Project Plan For Test and Performance Tools Platform Project, version 4.5
Introduction
Eclipse Test and Performance Tools Platform (TPTP) Project 4.5 Plan (Approved)
The first part of this plan deals with the important matters of release deliverables, release milestones, target operating environments, and release-to-release compatibility. These are all things that need to be clear for any release, even if no features were to change.
The remainder of the plan consists of plan items for the four projects under the TPTP Top-Level Project. Each plan item covers a feature or API that is to be added to TPTP, or some aspect of TPTP that is to be improved. Each plan item has its own entry in the TPTP bugzilla database, with a title and a concise summary (usually a single sentence or small paragraph) that explains the work item at a suitably high enough level so that everyone can readily understand what the work item is without having to understand the nitty-gritty detail.
Not all plan items represent the same amount of work; some may be quite large, others, quite small. Some plan items may involve work that is localized to a single component; others may involve coordinated changes to several components; other may pervade the entire project.
With the previous release as the starting point, this is the plan for how we will enhance and improve it. Fixing bugs, improving test coverage, documentation, examples, performance tuning, usability, etc. are considered routine ongoing maintenance activities and are not included in this plan unless they would also involve a significant change to the API or feature set, or involve a significant amount of work. The intent of the plan is to account for all interesting feature work.
Release Deliverables
- Runtime
- Source
- Examples
- Component Tests
- Data Collection Engine for Windows (Vista, XP) 32-bit (x86) Runtime
- Data Collection Engine for Windows (XP, Server 2003) 32-bit (x86)/64-bit (x86_64)Runtime
- Data Collection Engine for Windows Server 2003 Itanium Runtime
- Data Collection Engine for Linux 32-bit (x86)/64-bit (x86_64)Runtime
- Data Collection Engine for Linux Itanium Runtime
- Native Logging Implementation (All platforms)
- Plugin Translatability Log
Release Milestones
Release milestones for the TPTP 4.5 release are targeted for general availability on 25-June-2008. All release deliverables will be available for download as soon as the release has been tested and validated in the target operating configurations. There is a significant allocation of resource to defect removal in all iterations. The first 4 iterations will also contain the bulk of any enhancement work. The remaining iterations are used to stabilize and shut down the release. Every iteration will provide a milestone driver to the Ganymede release stream.
| Milestone | Start Date | End Date | Description |
| Iteration 3 | 3/10/2007 | 14/11/2007 | Defect Fixing, Unit Tests and Test Automation for API |
| Iteration 4 | 15/11/2007 | 4/1/2008 | Feature Development and additional defect fixing |
| Iteration 5 | 7/1/2008 | 2/15/2008 | Feature Development and additional defect fixing |
| Iteration 6 | 2/18/2008 | 4/4/2008 | Additional defect fixing and API freeze |
| Iteration 7 | 7/4/2008 | 2/5/2008 | Critical and blocking defects |
| Iteration 8 | 5/5/2008 | 6/6/2008 | Shutdown; Marching to 4.5 GA |
For a detailed development schedule of TPTP 4.5 release, click here.
Target Environments
In order to remain current, each TPTP release targets reasonably current versions of the underlying operating environments.
- Java runtime (JRE) or Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.4 and 1.5
- Eclipse SDK 3.4 for Linux GTK, Linux (Motif), or Windows
- Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) SDK 2.4. Note 2.2 is required if using Java 1.4. TPTP 4.5 is compatible with both.
- XML Schema Infoset Model (XSD) SDK 2.4. Note 2.2 is required if using Java 1.4. TPTP 4.5 is compatible with both.
Most of the TPTP SDK is "pure" Java™ code and has no direct dependence on the underlying operating system. The chief dependence is therefore on the Java 2 Platform itself. The TPTP 4.5 release is written and compiled against version 1.4 of the Java 2 Platform APIs, and targeted to run on version 1.4 or newer of the Java 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition.
There are many different implementations of the Java 2 Platform running atop a variety of operating systems. We focus TPTP testing on a handful of popular combinations of operating system and Java 2 Platform; these are our reference platforms. TPTP undoubtedly runs fine in many operating environments beyond the reference platforms we test. However, since we do not systematically test them we cannot vouch for them. Problems encountered when running TPTP on non-reference platforms that cannot be recreated on any reference platform will be given lower priority than problems with running TPTP on a reference platform.
