Thunderbird Automated Testing FAQ

1. OMGWTFBBQ!  Writing tests hurts and is painful because of a (bug, lack of documentation, ...). 
   
   Yes, our automated testing system is very much a work-in-progress, and we need your help in bootstrapping our way to a better world!  Please file bugs, add questions to this FAQ (even if they don't have answers), add rough notes to wiki pages, post to dev-apps-thunderbird, ask in existing bugs, ask in IRC, if you need help or see ways to improve things.  We need both feedback and every bit of help we can get!
   
2. I think writing a test for the bug I'm working on is not worth the effort.  What should I do?
   
   The belief is that for the general case, the work invested in writing tests is worth the longer-term benefits around code changes and regression avoidance.  There are regularly times, though, when that's not true, for reasons such as difficultly of writing, unlikeliness of regressions, and proximity of release dates.  If you truly believe this is such a case, feel free to ask your reviewer for an exception.  Be sure to explain why you think such an exception is the right thing.
   
3. Add your question here!