How to test a patch

This page will describe how to install a patch, and what to report after doing it. We presume you followed the instructions on how to build F-Spot.

A better and safer way, is to create a test user just for the purpose of testing patches. There is no need to specify --basedir and --photodir, and no need to fear damaging your existing data.

Further instructions on how to test with a test user needs to be specified.

Get the latest development sources

cd ~/development/f-spot
svn co http://svn.gnome.org/svn/f-spot/trunk f-spot.TestPatch

Verify TRUNK compiles nicely

It's no use to test a patch, if TRUNK is not compiling.

cd f-spot.TestPatch
./autogen.sh --prefix=${HOME}/unstable/f-spot
make
make install

If you encounter any problems, check IRC (irc://irc.gnome.org/#f-spot), mailing list (http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/f-spot-list), and bugzilla (http://bugzilla.gnome.org/buglist.cgi?short_desc_type=allwordssubstr&short_desc=&product=f-spot&long_desc_type=allwordssubstr&long_desc=&status_whiteboard_type=allwordssubstr&status_whiteboard=&keywords_type=anywords&keywords=&bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&emailtype1=substring&email1=&emailtype2=substring&email2=&bugidtype=include&bug_id=&changedin=&chfieldfrom=&chfieldto=Now&chfieldvalue=&cmdtype=doit&newqueryname=&order=Reuse+same+sort+as+last+time&field0-0-0=noop&type0-0-0=noop&value0-0-0=). If no information, do raise a Critical/Blocker bug in bugzilla (http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=f-spot).

Download the patch

Go to the bug in bugzilla, and find the patch you want to test (usually the latest one). Download it, and store it in a place of your choice. I presume you store it in Desktop and it is called patch.diff

Patch the code

patch -p0 < ~/Desktop/patch.diff

Compile F-Spot

We do the autogen.sh part again, since new files might have been added. Same for the 'make install' since non core part of f-spot might have been modified and demands to be installed for f-spot binary to find it.

./autogen.sh --prefix=${HOME}/unstable/f-spot
make
make install

Test F-Spot

Since patches have a tendancy to break things every now and then, we strongly recommend you to run on test data. That is use the --basedir and --photodir options. In this example I put both under /tmp, but you can specify whatever

cd ${HOME}/unstable/f-spot/bin
./f-spot --basedir /tmp  --photodir /tmp

Report result

The most important thing. Do not forget to update bugzilla with your findings. A small list of things to possible check, but please add whatever you feel like:

• Did the patch apply cleanly against CVS? (Changelog might not apply)
• Did the patch compile?
• Do the patch have a Changelog entry?
• Is the patch done from F-Spot main directory, and not ./src directory.
• Is the header in any new files following the recommendations?
• Did the patch work as advertised?
• Any side effects found?
• Try to crash it, did you succeed?
• Check console - Anything out of normal printed there?
• Check the patch file (diff), anything you find weird?

• Spaces/Tab/Indentation confusion?
• Readable code?
• Maintanable code by another person?
• Variable/Method names make sence?
• Logic problems?
• Hard coded constants, instead of using a common constant?
• Check Larrys review (http://mail.gnome.org/archives/f-spot-list/2005-October/msg00044.html) for extra checks.