Hi,
I am a student selected for GSoC 2016. One of the things in my proposal
requires the ebuilds to carry a mechanism to test the built software by
running some script provided by the maintainer of the ebuild.
This would be basically similar to whatever tests an Arch Tester would do,
however made easier by the fact that it would be written by the maintainer.
This could be to test whatever bug the ebuild fixes, or the basic
functionality of the software. This would help to automate the
stabilization of the built packages (which my project on
continuous stabilization wishes to accomplish).

What I'm suggesting is to add a new function post_install_test. The
function will run only if the build is being run for stabilization (either
as a part of automated stabilization, or manual) which can be controlled by
a USE flag. The function would also require independent dependencies in
case it uses external applications to test the one being built.

I wanted to know other opinions on this matter.

Thanks,
Pallav Agarwal