What is a BLOCKING bug ? A bug is marked a BLOCKING when
- A feature cannot be used in its entireity due to this bug. e.g. server fails to start up or deployment of application fails totally.
- A use case becomes unusable due to this bug. This leads to test suites not running and features not being tested.e.g. : Stress tests cannot be run due to a memory leak OR basic deployment on cluster fails.
- There is no workaround for this bug OR the workaround is very cumbersome i.e. requires manual edits and restarts of the instance.
- The test suites that they block would have an impact on the agreed upon schedule and quality of the product release.
BLOCKING bugs have these characteristics :
- They are P2 at a minimum and they need to be marked as P1 to indicate how important they are. i.e. If none of the Stress Tests can be run during HCF cycle, that bug is a P1 BLOCKING.
- They need to have a reference to a test suite/test case that has been clearly specified and characterized. i.e. Running FTs on a 4 instance cluster on SuSE Linux , with two machines, multicore.
- They are real and exist and prevent a well defined test case from getting ahead i.e. a test has been run, an issue has been found , and it prevents the test from getting ahead.
- They are not speculative i.e. I think this will BLOCK a test when I get there, after fixing some issues, so I am marking this as BLOCKING today - is not a valid assertion or marking a BUG as BLOCKING. Such cases need to be handled by marking these bugs as P2.
A BLOCKING bug starts as a BLOCKING bug and remains BLOCKING till
- it has been fixed
- a partial fix makes it possible for the tester to get ahead with the tests.
Filing a BLOCKING bug
- Specify the test suite / test that is BLOCKED because of this issue.
- Specify information about the setup. Use the template
- Make sure to mark it as a P2.
Updates to BLOCKING bugs
- Please make sure that every action that you take w.r.t the BLOCKING bug is recorded.
General Stuff :
- If a bug is filed as a non BLOCKING , but then the tester realizes that its blocking another test suite, the tester needs to let Binod, Prasad , Jagadesh and the responsible engineer / module lead know before bumping it up. Note that the bumping up is not an automatic process , but is an outcome of the discussion. This is very critical in the HCF stage.
- The status of the bug in the Issue Tracker is the final status. That is what Engineering would use to determine its work.
|
