marks
interesting changes since earlier draft)Please send comments about this plan to the tptp-pmc@eclipse.org PMC mailing list.
Last revised 16:00 PST 31 January 2005 ( marks
interesting changes since earlier draft)
Please send comments
about this plan to the tptp-pmc@eclipse.org
PMC
mailing list.
This document lays out the feature and API set for the TPTP 3.3 release.
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 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.
The following release deliverables are provided:
The TPTP 3.3 release is targeted for general availability on 15-May-2005. All release deliverables will be available for download as soon as the release has been tested and validated in the target operating configurations. Interim release milestone are planned at roughly 6 week intervals to facilitate coarse-grained planning and staging.
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Release Milestones |
||
| Milestone | Date | Description |
| Iteration 1 (3.3 i1) | Monday, 21-Feb-05 | Stable build |
| Iteration 2 (3.3 i2) | Monday, 4-Apr-05 | Stable build - API / UI freeze |
| Iteration 3 (3.3 i3) | Monday, 16-May-05 | General Availability, English only |
In order to remain current, each TPTP release targets reasonably current versions of the underlying operating environments.
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 3.3 release is written and compiled against version 1.4 of the Java 2 Platform APIs, and targeted to run on version 1.4 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 3.3 is tested and validated on the following reference platforms (this list may be updated over the course of the release cycle):
|
TPTP Agent
Controller Reference Platforms
| |
|---|---|
| Processor architecture | Operating system |
| Intel IA32 | Red Hat Linux v7.1, v7.2, v7.3, v8.0 |
| Intel IA32 | Red Hat Linux Advanced Server v2.1 |
| Intel IA32 | SuSE Linux v7.2, v7.3 |
| Intel IA32 | SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) v7, v8 |
| Intel IA32 | Windows 2000 Advanced Server (service pack 2) |
| Intel IA32 | Windows 2000 Professional (service pack 2) |
| Intel IA32 | Windows 2000 Server (service pack 2) |
| Intel IA32 | Windows NT 4.0 (service pack 6a) |
| Intel IA32 | Windows Server 2003 |
| Intel IA32 | Windows XP Professional |
| iSeries | OS/400 V5R1, V5R2 |
| Itanium | Windows and Linux TBD |
| PA-RISC | HP-UX v11.0, v11i |
| RS/6000 | AIX v4.3.3, v5.1, v5.2 |
| PowerPC | Windows and Linux TBD |
| SPARC | Sun Solaris v8, v9 |
| zSeries | z/OS v1R4, v1R5 |
Although untested, TPTP should work fine on other OSes that support the same window system.
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 2000, and Linux.
German and Japanese locales are tested.
TPTP 3.3 will be compatible with TPTP 3.2. The following specifies details of the various aspects of release compatibility.
API Contract Compatibility: TPTP SDK 3.3 will be upwards contract-compatible with TPTP SDK 3.2. Downward contract compatibility is not supported. There is no guarantee that compliance with TPTP SDK 3.3 APIs would ensure compliance with TPTP SDK 3.2 APIs. Refer to Evolving Java-based APIs for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain contract compatibility.
Binary (plug-in) Compatibility: TPTP SDK 3.3 will be upwards binary-compatible with TPTP SDK 3.3. Downward plug-in compatibility is not supported. Plug-ins for TPTP SDK 3.3 will not be usable in TPTP SDK 3.2. Refer to Evolving Java-based APIs for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain binary compatibility.
Source Compatibility: TPTP SDK 3.3 will be upwards source-compatible with TPTP SDK 3.2. This means that source files written to use TPTP SDK 3.2 APIs might successfully compile and run against TPTP SDK 3.3 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 3.3 will be upwards workspace-compatible with TPTP SDK 3.2 unless noted. This means that workspaces and projects created with TPTP SDK 3.2 can be successfully opened by TPTP SDK 3.3 and upgraded to a 3.3 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. Individual plug-ins developed for TPTP SDK 3.1 should provide similar upwards compatibility for their hidden and visible workspace metadata created by earlier versions; 3.3 plug-in developers are responsible for ensuring that their plug-ins recognize earlier version metadata and process it appropriately. User interface session state may be discarded when a workspace is upgraded. Downward workspace compatibility is not supported. A workspace created (or opened) by a product based on TPTP 3.3 will be unusable with a product based an earlier version of TPTP. Visible metadata files created (or overwritten) by TPTP 3.3 will generally be unusable with earlier versions of TPTP.
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 will work 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.
Enterprise Ready - Hooks will be provided within the TPTP infrastructure to link testing tools to requirements tracking tools and defect tracking tools, thus embedding them effectively in enterprise development cycles. 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.
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.
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.
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.
The TPTP project is is comprised of four, managed in a coordinated fashion, across which the plans items are allocated. TPTP subprojects include:
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..
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.
See TPTP 3.3 Features for a detailed listing of plan items targeted for this release.
Select "3.3" tab. Items with "Priority" = "P1" and "In Plan" = "Committed" represent items features targeted for this release.
In addition to the targeted features for this release, we plan to reduce the defect backlog.
See TPTP 3.3 Defects for a listing of the current defect targets and backlog.
Select "3.3 [nil | i1 | i2] bugs" tabs.