On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 11:07 AM, dan nessett<dnessett(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
[snip]
On the other hand, if there were regression tests for
the main code and for the most important extensions, I could make the change, run the
regression tests and see if any break. If some do, I could focus my attention on those
problems. I would not have to find every place the global is referenced and see if the
change adversely affects the logic.
This only holds if the regression test would fail as a result of the
change. This is far from a given for many changes and many common
tests.
Not to mention the practical complications— many extensions have
complicated configuration and/or external dependencies. "make
test_all_extensions" is not especially realistic.
Automated tests are good, necessary even, but they don't relieve you
of the burden of directly evaluating the impact of a broad change.