On Tue, Nov 06, 2012 at 09:02:42AM -0500, Kamil Paral wrote:
I'd like to discuss the following criterion:
All release media must include a standalone memory test utility. A boot menu option to
launch this utility must be present and must work correctly
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora_18_Final_Release_Criteria
I wonder, what is the reason to have this as a release criterion? I don't find much
value in it.
We get a *lot* of kernel bugs that are root-caused to be bad memory or other hardware
faults
using the memtest on the install disc. Having it not be there by default is an extra step
of
hand-holding we need to do to get users to test things.
You can always use third-party tools for running a memory check.
It's definitely good to have it on the media,
but do we really want to block the release it is not included? I really don't see any
justification for that.
Remember, there is still the checksum criterion (that is much weaker btw, checksum
doesn't have to exist) that
makes sure you don't boot corrupted media (and it partly applies for corrupted memory
as well).
That's a completely different problem.
memtest is there for "I got a kernel panic, and people asked me to test my
memory"
The checksum test is there for validating the iso you downloaded and burned is valid.
Recently we try to accept only very important bugs as blockers,
always asking "would we really postpone the release if this was the last bug
remaining?". When I try to apply the same approach for this criterion, my answer is a
definite "no".
I'd like to keep the list of criteria short and simple. If there is no real reason to
have this criterion on the list, I'd like to remove it.
Historically, how many times has this held up the release ?
Dave