TPTP SDK 4.5 is tested and validated on the following target reference platforms (this list may be updated over the course of the release cycle):
| OS version | Processor architecture |
| Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) WS v4.0 | Intel x86 (32-bit) |
| Linux SuSE Enterprise Server (SLES) v9 | Intel x86 (32-bit) |
| Linux SuSE Enterprise Server (SLES) v10 with 2.6.5-7.97 | Intel x86 (32-bit) |
| Windows Vista | Intel x86 (32-bit) |
| Windows XP with SP2 | Intel x86 (32-bit) |
TPTP Agent Controller 4.5 is tested and validated on the following target reference platforms (this list may be updated over the course of the release cycle):
| OS version | Processor architecture |
| Linux Fedora v6 | EM64T (64-bit) |
| Linux Red Hat Advanced Server v2.1 | Intel x86 (32-bit) |
| Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) AS v2.1 with 2.4.9-e.57 | Intel x86 (32-bit) |
| Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) AS v3.0 with Update 4 | IPF (64-bit) |
| Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) AS v3.0 with Update 4 | EM64T (64-bit) |
| Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) AS v4.0 with Update 4 | IPF (64-bit) |
| Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) WS v4.0 | IPF (64-bit) |
| Linux SuSE Enterprise Server (SLES) v9 with 2.6.5-7.97 | Intel x86 (32-bit) |
| Windows 2003 Server Enterprise | EM64T (64-bit) |
| Windows 2003 Server x64 Edition with SP1 | IPF (64-bit) |
| Windows 2003 Server Enterprise x64 Edition with SP1 | EM64T (64-bit) |
| Windows Vista | Intel x86 (32-bit) |
| Windows XP with SP2 | Intel x86 (32-bit) |
Although untested, TPTP should work fine on other operating systems that support the same operating system kernel and version. For more detailed information on the target operating environments for TPTP 4.5 release, click here.
Internationalization
TPTP is designed as the basis for internationalized products. The user interface elements provided by the TPTP SDK components, including dialogs and error messages, are externalized. The English strings are provided as the default resource bundles.
Latin-1 locales are supported by the TPTP SDK on all of the above operating environments; DBCS locales are supported by the TPTP SDK on the Windows, GTK, and Motif window systems; BIDI locales are supported by the TPTP SDK only on Windows operating environments.
The TPTP SDK supports GB 18030, the new Chinese code page standard, on Windows XP and Linux.
TPTP supports ICU4J starting in 4.2 release. This will significantly increase the number of supportable locales. Products needing to localize to newer locales are enabled. German, Traditional Chinese, and Arabic are tested.
Note that although TPTP support all these languages, only the English versions of the strings are provided.
Compatibility with Previous Releases
Compatibility with Previous Releases
TPTP 4.5 will be backward compatible with TPTP 4.4. The following specifies details of the various aspects of release compatibility.
API Contract Compatibility: Refer to Evolving Java-based APIs for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain contract compatibility. TPTP SDK 4.5 will be upwards contract-compatible with TPTP SDK 4.4 or lower. Downward contract compatibility is not supported. There is no guarantee that compliance with TPTP SDK 4.5 APIs would ensure compliance with TPTP SDK 4.0 APIs.
Binary (plug-in) Compatibility: TPTP SDK 4.5 will be upwards binary-compatible with TPTP SDK 4.4. Downward plug-in compatibility is not supported. Plug-ins for TPTP SDK 4.5 will not be usable in TPTP SDK 4.4. Refer to Evolving Java-based APIs for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain binary compatibility.
Source Compatibility: TPTP SDK 4.5 will be upwards source-compatible with TPTP SDK 4.4. This means that source files written to use TPTP SDK 4.4 APIs might successfully compile and run against TPTP SDK 4.5 APIs, although this is not guaranteed. Downward source compatibility is not supported. If source files use new TPTP SDK APIs, they will not be usable with an earlier version of the TPTP SDK.
