issues with getting started...

[Ray Kiddy]

Hello -

I hate posting newbie-ishly, but I cannot avoid it in this case. I am  
having problems with some things that seem really, really basic. I  
have tried to read the available docs. Some links to testing articles  
on java.net have gone stale. Others seem to leave steps out. For  
example, I have tried to follow the steps in http://openjdk.java.net/groups/conformance/docs/JCK6bUsersGuide/html/p13.html 
.

This may sound stupid, but I am having problem seeing how a test suite  
is identified. If I launch javatest, it asks me which suite I want to  
run. Is a suite identified by implementing an interface, or sub- 
classing some class? If so, I cannot find it. The UI would suggest  
there is a suffix and a file type that identifies test suites. Or  
else, how would the picker identify one? Using the file browser to  
randomly find something that is acceptable as a test suite has not  
worked.

Is there a wiki page somewhere that describes the testing effort? I  
did a search from a page on the OpenJDK wiki (http://wikis.sun.com/dosearchsite.action?queryString=test 
), and I got these results:

	# test-test (test-test)
	# Test_Test (test_test)
	# .test. (.test.)
	# testes (testes)
	# test (test)
	...

Not helpful. Paging through the rest of the results of this search  
does not seem to bring one to anything useful. It seems that the  
testing effort which is presumably going on within Sun has not yet  
been given very much outside visibility. Or I am missing something  
obvious, which is completely possible.

I can build OpenJDK 7 on Mac OS X, and I am interested in seeing how  
the tests can be run on this platform. I also have the VM build on an  
Ubuntu system, but identifying a test suite is not any more obvious on  
any other platform. Really, I am sure I am missing something which may  
be obvious to many. I often come to things with, shall we say, a  
"unique" perspective. But not seeing something "obvious" can be useful  
and I often find that assumptions inherent in a process can be better  
documented. It would be especially helpful if the documentation was on  
a wki.

Any suggestions?

I have been working with java for quite a while. For example, I was in  
the WebObjects team at Apple for almost 10 years and was there while  
WO was being ported to java. I have some ideas for testing the VM that  
might be interesting. But I obviously do not yet understand something  
basic about the approach you all are taking. So, we'll see.

thanx - ray