Friday, 15 February 2013

Versioning Test Code

In some development environments it is quite common to see test code, especially UI test code, managed as a completely separate entity in a version control system to the application code that it is testing. In this anti-pattern, tests are developed and maintained only in alignment to the latest application code. The danger here is that when you need to fix issues in previous releases you have no automation tests to cover a regression test. The test code base has moved on and can only be executed against code that is currently being developed.  

So whenever you make a release branch, make sure you branch your test code alongside it. 

It’s just common sense, versioning your test code alongside application code and running tests frequently allow regressions to be picked up quickly. 

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