[Tsheetx-developers] Testing and target releases

[Peter L. <pal...@gm...>]

The PHP support issue suggests we consider a couple of other issues. 
These issues are a) some form of testing b) some feature lists and versions.

If we are going to write and release software versions then some test 
process and check-off process is needed.

We are all working away to change things, but it is about time I think 
to set some goals which we can focus on. A set of goals also allows some 
software features to be released. Otherwise I feel we will be coding 
until next year. If we agree on some feature based goals, without target 
dates, then that gives us a way forward. The reason I said no target 
dates is we are all volunteers with our lives to lead, so working toward 
date targets will be difficult.

So I suggest we compile a list of features we are working on, along with 
their state of achievement. From that list we can aim to complete our 
features and get them out there. I would suggest we keep our feature 
list and release targets on the developer list only, and not publish it. 
Then there is no pressure to get things released.

Here is a short paper discussing some of the issues in software release 
related to SubVersion 1.5. 
http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fdownload%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.143.4757%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&ei=-azITeq1BoTsuAP-ncjcBQ&usg=AFQjCNFzQFzKlcwgp24ouyLd8wl3jAiA7w

For testing, we could use some open source web testing tools. However 
these tools would require a fair bit of work to set up. Here is an 
article on three of them: 
http://www.infoworld.com/d/architecture/three-open-source-web-service-testing-tools-get-high-marks-995?page=0,0

And here are comments on even more tools: 
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/79733/best-automated-testing-tool-for-web-applications

Alternatively, we could create a simple one page list of tests that a 
release needs to achieve before its release.

Peter