[libxml-devel] Bug Day

[Ross Bamford]

On Sat, 06 Jan 2007 16:02:54 -0000, pat eyler <pat.eyler at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 1/6/07, Ross Bamford <rosco at roscopeco.co.uk> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Okay, here's a little more on the upcoming bug day. This is all just my
>> thoughts, it'd be great to get any input on this at all.
>>
>> When
>> ====
>> I think we should hold the bug day in February, maybe around the  
>> 10-15th.
>> Pat recommends we announce at four weeks before, two weeks before, and a
>> week before, so that's what we should do.
>
> I'm giving advice, not commandments.  Please make sure that whatever
> you do is right for the project.
>

Sorry, that came out wrong - I meant "So that's what _I think_ we should  
do". Really I was hoping to spark some debate...

>>
>> Activities
>> ==========
>> There've been a few bugs over the past week, a couple that are probably  
>> a
>> bit in-depth for a bug day, but at least one concerns poor test  
>> coverage.
>> We should make a start on getting as many (valid ;)) bugs into the
>> trackers as possible. I'm planning to comb through the tests and find  
>> weak
>> spots in coverage, which I'll then file bugs against.
>
> Which tools are you using?  If you can find a way to do it, valgrind  
> might
> be a good thing to add to your toolkit.
>

Don't worry, Sean introduced me to Valgrind shortly after I joined the  
project, but right now it's not helping all that much: the main leak we  
still have concerns interaction between libxml2's memory management, and  
the binding, in that I obviously don't understand the former properly and  
so the latter is leaking a bit (rather than segfaulting) :( But I'm  
working on it, as best I can. I know it leaks, and I know where from  
(primarily, nodes copied out of a document), I just don't (yet) know how  
to fix it, while keeping libxml2 happy.

>>
>> As well as test coverage, we could also file bugs against documentation
>> (much of what's there is cursory, to say the least), and bad code that's
>> knocking around in there.
>>
>
> If the rubinius guys can get RNI done in time, getting libxml working on
> rubinius would be a fun project for a bug day too.
>

Hmm, interesting. There's also a bit of work done for ruby 1.9  
compatibility. I'll file a bug.

>> How
>> ===
>> I think that, on the day, developers should be available on the list and
>> in an IRC channel somewhere, to help get people started and discuss
>> possible patches, etc. I'm happy to do this, of course - if anyone else
>> might be able to pitch in with that it'd be great.
>>
>
> I'd be happy to do what I can (mostly advertising and cheerleading).
>

Very cool, thanks Pat :).

Cheers,
-- 
Ross Bamford - rosco at roscopeco.co.uk