Re: Article criticizing Linux in the Economist - large need of software support time

[Doug Simons]

On Apr 4, 2012, at 8:06 AM, Gerold Rupprecht wrote:

Hi,

I found the following analysis most interesting:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2012/03/desktop-linux

Then I got to reading about your involvement with the automated testing
software called Eggplant.

The key to success is to reduce the support time needed to work with any
piece of software. Would the testplant people be willing to make their
software available on an open-source basis, or better yet the GPL ?

Eggplant is a commercial product and is the core of TestPlant's business, so we won't be opening the source code to the public. We are very appreciative of the open source community, though, and of the GNUstep community in particular. Using GNUstep we've been able to deliver Eggplant on Windows and Linux in addition to the original Mac version, all built from a single code base.

So while we can't provide our source code, in the spirit of gratitude and mutual cooperation we would be happy to offer some Eggplant licenses for automated testing of any GNUstep based applications.

I really think there is a need for more/improved regression testing
throughout the linux software stack in general, but this last year shows
how difficult it is to keep GNUstep stable while adding missing
features. I think the Eggplant software might be just the right kind of
tool to do the job for GNUstep and its offspring.

Agreed. Eggplant is a graphical tool for automated testing of software through its user interface. A suite of Eggplant test scripts could complement the existing GNUstep unit tests to help catch regressions at the GUI layer. If anyone is interested in taking a stab at implementing some test scripts, feel free to contact me for an Eggplant license.

Regards,

Doug