There is no negative reproduction option when reproducing a bug

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I have a question: Why is there only positive reproduction when reproducing a bug and not negative reproduction. Because sometimes a bug occurs on this specific device/browser but not on another specific device/browser. If there is no negative reproduction when reproducing a bug, the customer will not know that the bug will not appear on any specific device/browser.
What do you think about this issue​:thinking: ? Please share your thoughts below :victory_hand:

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Hi Ramanan,

In my honest review, I am reading your question but not sure if I truly understand it. I really appreciate your perspective. I will try to answer:

When we talk about “reproducing a bug” we need to understand whats the expectation out here and who are we reproducing it for?

I believe a person who is going to iterate it and probably will fix it. A developer. We need to be as clear as we can to facilitate and aid in their fixing process and try to list exact “scenario” or “test case” which caused that bug. :lady_beetle:

The term ‘Negative’ is it self an entire branch known as ‘Negative Testing’(opposite happy path testing). What does ‘Negative testing’ yields? It also shows the presence of defects in the application. However in order to reproduce it - you are going to list the exact same ‘negative scenario’ which caused the bug.

These are two mutually exclusive entities in software testing. ‘happy path’ & ‘negative path’. I believe to keep life simple you can keep them separate :laughing:

Where as your perspective: “the customer will not know that the bug will not appear on any specific device/browser.”.

We also need to understand testing just show presence of bugs, not their absence. (1 of 7 principles of testing).

Hope it helps? :slight_smile:

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Hi @aimantirmizi ,

Thank you for such a thoughtful and detailed reply!

I really liked how you explained the difference between happy path and negative path that helped me understand things from a developer’s point of view better. The reminder about clarity in bug reproduction and the testing principle was spot on too.

Really appreciate you taking the time to share this! :folded_hands:
Ramanan