[petsc-users] Release canditate?

[Eric Chamberland]

Le 2015-12-14 11:09, Jed Brown a écrit :
> Eric Chamberland <Eric.Chamberland at giref.ulaval.ca> writes:
>> I see.  In fact, I was thinking of 3.6.4.rc1, 3.6.4.rc2, then 3.6.4,
>> followed by 3.6.5.rc1, 3.6.5.rc2, then 3.6.5, etc...
>
> Those patch releases are only bug fixes, not new features.  I'm not
> aware of PETSc having a problem of introducing bugs in these patch
> releases and I think vanishingly few users have the patience or interest
> in testing them.  I recommend using 'maint' (via Git or tarball) if you
> want the latest bug fixes.
>
>> I think I might script something here to wget the tarball, compile it
>> and run tests automatically with the petsc-master.tar.gz...  so as soon
>> as some problem appears with our usage or the forthcoming petsc, we will
>> be able to give feedback...  maybe I could wget it only if your nightly
>> tests are ok?  Hmmm, maybe your nightly tests could update a symlink or
>> something "friendly" to wget only if all tests are ok?  For example, if
>> all tests are sufficiently ok, maybe you could update something like a
>> "latest-good-petsc-master.tar.gz" which I could wget unconditionally?
>> Just an idea...
>
> It is a technical challenge to have a proof positive "everything is
> okay".
>

I know, but you have all the ingredients: tests and nightly builds with 
a summary.

You would be able to state a "everything is ok" on that basis.  Then, 
you will always want to have a better code coverage so the "everything 
is ok" will be  stronger...  Btw, I saw your code coverage is very good: 
about 83% !

Fwiw, we do this here with home made scripts and we automatically 
deliver new versions when our test base is "all green" over 13 different 
builds (including a valgrind one, btw).

Other funny thing we do: when the code is 100% green, we tag it.  We 
keep the history of "100% green" tags for latter use (finding a 
regression).  Also, some users like to be "on the edge" with all latest 
features, but only if they are working: so they "pull" the new commits 
and merge/rebase only with "100% green" tags... for which we created a 
git aliase which would be equivalent to "git pulltogreen".

Thanks,

Eric