[DERBY-5649] make improvements to nstest so it's easier to run/analyze/debug

• Type: Task
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Minor
• Resolution: Fixed
• Affects Version/s: 10.9.1.0
• Fix Version/s: 10.8.3.0, 10.9.1.0
• Component/s: Test
• Assignee: Myrna van Lunteren
• Reporter: Myrna van Lunteren
• Created: 13/Mar/12 00:58
• Updated: 01/Nov/12 21:10
• Resolved: 16/Mar/12 00:21

Description

The system test nstest ran into a number of error situations during the 10.8.2 QA cycle. However, some are known, some were found to be pre-existing situations (although intermittent, so we've been lucky/unlucky not to run into them). Some errors are expected. And some problems were indeed new.
However, the test output is very wordy and it's complicated identifying real issues and sorting through the messages.
It would be helpful to clean this up some.

I found the following areas for easy improvement:

• InitThread messages and Intializer.java: exited add_one_row: 1 rows
  seems like this is really the same message.
  If we eliminate one, we'll have limited that part of the output by 50%.
• TesterThreads - seems to send one message re 'attempting to', one for fail/success.
  Again, if we eliminate the 'attempted to' messages, we'd have made the output smaller.
• db_util.pick_one - seems also unnecessary - can this be combined with the
  insert / update / delete messages that are using the picked row?
• ERROR 22003 -> The resulting value is ourside the range for data type DECIMAL/NUMERIC(5,0)
  The column is t_decimal(decimal), i.e. a decimal(5,0). The value it's attempting to insert is clearly
  not suitable. From the code (in dbUtil) it does not look like this was intended to be a negative test.
  Eliminating the error (and its corresponding stack prints) would probably make the output considerably smaller
  and make looking for interesting errors easier.
• There seems to be a section that can be used as a smaller test case, but you need to comment out the 'normal' settings, and uncomment out these settings. It would make more sense to make the small configuration as an option.
• With a small configuration, the backup thread would run on when all other tests are done, because it has the same
  value for MAX_ITERATIONS, but in contrast to the tester threads, the backup threads runs every 10 minutes.
  Thus, when all other threads are done, the backup threads continue until 50x10 minutes have passed (plus the time it takes to actually do the backup, re-encrypt, restore). So it would make more sense to finish the backup threads if there is no further activity to the database.
• there are some typos and strange line-spacings making some comments hard to read.

Issue Links

• relates to: DERBY-4321 test nstest generates errors XBM06 re reencryption and 22003 re value outside range for decimal/numeric