Lessons learned from the open source bug reports

The study of the bug reports in the open source projects like filezilla and azreus drives home the fact that there are common areas where maximum numbers of bugs is reported.

1. Localization is one of the important aspects to be checked for; as time date currency and language vary in different countries.

2. This kind of error usually happens when one routine sends the array to another, and their definitions of the data stored in it don’t match. The array is declared as 22 but only 20 characters are accepted. (Filezilla)

3. If it is a client server application always the clocks on both the client and server systems must be synchronized.(filezilla)

4. A user friendly message must be thrown when an action is completed or when it is supposed to.If a file is uploaded to a location where there is no access, an user friendly message must be popped instead the file is displayed in the remote directory list though the file is not uploaded. (Filezilla)

5. The security related issues (like authorization and authentication) must be tested in different context. (File permissions in one server do not work in other server). (filezilla)

6. While creating or coping files of particular file system. Check for the boundaries of maximum possible file size with multiples of 8 as 1 byte =8 bits.. (Azureus: FAT32à4gb file)

7. Components developed and tested individually may work but fail when different components have to work together .Components must be tested in integration.

8. The new added features or the fixed version raised new bugs. It may be GUI error also. As the developer may write the code only for the bug and do not check how it affects the rest of the code.

9. When testing character formats it must be tested with possible different characters from the character set (special characters and non printable characters).

10. When tested for the functionality of the menu options the shortcuts keys must also be tested.

11. User relies on one behavior which is inconsistent in other areas, causing frustration. It is an incident.-- Usability testing.

12. In client/server applications, test the software with by randomly disconnecting the connection to see whether the application resumes automatically or not.

13. Cmdline switch does not prompt for password and fails to log in. This could be a control flow error. This occurs when the program does the wrong thing next.

14. The application must be tested for registry entries and registry clean up during installation. The installer exits from the error scenarios like lack of memory in the disk with a user friendly message must be verified.

source:
sourceforge.net
Cemkaner