Tools/iExploder/iexploder-1.3.2/README.txt - WebKit - Git at Google

 iExploder 1.3.2
 ===============

 Welcome to iExploder. a highly inefficient, but fairly effective web
 browser tester. The code still has a lot of work to be done, but it's
 definitely usable. Here are some notable features:

 * Tests all common HTML and CSS tags and attributes, as parsed from
 the KHTML, WebKit and Mozilla source trees, as well as tags for
 Internet Explorer from MSDN. This also includes a few Javascript hooks.
 * Numeric, and String overflow and formatting tests
 * Sequential and Randomized Test Case Generation
 * Test Case Lookups
 * Subtest generation


 Installation (Standalone)
 -------------------------
 Make sure you have Ruby installed (comes with Mac OS X, most Linux
 distributions). See http://www.ruby-lang.org/ if you do not.

 If you do not already have a webserver setup, you can use the server
 built into iexploder. Simply go into the htdocs directory and type:

 % ruby webserver.rb

 A webserver will then start on port 2000 with the iexploder form. If
 port 2000 is not preferable, you can pass it another port on the command
 line:

 % ruby webserver.rb 2001

 Please note that lasthit.rb does not currently work with the logs output
 from this method. I recommend using a seperate instance/port number
 for each browser you test simultaneous using this method.


 Installation (External Webserver)
 ---------------------------------
 If you wish to use an external webserver (required for lasthit.rb use),
 you may do so. IExploder has been tested with apache.

 Copy the contents of the htdocs/ folder to any directory served
 by your webserver. Make sure that directory can execute CGI scripts. If
 performance seems to be low, please try using mod_ruby.


 FAQ:
 ----
 1) Are the tests always the same?

   The test cases should always be the same on a single installation, but not
 necessarily on different installations of iExploder. Random generator seeds
 may differ between operating systems and platforms. If you alter the tag and
 property counts in config.rb, it will change the test cases as well.


 2) How do I look up the last successful test for a client?

 Use tools/lasthit.rb. When I get a crash, I usually do something like:

      % tail -15000 /var/log/apache2/access_log | ./lasthit.rb

 Letting you know how many tests and what the last test id was for each
 client tested. You can then try to repeat the test, or go through the
 subtests to see if you can repeat the crash.


 3) How do subtests work?

 If you see a crash on a particular test, and would like to determine the exact
 line that is crashing it,  you can use subtests. To do so, go back to the test
 submission form, and start the test from the number that a crash was indicated
 on. Instead of leaving the "subtest" field blank, set it to 1. This will rotate
 through each subtest for a particular test.

 Each subtest will rotate through a tag offset and a number of tags to
 garble, which should help you isolate the instance. The number of tags
 used doubles each cycle. Here is an idea of how many subtests to expect
 based on your $HTML_MAX_TAGS settings:

 tags    subtests
 ----------------
 32      138
 48      236
 64      332
 96      558
 128     782

 Most of the time you will be able to replicate a crash within the first
 $HTML_MAX_TAGS subtests, but sometimes crashes are due to a combination
 of corrupted tags.


 4) How come I can't seem to repeat the crash?

   Many browser crashes are race conditions that are not easy to repeat. Some
 crashes only happen when going from test 4 -> test 5 -> test 6. If you can't
 repeat the crash through subtests or a lookup of the failing test, try going
 back a few tests.

 That said, some crashes are due to race conditions that are very difficult
 to replicate.


 5) Why did you write this?

   I wanted to make sure that FireFox had as many bugs fixed in it as possible
 before the 1.0 release. After 1.0 came out, I kept improving it.


 6) Why does Internet Explorer run the tests so slowly?

   <META> refresh tags are very fragile in Internet Explorer, and can be easily
 be rendered useless by other tags on the page. If this happens, a javascript
 refresh will execute after a 1 second delay.


 7) How do I change the number of tags iExploder tests per page?

 See config.rb. I personally recommend 32-128 HTML tags per page. While this
 seems to be a lot to go through when designing a test case, that's why the
 subtest engine was made. Different web browsers will have different
 performance characteristics when it comes to the number of tags per page.

 Here are the results with Firefox 2.0b1 (Bon Echo) and the iExploder
 built-in webserver running tests 1-250.

 tags  seconds  pages/second  tags/second
 -----------------------------------------
 32    60       4.0           131
 48    85       2.9           141
 64    95       2.6           168
 96    120      2.1           200 *DEFAULT*
 128   140      1.8           228
 196   228      1.1           210
 256   308      0.8           207

 If you find pages/second to be more important than tags/second, I would
 change $HTML_MAX_TAGS to 32. Do keep in mind that large tag counts mean
 longer subtest generation periods.


 8) What other performance enhancements can I make?

