Bugtesting Weekends

What you need

• Every tester needs a debug version of Odamex.
  • People who can compile should. This includes people running Linux and Mac OS X, as it's relatively trivial to compile on thos systems.
  • People who can't compile should use AlexMax's daily builds. These are all-in-one packages that supply everything you need to test properly.
  • There should be an established SVN version that is used. If denis or someone else makes a commit durring testing, don't use it until the session is over. After the session is over, anyone who wants to stick around.
• Every tester needs a copy of gdb.
  • Seriously. Don't ever run Odamex without running a copy of gdb on top of it. Ever.
  • AlexMax's daily builds come with a copy of gdb and a batch file to run Odamex with gdb.
  • To start the program from gdb, type in run at the gdb prompt.
  • If you want to start odamex with command line arguments, type in run command line arguments at the gdb prompt.
  • If you run into any breakpoints, type in continue to continue past them.
  • If Odamex crashes, you will be left looking at a gdb prompt. Type in bt to get a backtrace, and copy the output to the Odamex Pastebin, then file a bug report.

What do you need to do as a tester

• Following up on old bugs
  • The reason I put this first instead of second is because it is FAR more important to follow up on bugs than it is to find them.
  • If nobody is asking people to test a particular bug, take the initiative, pick a random bug from the bugtracker and follow up. If you can't reproduce the bug after a reasonable amount of time, then say so in the bug tracker, along with the version you're testing.
• Finding bugs
  • If you run into a bug, please post it on the bugtracker.
    • If you run into a bug that crashes the game, make sure and get the backtrace. Crashing should bring you into gdb (you were running gdb, right?), type in bt to get the backtrace. From there, copypaste the output into the pastebin.
  • First, before you post, browse the bugtracker and see if it's a duplicate of anything. If it is, add to that bug. If it's not, post a new bug.
    • If you accidently post a bug that happens to already be on the bugtracker somewhere, reference the bugs to each other.
      • The bugtracker will automatically parse "bug xxx" and link to the appropriate bug.
      • Post "Still in Odamex as if release xxx, see bug xxx" in the earlier bug.
      • Post "Duplicate of bug xxx" in the more recent bug.