Re: [FYI] {parallel-tests-maint} docs: parallel-tests is not experimental anymore

[Stefano Lattarini]

Reference to original thread:
 <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake-patches/2011-05/msg00062.html>

On Sunday 15 May 2011, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> On Sunday 15 May 2011, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> > * Stefano Lattarini wrote on Sun, May 15, 2011 at 04:10:29PM CEST:
> > > On Sunday 15 May 2011, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> > > > Well, the point of declaring it experimental is being able to do at
> > > > least slightly incompatible changes and mostly getting away with it.
> > > >
> > > > The changes might not just be needed for portability reasons in the
> > > > *current* code, but also for newer features in changed code.  I'm
> > > > willing to bet that your SoC project will turn up one or two such
> > > > situations.
> > 
> > > Should I revert this patch then?  Or should we add a more
> > > "watered-down" warning in place of the previous "scary" one?
> > 
> > What was scary about the previous one?  I didn't find it scary.
> > 
> I personally find the words "still experimental" quite scary :-)
> 
> And potential users who agree with me on this might end up being
> scared away from the 'parallel-testsuite' feature, despite its
> great advantages and indisputable superiority -- which would be
> pretty sad IMHO.
> 
> But than again, I might be the only "coward" here that is scared
> so easily :-)
> 
> So your call in the end.
> 
Update: my current patches maining at TAP/SubUnit support in the
Automake-generated test harnesses introduce a slight (and IMHO
acceptable) backward-incompatibility w.r.t. the behaviour of the
parallel-tests driver; since the 'parallel-tests-maint' is meant
to be merged in maint (and thus end up in release 1.11.2), while
the 'test-protocols' branch is meant to be merged in master (and
thus end up in 1.12), this warrants a preservation of the current
warning "parallel-tests is still experimental".  So I propose we
revert this patch of maint (see attachement).  OK?  I will push
in 72 hours if there is no objection by then.

Regards,
  Stefano

From 9667c39a2cd9c1af4be172169031975febe78657 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
Message-Id: <address@hidden>
From: Stefano Lattarini <address@hidden>
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2011 09:15:14 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Revert "docs: parallel-tests is not experimental anymore"

This reverts commit a9eef973b5ea47cc3495f1a8307d4f7b85aea46f.

It turned out that the current work to introduce TAP and SubUnit
support in Automake-generated testsuite harnesses will probably
require the introduction of slight incompatibilities in the
'parallel-tests' behaviour, starting from release 1.12 onward.
So it's advisable to continue to characterize the 'parallel-tests'
support as "experimental" in maintenance release 1.11.2.

Suggestion from Ralf Wildenhues.
---
 ChangeLog         |   12 ------------
 doc/automake.texi |    3 +++
 2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index f87c8bf..e3108e0 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -323,18 +323,6 @@
 
 2011-05-11  Stefano Lattarini  <address@hidden>
 
-       docs: parallel-tests is not experimental anymore
-       The parallel-tests driver has now been used quite extensively
-       by a fair number of real-world applications (e.g., GNU coreutils,
-       GNU libtool, GNU grep, and various packages using Gnulib), and
-       thus exposed to adequate on-field testing.  So there's no point
-       in declaring it experimental anymore (which would risk to make
-       potential users shy away from it).
-       * doc/automake.texi (Simple Tests using parallel-tests): Do not
-       declare the parallel-tests driver as "experimental" anymore.
-
-2011-05-11  Stefano Lattarini  <address@hidden>
-
        check: document and test $(TEST_SUITE_LOG) overriding
        * doc/automake.texi (Simple Tests using parallel-tests): Explain
        how and why TEST_SUITE_LOG can be overridden at runtime.
diff --git a/doc/automake.texi b/doc/automake.texi
index e0b38fc..c28ef0a 100644
--- a/doc/automake.texi
+++ b/doc/automake.texi
@@ -8681,6 +8681,9 @@ for exceptional failures.  Similar to the simple test 
driver,
 the @code{check_*} variables are honored, and the environment variable
 @env{srcdir} is set during test execution.
 
+This test driver is still experimental and may undergo changes in order
+to satisfy additional portability requirements.
+
 @vindex TEST_SUITE_LOG
 @vindex TESTS
 The driver operates by defining a set of @command{make} rules to create
-- 
1.7.2.3