[DRE-maint] Bug#853244: ruby-sshkit: Non-determistically FTBFS due to unreliable timing in tests

[Christian Hofstaedtler]

* Chris Lamb <lamby at debian.org> [170204 21:46]:
> Christian Hofstaedtler wrote:
> > I agree this is suboptimal, but these operations succeed on modern
> > hardware including the buildd network
> 
> I'm not so sure. Not only are these not "tests" (in the Martin Fowler
> sense that they are nondeterminstic),

Even tests can have bugs :-)

Thing is, upstream thought these tests provide value, even if they
depend on a certain base performance of the machine they are running
on. We can certainly disable those tests, but neither disabling them
or keeping them as is strikes me as the right thing to do.

> but we can actually trigger them
> on the Reproducible Builds testing framework:
>   https://tests.reproducible-builds.org/debian/logs/unstable/amd64/ruby-sshkit_1.9.0-1.build2.log.gz

> > so throwing developer manpower at this is a bad investment at
> > this time.
> 
> Would the idea that they interfere with running QA efforts across the
> archive change your mind? :)

I can see that, but the reality is that there's only so many people
looking at bugs. (Assuming "interfere" means you file a note in
reproducible notes git and move on.)

I've asked micah to take a look though.

Cheers,
-ch