JDK 9 RFR of JDK-8078334: Mark regression tests using randomness

[Alan Bateman]

On 24/04/2015 02:54, Joseph D. Darcy wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Any additional comments on marking with tests in question with a 
> "randomness" keyword?
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Joe
>
I don't object to this keyword although I should say that most of the 
(apparent) randomness that I've seen hasn't been because of tests using 
Random but rather because of non-deterministic sequence of tests running 
in the same VM. The switch from othervm to agentvm a few years ago took 
a long time to weed out issues, same thing (even more) with 
-concurrency. Another source of apparent randomness is just having a 
large pool of machines and where machines are randomly selected to 
execute the tests.

I agree with your comments that tests using Random should have report 
the seed and a have a way to re-run with the same value. It could help 
with some cases.

One thing that isn't clear to me is how this keyword will be maintained. 
If I modify a test and replace the use of Random then I guess I need to 
remember to also remove this label. When I add a test that uses Random 
...   Just wondering if there is a tool to do the tests analysis, 
identify the use of specific APIs ,and help identify where the keyword 
might be missing or not needed.

-Alan.