CultLib/docs/mutation-testing.md
Meta Vens 09a85edc47 Test surface nets naming, orientation, welding, and normals; scope Stryker to it
Adds SurfaceNetsTests.cs and QuadNormalsTests.cs covering the sign
convention, edge naming, outward winding, vertex placement (midpoint and
unequal-crossing means, origin/cellSize), closed-sphere welding and
Euler characteristic, an ambiguous checkerboard cell's even-but-not-2 edge
usage, open-boundary quad suppression, determinism/ordering, and
face-weighted normals (sliver-vs-large-quad area weighting, unit cube
normals, zero-area/untouched-vertex degenerate case). Adds
stryker-config.json (vstest runner; this project is NUnit 4, not xunit.v3)
and records GameCult.Geometry as scoped, diff-only, in
docs/mutation-testing.md's follow-ups.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-09-25 18:06:54 +02:00

98 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown

# Mutation Testing
CultLib measures its C# test suites with Stryker.NET, pinned as a repo-local
tool in `dotnet-tools.json`. Coverage is added project by project; a project
with no `stryker-config.json` next to its test project has not been scoped
yet (see "Follow-ups" below for what's outstanding).
## Running it
Restore the tool once per checkout:
```powershell
dotnet tool restore
```
Run a full mutation pass from a covered test project's directory, for
example CultMath:
```powershell
cd packages/cultmath/tests/CultMath.Tests
dotnet stryker -t mtp
```
`-t mtp` selects Stryker's Microsoft.Testing.Platform runner. It is required
for test projects on `xunit.v3` (CultMath.Tests is one): Stryker's default
`vstest` runner's coverage capture does not work against xunit.v3's native
test host and the run stalls retrying test sessions indefinitely. Projects
still on `xunit` v2 with `xunit.runner.visualstudio` can use the default
`vstest` runner.
For a single cut, scope the run to what changed instead of the whole
project:
```powershell
dotnet stryker -t mtp --since:<base-commit-or-branch>
```
Reports land in `StrykerOutput/` next to the test project (git-ignored).
Open the `reports/mutation-report.html` file for a browsable view, or read
`reports/mutation-report.json` for a scriptable one.
## Triage rules
The mutation score is not a gate (`break` threshold is 0). Every surviving
mutant is a finding about the tests, not a build failure, and gets triaged
into one of:
- **missing behavioural test** — name the test that should exist and what
branch, edge case, or component it would exercise.
- **degenerate fixture** — the code path is exercised, but the fixture's
values make two different mutants produce the same observable result (a
zero component that erases a `+`/`-` distinction, an already-normalized
input that erases a `*`/`/` distinction, all-equal or all-same-sign inputs
that erase a boundary or `&&`/`||` distinction). Fix the fixture, don't
invent a new one that only kills that one mutant.
- **equivalent** — the mutant cannot change behaviour. Float-threshold
boundary flips (`>` to `>=`) are equivalent by default. A reasoned
equivalence claim (for example, `>>` and `>>>` on an already-unsigned
operand) needs its one-line reason recorded, not assumed.
Do not write a hand-rolled mutation suite or anchor test as a substitute.
Where the tool can't reach (native/shader/editor code), the defence is a
behavioural test at the layer the rule is decided, not a committed mutation
harness.
## Known tool caveat
Stryker 5.0.0's `mtp` runner is documented as preview. Its per-test coverage
capture was found to report false "Survived" verdicts specifically for
mutations inside `static readonly` field initializers that a test does
cover (confirmed by hand-mutating `bool3.@false` and `bool4.@true` and
running the full suite directly with `dotnet test`, both of which fail
against the mutation that Stryker reported as surviving). Treat a survivor
inside a `static readonly` field initializer as unproven until confirmed
with a direct `dotnet test` run against the same mutation; do not triage it
as a missing test without that check.
## Follow-ups
CultMath.Tests and GameCult.Geometry.Tests are the only projects currently
scoped. GameCult.Geometry's `stryker-config.json` has no `test-runner`
entry: the project is NUnit 4 with `NUnit3TestAdapter` and
`Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk`, so Stryker's default `vstest` runner applies
directly (no `mtp` workaround needed, unlike CultMath.Tests's xunit.v3
suite).
GameCult.Geometry has only ever been run `--since:`-scoped to the cut that
added surface nets; a full-project baseline (running mutation against all of
`CultGeometryIsoSurface`, `CultGeometryDocuments`, and
`CultGeometryPrimitives`, not just the diff) is a recorded follow-up, not
something either cut did.
`GameCult.Caching`, `GameCult.Mesh` (+ `.Quic`, `.Quic.Native`),
`GameCult.Networking` (+ `.WebSockets`), and the non-.NET runtimes
(`cultcache-rs/py/ts`, `cultmesh-*`, `cultnet-*`) each still need their own
`stryker-config.json` (or ecosystem-equivalent tool: `cargo-mutants` for
Rust, `StrykerJS` for TypeScript, `mutmut` for Python) and a baseline pass.
None of that is wired into CI yet.