VTK/SoftwareQuality/NightlyExpectedBuildTestFailures
The VTK Nightly Expected builds show the status of VTK on VTK supported platforms at a fixed time each day. Although the Gerrit Review Process and Continuous Builds attempt to catch build defects early, it is the Nightly Expected builds that show the health of VTK on a broader collection of systems. Recurring nightly failures make it difficult for a developer to see if her changes have affected the spectrum of platforms.
This experiment uses the DMAIC methodology of the Six Sigma management process to "Define", "Measure", "Analyze", "Improve" and "Control" to resolve these issues.
The basic methodology (from Wikipedia) consists of the following five steps:
- Define process goals that are consistent with customer demands and VTK's strategy.
- Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data.
- Analyze the data to verify cause-and-effect relationships. Determine what the relationships are, and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered.
- Improve or optimize the process.
- Control to ensure that any deviations from target are corrected before they result in defects. Set up pilot runs to establish software quality, move on to production, set up control mechanisms and continuously monitor the process.
Define
Keep the number of VTK Nightly Expected recurring test failures(defects) to 0. When the defects are above 0, developers find it difficult to notice that their changes introduce new defects.
Measure
Recent summaries:
Analyze
| Test | Failing | Defect | Assigned To |
|
vtkFiltersParallelStatisticsCxx-MPI-TestRandomPMomentStatisticsMPI |
1 | Memory Leak | Unassigned |
| 1 | Failing since Feb 4 | Unassigned | |
| 1 | AIX only | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Regression defect, small | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Regression defect AIX only | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Python syntax | Unassigned Existing gerrit topic | |
|
vtkRenderingVolumePython-TestFixedPointRayCasterNearestCropped |
1 | Regression defect
AIX exit |
Unassigned |
| 1 | Failed to connect | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Regression defect, major | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | AIX Major regression failure | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Regression defect, Intermittent | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
|
vtkRenderingVolumePython-TestFixedPointRayCasterLinearCropped |
1 | Unknown | Unassigned |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 1 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
|
vtkFiltersHyperTreeCxx-TestHyperTreeGridTernary3DGeometryMaterial |
2 | Unknown | Unassigned |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
|
vtkFiltersHyperTreeCxx-TestHyperTreeGridTernary3DUnstructured |
2 | Unknown | Unassigned |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
|
vtkFiltersHyperTreeCxx-TestHyperTreeGridTernarySphereMaterial |
2 | Unknown | Unassigned |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
|
vtkFiltersHyperTreeCxx-TestHyperTreeGridTernary3DContourMaterial |
2 | Unknown | Unassigned |
|
vtkFiltersHyperTreeCxx-TestHyperTreeGridTernary3DUnstructuredMaterial |
2 | Unknown | Unassigned |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
|
vtkFiltersHyperTreeCxx-TestHyperTreeGridTernary3DAxisCutMaterial |
2 | Unknown | Unassigned |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 2 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 3 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 3 | Regression defects | Unassigned | |
|
vtkIOExportCxx-TestGL2PSExporterVolumeRaster-VerifyRasterizedPNG |
3 | Regression defects that differ in various machines | Unassigned |
| 4 | Unknown | Unassigned | |
| 5 | Timeout | Unassigned |
Improve
The following Gerrit reviews addressed the defects.
Control
Once reduced to 0, developer diligence is needed to keep the defects to 0.