Workspace Compatibility: TPTP SDK 4.5 will be upwards workspace-compatible with TPTP SDK 4.4 unless noted. This means that workspaces and projects created with TPTP SDK 4.4 can be successfully opened by TPTP SDK 4.5 and upgraded to a 4.5 workspace. This includes both hidden metadata, which is localized to a particular workspace, as well as metadata files found within a workspace project (e.g., the .project file), which may propagate between workspaces via file copying or team repositories. Downward workspace compatibility is not supported. A workspace created (or opened) by a product based on TPTP 4.4 will be unusable with a product based an earlier version of TPTP. Visible metadata files created (or overwritten) by TPTP 4.5 will generally be unusable with earlier versions of TPTP.
Non-compliant usage of API's: All non-API methods and classes, and certainly everything in a package with "internal" in its name, are considered implementation details which may vary between operating environment and are subject to change without notice. Client plug-ins that directly depend on anything other than what is specified in the TPTP SDK API are inherently unsupportable and receive no guarantees about compatibility within a single release much less with an earlier releases. Refer to How to Use the Eclipse API for information about how to write compliant plug-ins.
Themes and Priorities
The TPTP PMC adopted and specialized the following Eclipse themes which represent the key focus areas for TPTP enhancements in the year ahead.
Scaling Up
TPTP continues to enhance the support of large data volumes and processing rates in areas such as data collection, user interface and in the persistence of trace, log and statistical models and execution histories. In 4.5 the test execution logs are the focus.
Enterprise Ready
Changes to the data collection layers will increase interoperability with enterprise security infrastructure. In addition, there will be progressive adoption of the TPTP tools and infrastructure as a test platform for the project itself, which is in turn likely to drive refinements into the tools. An increased focus on whole-project integration testing will ensure effective interoperability amongst all TPTP components and the rest of the Eclipse environment. Self hosting continues to be a focus of the TPTP project.
Design for Extensibility: Be a Better Platform
There will be a wide range of activities within TPTP to externalize APIs and define extension points, making the infrastructure more flexible and more generic in application. A good example of this is integration of TPTP with WTP and BIRT for web application testing, profiling and generation of customized reports of results. In the 4.5 release all dependencies on negotiated api were removed unless the needed api was promoted to public status.
Embedded Development
TPTP target execution environment and remote data collection framework provide capabilities that are adapted for high-end embedded systems. TPTP will seek contributions to add support for embedded systems. We are promoting use of TPTP native logging capabilities on a number of embedded target systems.
Rich Client Platform
TPTP will use RCP for building manual test client, log analyzer and other GUI-based clients in target environments. TPTP is looking for contributions to add RCP support to the UI testing tools.
Simple to Use
The existing TPTP tools were conceived as samples, rather than as exemplary, they are deficient in many areas of usability and in some cases lacking in function. The plan is that within the domains which they target they will provide a high-quality user experience out of the box. We will focus on ease of use through enhanced user documentation, tutorials, white papers, demonstrations, and a wide range of enhancements to the user interface to streamline basic processes and clarify concepts and terminology. We are focused on improving as much as possible in Release 4.5, and expect need for continuing this focus beyond 4.5. Specifically in 4.5 the Java profiler infrastructure has been completely replaced along with an upgrade to the JVM TI interface.
Enable Consistent Multi-language Support
In TPTP a significant effort will be applied in extending coverage of the trace models to represent C/C++ programs and to handle protocol activity (specifically HTTP) consistently with program activity. There will also be C/C++ APIs provided to the data collection and control layers.
Appealing to the Broader Community
A range of initiatives will be taken to broaden the community of potential and actual users of TPTP. Technically this will include additional integration of open source test tool technologies based on JUnit, and the various hooks to JUnit in the JDT, more data collection agents – particularly focusing on open source technologies, and additional operating system and hardware platforms from which data can be collected. There will be additional marketing and an extensive outreach program to the Eclipse community for additional contribution and adoption..
Appendix Projects
The TPTP top-level project is comprised of four projects, managed in a coordinated fashion, across which the plans items are allocated. TPTP projects include:
- TPTP Platform Project - Provides common infrastructure in the areas of user interface, EMF based data models, data collection and communications control, as well as remote execution environments. Additionally, the Platform provides extension points for leveraging or extending these capabilities in solution specific tooling or runtimes. This includes Eclipse workbench plug-ins as well as runtime plug-ins on a target and optionally remote system.
