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From: "Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason" <avarab@gmail.com>
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: "Junio C Hamano" <gitster@pobox.com>,
	"Thomas Rast" <trast@student.ethz.ch>,
	"Jonathan Nieder" <jrnieder@gmail.com>,
	"Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason" <avarab@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH v3 7/7] t/README: Add a note about the dangers of coverage chasing
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:52:45 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <1280087565-24671-8-git-send-email-avarab@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <1280087565-24671-1-git-send-email-avarab@gmail.com>

Having no coverage at all is almost always a bad sign, but trying to
attain 100% coverage everywhere is usually a waste of time. Add a
paragraph to explain this to future test writers.

Inspired-by: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
---

Jonathan doesn't particularly like this one. I have no particular
preference, just trying to get across the point that you shouldn't
cargo-cult-coverage.

 t/README |    9 +++++++++
 1 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/t/README b/t/README
index 15d4b52..4fe8d50 100644
--- a/t/README
+++ b/t/README
@@ -271,6 +271,15 @@ Do:
  - Check the test coverage for your tests. See the "Test coverage"
    below.
 
+   Don't blindly follow test coverage metrics, they're a good way to
+   spot if you've missed something. If a new function you added
+   doesn't have any coverage you're probably doing something wrong,
+   but having 100% coverage doesn't necessarily mean that you tested
+   everything.
+
+   Tests that are likely to smoke out future regressions are better
+   than tests that just inflate the coverage metrics.
+
 Don't:
 
  - exit() within a <script> part.
-- 
1.7.0.4

  parent reply	other threads:[~2010-07-25 19:53 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 10+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2010-07-25 19:52 [PATCH v3 0/7] Detailed test coverage reports for Git Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2010-07-25 19:52 ` [PATCH v3 1/7] gitignore: Ignore files generated by "make coverage" Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2010-07-25 19:52 ` [PATCH v3 2/7] Makefile: Include subdirectories in "make cover" reports Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2010-07-25 19:52 ` [PATCH v3 3/7] Makefile: Split out the untested functions target Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2010-07-25 19:52 ` [PATCH v3 4/7] Makefile: Add coverage-report-cover-db target Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2010-07-25 19:52 ` [PATCH v3 5/7] Makefile: Add coverage-report-cover-db-html target Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2010-07-25 19:52 ` [PATCH v3 6/7] t/README: A new section about test coverage Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
2010-07-25 19:52 ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason [this message]
2010-07-26  7:43 ` [PATCH v3 0/7] Detailed test coverage reports for Git Thomas Rast
2010-07-26 11:43   ` Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason

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