[Gluster-devel] NetBSD tests not running to completion.

[Jeff Darcy]

> If you do not
> prevent integration of patches that break NetBSD regression, that will get
> in, and tests will break one by one over time.

On the other hand, if patch A starts blocking all merges because of                                                                             
NetBSD failures, then all platforms - including NetBSD - are denied the                                                                         
benefit of fixes in patches B through Z.  The real problem is that our                                                                          
tests are so non-deterministic, so that they pass once and a patch gets                                                                         
merged, but then fail every time after that.  The signal-to-noise ratio                                                                         
is really low, and for some reason this problem seems even worse on                                                                             
NetBSD than on Linux.  The cost of mandatory NetBSD tests is unbounded,                                                                         
sometimes small enough to be a good investment (of our time) but                                                                                
sometimes totally out of proportion to that benefit.  That's not just                                                                           
frustrating for developers; it's also a disservice to the vast majority                                                                         
of our users who might be waiting on fixes.  I'd prefer a "defined level                                                                        
of effort" approach which *might* reduce the benefit we derive from                                                                             
NetBSD testing but *definitely* keeps the cost under control.