- Testing Tools Project - Provides specializations of the TPTP Platform for testing (e.g. test editors, trace/test conversion support), and exemplary extensible tools for specific testing environments. Initially this includes three test environments: JUnit, manual, and URL testing. These specializations provide optimized editing and reporting experiences for these use cases. In the cases where a unique runtime or an implementation of a testability interface is required, it is also developed in the project. For example, the manual test execution environment provides a remotely managed user interface specifically for collecting manual test progress. This manual user interface is unique from the common execution environment for JUnit and URL testing.
- Tracing & Profiling Tools Project - Extends the TPTP Platform with specific data collection for Java and distributed applications that populate the common trace model, additional language and protocol support is anticipated. There are also viewers and analysis services that draw data from the common trace model. Capabilities are provided to collect and analyze heap and stack information as well as generic toolkits for instrumenting running applications.
- Monitoring Tools Project - Extends the TPTP Platform for collecting, analyzing, aggregating, and visualizing data that can be captured in the log and statistical models. The typical examples are the collection of system or application resources such as CPU or memory utilization and support for the viewing, aggregation, and analysis of that data. Logs can also be transformed into a common format and model allowing for symptom and pattern analysis. The correlation of the data in these models is of particular interest when it is associated with other model instances of statistical or log data as well as traces and tests.
Appendix Features
Plan items targeted for this release represent the addition of new features or areas where existing features will be significantly reworked or enhanced. Plan items are allocated to themes and projects indicated above.
TPTP Platform Project Plan Items
| Status | Description |
| In Plan | Automate more of the existing manual test suites. (147907) |
| In Plan | The example (exemplary) components within TPTP should be a separate download. (157493) |
| In Plan | IPv6 Support. (165409) |
| In Plan | TPTP report generation. (174643) |
| In Plan | OpenSSL SSL provider. (206875) |
| In Plan | Eliminate JVM activation on AC startup. (196435) |
| In Plan | Ability to add property information to items in the method statistics view. (80440) |
| In Plan | Improve interaction between upstream and downstream builds. (200351) |
| In Plan | Add option for downloading the TPTP Profiler Development SDK to the TPTP 4.5 download page (210191) |
| In Plan | HTTP Import: log on dialog not show up for some URLs. (206260) |
| In Plan | JVMTI standalone profiling data collection. (196744) |
| In Plan | Order of filter items execution should be more obvious. (200499) |
| In Plan | Improve usability of predefined filters at profiling. (200264) |
| In Plan | Add support for application mode in the Java 1.5+ (JVMTI) Profiler. (200251) |
| In Plan | Binary Data Transfer Format for Profiling (Scalability). (196713) |
| In Plan | Support Java 6 Class File Format Changes. (148629) |
| In Plan | Add contention analyses features to TPTP Profiler. (200320) |
| In Plan | Add a Getting Started Readme file to the JVMTI Profiler SDK download (218464) |
TPTP Testing Tools Project Plan Items
| Status | Description |
| In Plan | Parallel test execution for launching multiple tests concurrently. (162605) |
| In Plan | Reference maintenance when moving, copying, deleting, renaming, and importing/exporting test assets. (166025) |
| In Plan | Encrypted datapool variables for testing with confidential data. (202695) |
| In Plan | Control the recorders that appear in the Generic Recorder Wizard. (208110) |
TPTP Tracing And Profiling Tools Project Plan Items
| Status | Description |
| In Plan | Add per thread execution time, cycles and instructions. (166692) |
| In Plan | BtM annotations. (194954) |
| In Plan | Provide a full C# implementation of CBE v1.0.1 specification. (206718) |
| In Plan | BtM for .NET viewer enhancements. (200468) |
TPTP Monitoring Tools Project Plan Items
| Status | Description |
| In Plan | Refactor TPTP features to create an independent installation for the log analysis components. (207240) |
| In Plan | Create TPTP LTA related (Eclipse) features. (200138) |
| In Plan | Create TPTP LTA extension points to enhance the UI/operational refacing capability. (200139) |
Appendix Defects
In addition to the targeted features for this release, we plan to reduce the defect backlog. Defects are prioritized based on severity, age, and resource availability. We encourage users to report defects and we will do our best to fix them in priority order. The goal is clear backlog of major/critical/blocker defects and make reasonable progress on fixing as many as possible.
See TPTP 4.5 Defects for a listing of already fixed defects, current defect targets and backlog.
