FAQ for httpunit-develop

Dear httpunit developers and users,

Since there has been a bit of traffic on this list 
during the last few weeks and my responses have been 
slow I'm intending to setup a FAQ for this mailing list, 
so that I can every once in a while let everybody know 
how the httpunit development works at this time.

Here is a first draft. Please let me know what other 
questions you'd like to see answered in this FAQ and 
I'll try to add them together with a decent answer.

Please read the parts on Questions #5 and #6 before 
submitting any proposed changes ... this will speed up 
things a lot. Currently only about 1-2 out of 10 tracker 
or mailing list requests follow this procedure. If we 
get this up to more than 50% it would be a good start so 
that the response time can improve again. (Currently 
it's at 174 days on average for the last year).

FAQ
===
1. Where can I get information on httpunit?
2. Where do i get the most recent version of httpunit
3. How do I sign up for the developer mailing list?
4. How do I get support for httpunit?
5. How can I suggest modifications to httpunit?
6. How do I find a testcase to start from?
7. What is the development environment for httpunit?

1. Where can I get information on httpunit?
-------------------------------------------
	httpunit is an OpenSource Project and it is hosted 
on SourceForge at 
https://sourceforge.net/projects/httpunit. There is a 
project homepage at http://www.httpunit.org/ which 
contains a limited set of documentation.

2. Where do i get the most recent version of httpunit
-----------------------------------------------------
The most recent version of httpunit can be found in
the Subversion repository. The repository is explained 
at:
https://sourceforge.net/scm/?type=svn&group_id=6550
the URL for it is:
https://httpunit.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/httpunit/trunk/httpunit/


A nice browser front end for it is:
http://httpunit.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/httpunit/trunk/httpunit/


3. How do I sign up for the developer mailing list?
---------------------------------------------------
via the link
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/httpunit-develop



4. How do I get support for httpunit?
-------------------------------------
This mailing list and the trackers on
https://sourceforge.net/projects/httpunit/support
are a good point to start. Don't expect too much - you 
might want to get active yourself.

5. How can I suggest modifications to httpunit?
-----------------------------------------------
httpunit is strictly based on test-first development.
If you'd like to get it modified you might want to prove 
you point by showing what is not working and how you 
would like it to work. Doing this within the JUnit 
testsuite of httpunit is the preferred way. And 
providing the test source code first gives you much 
better chances of a quick response. 

If you'd like to supply a minor change that is easy to 
understand and does not change anything or not much 
(e.g. adding a comment or changing the layout of a 
statement or doing an algorithm slightly different) then 
it might be sufficient to show that the change does not 
break any of the existing test cases. Don't count on 
this. A JUnit test case is your better option.

Please supply a testcase with the expected result for 
the feature you are asking for and we'll look into 
implementing it. For a start you might want
to get the trunk version from the
subversion repository (see 
https://sourceforge.net/scm/?type=svn&group_id=6550
and have a look at the source code of some of the more 
than 780 JUnit based testcases in there.

When you are ready you might want to attach the testcase 
(and if you already have started implementing it also 
the actual code) to your feature request.

If you propose a change make sure that all testcases run 
so after the change there should be more testcases than 
before and none of them is broken / does not work any 
more. 

This should give you a clue on what a proper testcase 
for httpunit looks like. The main communication about 
further details of the development is via the httpunit 
developer mailinglist. 

6. How do I find a testcase to start from?
------------------------------------------
a) To find such tests I usually set a break point at the
function that I'd like to test and then run all tests 
from the HttpUnitSuite. When the debugger halts at the 
breakpoint you'll see which test(s) called the function.

b) Another option is to search the full source code of 
all tests for keywords that match what your are 
intending to do

c) A third option is to look in the tracker items
https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=6550
and look for a comparable issue. Then use the trackers 
id e.g. Bug report number to find a test case for it.

7. What is the development environment for httpunit?
----------------------------------------------------
You need a Java compiler and may be an Integrated 
Development Environment like Eclipse.

Currently httpunit is mostly tested on these three 
operationg systems:
- Windows XP 
- Suse Linux 10.3
- The latest Mac OS X 
The test environment is Eclipse Ganymede with a JDK 1.6 
compiler set to JDK 1.4 compatiblity mode (this is also 
what you'll find set up in the Subversion library)

People from this mailing list also test with command 
line Maven environments, NetBeans and what have you got 
(it would be good to get some examples named here ... 
feel free to let me know your environment if it is an 
addition to the above)


Yours
  Wolfgang

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