# Announcing PHP TestFest 2017 By Ben Ramsey Published on July 13, 2017 For those who’ve been around the PHP community for a while, you’ll recall the successful PHP TestFest events that began after a [discussion at PHP Quebec in 2008][1]. Many user groups and mentors signed on to host and help with events, and a lot of folks became first-time contributors to the PHP project, helping improve our code coverage. It ran strong in a _global_ sense from 2008 to 2010. After that, various groups (particularly the Brazilian groups) have continued the tradition. A few months ago, at php\[tek\] in Atlanta, I mentioned to [Michelangelo](http://www.dragonbe.com/) that I’d love to bring back PHP TestFest. [Sammy](https://www.sammyk.me/) had given [an excellent talk on writing PHPT tests][2], and [Gemma tweeted][3] a link to the [old PHP TestFest wiki page][4]. From there, things snowballed. ## We’re bringing back PHP TestFest! The PHP TestFest will run for 4 months this year: September through December. This should give groups plenty of time to plan and prepare one or more local events. In early January, we will award prizes; if your organization/company is interested in offering products or services as prizes, let us know (send email to ). ![Wooble](https://files.benramsey.com/ws/blog/2017-07-13-phptestfest/wooble-wave.svg){: .right width="40%" } This time around, I’ve set up a dedicated website at [PHPTestFest.org](https://phptestfest.org/) and [Google Group][5] for discussion. We also have the [#phptestfest channel][6] on Freenode IRC. All are encouraged to contribute to the [website and tools repository][7]. We need technical tutorials, as well as tutorials from veteran TestFest organizers on how to lead successful PHP TestFest events. Additionally, I’ve provided a stub for a console application in the repository, and I’d love to see that evolve into a robust tool for helping people write and contribute PHPT tests. I’ll be updating the “[Getting Started][8]” page on the PHP TestFest website soon with this information and more, so keep posted. Let’s get to work on improving code coverage of the PHP language! --- _Special thanks to Sammy for letting us use “Wooble” as a testing mascot._ _This announcement was cross-posted to the [php-qa](https://news-web.php.net/php.qa/67968), [ug-admins](https://news-web.php.net/ug.admins/1222), and [phptestfest](https://groups.google.com/a/phpcommunity.org/d/msg/testfest/FqGWMoKSiuc/EjE06bIBBwAJ) mailing lists._ [1]: https://news-web.php.net/php.qa/64083 [2]: https://speakerdeck.com/sammyk/writing-tests-for-php-source-php-tek-2017 [3]: https://twitter.com/ellotheth/status/868583446498734084 [4]: https://wiki.php.net/qa/testfest [5]: https://groups.google.com/a/phpcommunity.org/group/testfest/ [6]: https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.freenode.net#phptestfest [7]: https://github.com/phpcommunity/phptestfest.org [8]: https://phptestfest.org/start/