Glossary term: Protocol-level Testing

A test activity whose goal is to determine whether a Node implements a protocol correctly.

Unlike System-level Testing, protocol-level testing tests that a given Node implements a protocol specification correctly.

For example, in protocol-level testing, a test may test that:

• the entry for outbox in an Activity JSON file is a valid HTTPS URI,
• the HTTPS URI, when accessed with GET, produces a valid JSON file,
• which is a valid ActivityStreams Collection.

On its own, protocol-level testing often can make no assurances that a given Node will successfully interoperate with another Node, as many protocol specifications allow implementation variations and a given pair of Nodes may not support each others’ choice of variations.