[Ns-developers] ns-3 Testing (was RE: Request for Merge -- Validation)

[Tom Henderson]

> I think when you this all together it means that we have non-trace-based
> simple tests probably limited to simple models and unit tests.  We may just
> end up with reference trace-based tests for protocol unit tests for
> complicated models (or system tests).  The question of different frameworks
> or not, where the tests go and how we make response vectors remains. 
> 

I agree with your conclusions above.  To clarify, when I am pushing back 
on trace-based comparisons, I really mean traces of the sort in ns-2 
where the trace is just the default ascii output with loads of detail. 
The person who originally contributed such traces may vouch for their 
correctness, but there is no way to maintain such a trace over time.

I understand now that you are talking about something different; a 
reference trace that just traces items of interest (e.g. tracing only a 
sequence of TCP headers but stripping out the lower layer headers)-- 
this I am fine with and agree that we should support and is needed for 
more complicated scenarios.

Tom