]IRC log

       [2] http://www.w3.org/2011/11/02-testing-irc

Attendees

    Present
           Wilhelm, PeterL, DavidB, JamesG, PLH, KrisK, ArtB, Laszlo,
           EdO, MarkV, MikeSmith, JohnJ, JacqueD, JanL, MattW, CyrilC,
           Russell

    Regrets
    Chair
           James

    Scribe
           ArtB

Contents

      * [3]Topics
      * [4]Summary of Action Items
      _________________________________________________________

    <scribe>  Chair: James

    Date: 2 November 2011

    <scribe>  Scribe: ArtB

    <scribe>  Agenda: TPAC Testing - a Practical Session

    JG: welcome everyone
    ... start with current state

    … in the various WGs

    … I know about WebApps and HTML WGs

    … want to look at testing formats

    … and the procs for gathering tests

    … Would like to know about areas for improvement

    KK: how many are familiar with Hg/Mercurial?

    … and submitting tests?

    … And how to create W3C tests?

    … [ Not very many ]

    … Can talk about how to push test cases to W3C

    … We don't @ Msft use Hg

    … but it's pretty easy

    … Can search for Mercurial

    <JohnJansen>  [5]http://mercurial.selenic.com/

       [5] http://mercurial.selenic.com/

    AB:
    [6]http://www.w3.org/2008/webapps/wiki/WorkMode#CVS_and_Mercurial

       [6] http://www.w3.org/2008/webapps/wiki/WorkMode#CVS_and_Mercurial

    KK: the HTML WG has a wiki of resources

    … we use public-html-testsuite

    <stearns>  [7]http://wiki.csswg.org/test/mercurial

       [7] http://wiki.csswg.org/test/mercurial

    … HTML wiki: [8]http://www.w3.org/html/wg/wiki/Testing

       [8] http://www.w3.org/html/wg/wiki/Testing

    … after getting Mercurial

    … must create a ~/.hgrc file

    <jgraham>  [9]http://www.w3.org/html/wg/wiki/Testing

       [9] http://www.w3.org/html/wg/wiki/Testing

    … or ini file for other OS's

    … May need to mess with proxy settings if behind a f/w

    … after install, Hg should be in $PATH

    … the verbs are pull and push

    … to get a local copy, use pull

    <krisk>  [10]http://www.w3.org/html/wg/wiki/Testing/Submission/

      [10] http://www.w3.org/html/wg/wiki/Testing/Submission/

    <jgraham>  [11]http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/

      [11] http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/

    AB: mirror is: [12]http://w3c-test.org//

      [12] http://w3c-test.org//

    KK: the Hg root has tests and specs

    … so not just about tests

    … after a test is `push`ed to server, it is stored in a src control
    system

    … can do some complex stuff on backend e.g. PHP

    <plh_>  -->  [13]http://www.w3.org/wiki/TestInfra/goals Test
    infrastructure goals

      [13] http://www.w3.org/wiki/TestInfra/goals

    … Several WGs are using it

    … there is a `resources` folder

    … it includes some sample tests

    <jgraham>  [14]http://w3c-test.org/resources/

      [14] http://w3c-test.org/resources/

    JG: there are some sample HTML5 API tests

    … e.g. [15]http://w3c-test.org//resources/apisample.htm

      [15] http://w3c-test.org//resources/apisample.htm

    … designed to integrate with internal testing
    resources/frameworks/tools

    … can make them talk to each other a bit

    KK: expect people to pull tests and run them internally

    … W3C server can't support lots of browser vendors running their
    tests on w3.org resources

    Q: is it possible to select specific test cases for a spec?

    … so not clear if I can find specific test cases

    JG: for HTML test suite, the directory names give a hint

    … the CSS WG is working on something more sophisticated

    PL: we are working on a bug tracker for the tests

    … want to support test case management

    … including metadata

    … want to link test cases to specific parts of the spec

    … it is up and running now

    … but still needs some work

    Q: how about optional vs. mandatory parts of the spec?

    PL: we want to support that

    … we need to markup the spec to facilitate test cases pointing to
    specific parts of the spec

    … If want to browse the spec, want to be able to see what tests are
    available

    … We also use an annotation system

    … so that results from tests runs are available to someone browsing
    the spec

    Mark: is there any type of overall plan?

    … and some data about coverage?

    … Also, is there some convergence for tools?

    JG: yes, there is work toward tool convergence

    … at least at the harness level

    JG: re the 1st question, that's pretty complicated

    Mark: want to understand the plan for ex, HTML5

    KK: we try to facilitate, but no hard rules

    … it's up to the WG participants re what will actually get done

    … We have a structure to enable lots and lots of tests

    … We have some features that have lots (1,000s) of tests and other
    features with more like 10's of tests

    Mark: for CSS 2.1, is test suite done?

    PL: one reason for the tests is to get to REC

    … the other reason is to determine if everyone implements the spec
    correctly

    … we try to use a s/w development process

    Mark: are there specific milestones?

    PL: not really, we continue to improve

    DB: as bugs are found, new tests are added

    PL: as we hit milestones, we snapshot the test suite

    … and add new tests if we need to

    KK: we need to get a handle on how close the test suite is to the
    impls

    … and that can be hard to determine

    … F.ex, web workers is already supported in several browsers

    … and mostly interoperable so there is a question about how much
    testing effort should be done

    <plh_>  -->  q?

    … The work done depends on the WG participants

    PL: when a spec is early, it's a bit iffy to write tests

    … but it would be useful too

    JG: eventually must write tests so it makes sense to start early

    LG: agree converging test frameworks is important

    … need to eliminate outside dependencies

    KK: yes, we ran into that with some old DOM tests (from NIST)

    JG: we have a framework now

    … that is getting convergence

    … it is platform independent

    … it does depend on JavaScript

    … but no DOM dependencies

    KK: we need to be careful about adding features to the framework

    AB: how many WGs are using testharness?

    PLH: HTML, WebApps, Web Performance, Web Events

    John: it was relatively easy for some tests

    LG: I think DAPI WG agreed to use testharness

    … but they don't have many tests yet

    KK: I think we need to make sure WGs use testharness

    JD: what about rendering tools?

    JG: there are RefTests and manual tests

    … testharness is a JS api

    … reports results via a callback

    PLH: we have a framework on the test server to collect test results
    (HTML WG)

    PL: we can import results from other formats

    … the format can be XML or whatever

    … we also have an XHR API

    JD: need a good format

    John: testharness is really for JS APIs

    … there are challenges for visual matches

    KK: yes, e.g. font variability

    s/Q?/Jan/g

    KK: if there are any questions, please send them to
    public-test-infra

    … that's the list for the Testing IG

    [ James gives a quick tutorial on how to create a test with
    testharness.js ]

    Russ: what about images?

    JG: most use RefTests

    … and then can compare rendering

    KK: the biggest problem with rendering is fonts

    … RefTests give expected output

    … tests with "ref" in the test file name

    … at runtime, if they render the same, the test passes

    DB: a test in RefTest is an assertion of pixel equality

    … want to exclude external factors like fonts, margins, etc.

    <scribe>  Chair: James

Summary of Action Items

    [End of minutes]

Received on Wednesday, 2 November 2011 20:41:55 UTC