jack@hpindda.HP.COM (Jack Repenning) (05/25/90)
In comp.sys.hp, neil@yc.estec.nl (Neil Dixon) writes: > But seriously, doesn't this give you a lot of confidence in HP's > software testing :-(. "But Mr Dixon, its contributed software so its > not our problem!". I have to say I think that's a pretty cheap shot, Mr. Dixon. The contributed software is not tested in any formal way - that's the way it's described, that's the "guarantee." The category is specifically defined for providing you with things which seem to have some value (as these sample programs), and yet which we're not able to guarantee. When something from out of this category fails in such an obvious way, it proves the value of testing, as you suggest - it also proves the value of our claims about what is and isn't tested. Judge the quality of our software testing by the quality of the software we've tested, not of the software we explicitly mark as untested. On the other hand, the fact that such an obvious name as "filename" is included in libXm.a is a problem in software that we did test. Strictly speaking, I don't know of any commitment to what names are and aren't visible from within libraries in UN*X (although we've all wished for one often enough, from both sides of the fence), and so there doesn't seem to be any a priori basis for calling it a bug. But there's a sort of consensus agreement that such things oughtn't to get in the way of the people doing real work, and using up an obvious name like "filename" is a pretty blatant violation, I'll agree. "Blatant" (offensive in its effects), although not "flagrant" (offensive in its intent). Did any of the posters who pointed that out here in news take the time to point it out to their HP support people as well? Just curious. I've now submitted it internally, so you can be sure that the people actually involved are now notified (it's not my code, I have no more direct control that any of you, and no less: I can report the problem just as you can). As my standard disclaimer in these matters says, By the way, netnews is a very slow and capricious way to get questions answered. If you have either HP TeamLine or HP ResponseLine software support services, you can direct questions about supported HP products to your regional HP Response Center. HP people who respond to netnews questions are donating our time. We do not have the full resources of a Response Center at our disposal, and the person who knows the answer to any given question may not be reading news this week, or month, or... ------------------------------------------------------------- Jack Repenning - Information Networks Division, Hewlett Packard Company RFC-822: jack@hptnjar.cup.hp.com uucp: ...!hplabs!hptnjar!jack USMail: 43LN; 19420 Homestead Ave; Cupertino, CA 95014 Phone: 408/447-3380 ------------------------------------------------------------- By the way, ... Oh, I said that, didn't I?