 * Before using iExploder, reset your browser history
 * Minimize your browser while iExploder is running
 * If using Apache, make use of mod_ruby
	iExploder 1.3.2
	===============

	Welcome to iExploder. a highly inefficient, but fairly effective web
	browser tester. The code still has a lot of work to be done, but it's
	definitely usable. Here are some notable features:

	* Tests all common HTML and CSS tags and attributes, as parsed from
	the KHTML, WebKit and Mozilla source trees, as well as tags for
	Internet Explorer from MSDN. This also includes a few Javascript hooks.
	* Numeric, and String overflow and formatting tests
	* Sequential and Randomized Test Case Generation
	* Test Case Lookups
	* Subtest generation


	Installation (Standalone)
	-------------------------
	Make sure you have Ruby installed (comes with Mac OS X, most Linux
	distributions). See http://www.ruby-lang.org/ if you do not.

	If you do not already have a webserver setup, you can use the server
	built into iexploder. Simply go into the htdocs directory and type:

	% ruby webserver.rb

	A webserver will then start on port 2000 with the iexploder form. If
	port 2000 is not preferable, you can pass it another port on the command
	line:

	% ruby webserver.rb 2001

	Please note that lasthit.rb does not currently work with the logs output
	from this method. I recommend using a seperate instance/port number
	for each browser you test simultaneous using this method.


	Installation (External Webserver)
	---------------------------------
	If you wish to use an external webserver (required for lasthit.rb use),
	you may do so. IExploder has been tested with apache.

	Copy the contents of the htdocs/ folder to any directory served
	by your webserver. Make sure that directory can execute CGI scripts. If
	performance seems to be low, please try using mod_ruby.


	FAQ:
	----
	1) Are the tests always the same?

	The test cases should always be the same on a single installation, but not
	necessarily on different installations of iExploder. Random generator seeds
	may differ between operating systems and platforms. If you alter the tag and
	property counts in config.rb, it will change the test cases as well.


	2) How do I look up the last successful test for a client?

	Use tools/lasthit.rb. When I get a crash, I usually do something like:

	% tail -15000 /var/log/apache2/access_log \| ./lasthit.rb

	Letting you know how many tests and what the last test id was for each
	client tested. You can then try to repeat the test, or go through the
	subtests to see if you can repeat the crash.


	3) How do subtests work?

	If you see a crash on a particular test, and would like to determine the exact
	line that is crashing it, you can use subtests. To do so, go back to the test
	submission form, and start the test from the number that a crash was indicated
	on. Instead of leaving the "subtest" field blank, set it to 1. This will rotate
	through each subtest for a particular test.

	Each subtest will rotate through a tag offset and a number of tags to
	garble, which should help you isolate the instance. The number of tags
	used doubles each cycle. Here is an idea of how many subtests to expect
	based on your $HTML_MAX_TAGS settings:

	tags subtests
	----------------
	32 138
	48 236
	64 332
	96 558
	128 782

	Most of the time you will be able to replicate a crash within the first
	$HTML_MAX_TAGS subtests, but sometimes crashes are due to a combination
	of corrupted tags.


	4) How come I can't seem to repeat the crash?

	Many browser crashes are race conditions that are not easy to repeat. Some
	crashes only happen when going from test 4 -> test 5 -> test 6. If you can't
	repeat the crash through subtests or a lookup of the failing test, try going
	back a few tests.

	That said, some crashes are due to race conditions that are very difficult
	to replicate.


	5) Why did you write this?

	I wanted to make sure that FireFox had as many bugs fixed in it as possible
	before the 1.0 release. After 1.0 came out, I kept improving it.


	6) Why does Internet Explorer run the tests so slowly?

	<META> refresh tags are very fragile in Internet Explorer, and can be easily
	be rendered useless by other tags on the page. If this happens, a javascript
	refresh will execute after a 1 second delay.



	7) How do I change the number of tags iExploder tests per page?

	See config.rb. I personally recommend 32-128 HTML tags per page. While this
	seems to be a lot to go through when designing a test case, that's why the
	subtest engine was made. Different web browsers will have different
	performance characteristics when it comes to the number of tags per page.

	Here are the results with Firefox 2.0b1 (Bon Echo) and the iExploder
	built-in webserver running tests 1-250.

	tags seconds pages/second tags/second
	-----------------------------------------
	32 60 4.0 131
	48 85 2.9 141
	64 95 2.6 168
	96 120 2.1 200 DEFAULT
	128 140 1.8 228
	196 228 1.1 210
	256 308 0.8 207

	If you find pages/second to be more important than tags/second, I would
	change $HTML_MAX_TAGS to 32. Do keep in mind that large tag counts mean
	longer subtest generation periods.


	8) What other performance enhancements can I make?

	* Before using iExploder, reset your browser history
	* Minimize your browser while iExploder is running
	* If using Apache, make use of mod_ruby