Hi all,
Maybe there are people out here that have time to kill and want to help on Inkscape but don't want to or can't code C++. I'd like to remind you of this years 'Test Suite' GSoC project, which was imo very succesfull. We need artists that can provide SVG files and PNG renders of them; so no coding required!
The testsuite can be found here: https://inkscape.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/inkscape/gsoc-testsuite
For some documentation see: http://www.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/TestingInkscape ("rendering tests")
What this testsuite does is provide numerous svg files that are rendered by Inkscape to PNGs. The PNGs are then compared to a reference PNG and Inkscape will score a pass or fail for that particular "testcase" svg file. It is a very nifty procedure/tool to see what Inkscape can and cannot do. Moreover, it can be used to track regressions.
So where can you help? Add testcase files! If you've created some crazy drawing that uses complicated SVG structures, or LPEs, or perhaps you have a simple drawing with 'corner cases' (lines with zero length, rectangles with zero length, closed paths with start and end markers, etc...).... those are the files we need ! Note that we need a lot of files where Inkscape does something non-trivial but does it correctly! This way we can ensure that will work in the next version. If you can also provide a reference PNG of the correct rendering, that would be awesome :) Check the testcases directory, perhaps your testcase is already there. You can post the testcases on launchpad, mail it to me, or find another way of getting it to us. Ask the maillist if you'd like SVN write access, if you've shown good work in two patches, it will be granted to you.
I'm happy to answer questions about the testsuite, but it's perhaps better to ask Jasper for details (cc'ed in this mail).
Cheers, Johan