Hi Dscho, Johannes Schindelin wrote: > On Sat, 4 Aug 2018, Jonathan Nieder wrote: >> Alternatively, could it be squashed in with the patch that fixes it? > > There is this really awful trend on this mailing list to suggest > conflating the demonstration of a bug with the bug fix. > > It is really, really important to realize how valuable it is to have the > regression test as an individual patch that can be used to verify that > there is a bug, to pinpoint where it was introduced, to test alternative > fixes, to keep records separate, and I could go on and on and on. Please > do not ignore these very good reasons, and please refrain from > recommending such conflation in the future. If you want to propose changing the project's style to always separate tests from the patch that fixes a bug, that's a discussion we can have, in a separate thread. Today, we do allow and encourage putting the test with the patch that fixes it, and that has real advantages: - the tests are easier to understand when found with "git log" because they are in context - as the patch evolves, it is easier to remember to update the test at the same time - newcomers imitating existing patches have a clear hint to write tests - the beginning of a patch series can be applied and merged down while the end is still under review, without either leaving out the tests or applying a test that doesn't pass and accomplishes little I've never found it difficult to use the test from a patch to verify that there is a bug or pinpoint where it was introduced. Tests are separate from the application code since they're in the t/ directory; this is a very easy thing to do. That isn't to say that a patch that only adds a (passing or expected-failure) test isn't valuable, even without a fix. It is valuable, precisely when it is self-explanatory. More importantly, I am a bit surprised that instead of accepting the feedback, you are basically calling a reviewer complicit, for pointing out a pretty normal possible improvement that follows the project's conventions. I'm beyond words. Jonathan
