Linsider: Testing Limits

[ Thanks to Fred
Palmer for this link. ]

“The status quo of software development says to design,
implement and test. Open Source has changed many of the rules of
the status quo, or at least how we view it. But are these changes
sufficient to provide the quality we desire? Expectations aside,
how well can we measure the quality of open source? The answer lies
in the test process – understanding what it is and why it’s used,
and then actually using it.”

“Reading about Red Hat’s recent troubles with its Piranha
release I was struck by a thought: Linux, as a whole, lacks a
formalized testing organization. In 20 years of development, having
worked for 7 different companies ranging in size from a 5 man
startup to the behemoth that is Samsung, this is the first time
I’ve seen software released to the world with no formalized testing
applied. A lack of formalized methods hasn’t particularly slowed
development, but has it helped? Are formal testing practices even
necessary?…”

“Testing isn’t overlooked in open source, but it isn’t
formalized and it seldom has any defined goal other than the
generic “find a bug”. Whether this is good or bad depends on
who you talk to. So far, open source has done a decent job of
producing good software, but a lousy job of delivering product in a
timely manner….”

Complete
Story