Test Day:2008-08-28 Improved Printing Support and Appliance Tools

This week's instalment of Fedora Test Day will focus on 2 additional features planned for the Fedora 10 release. On the agenda will be:


 * Improved Printing Support
 * Appliance Tools

We'll have a host of QA and Development characters hanging out discussing bugs (aka "features"), expectations, and test areas. I've included details below for how you can contribute below.

The following cast of characters will be available testing, workarounds, bug fixes, and general discussion ...
 * Development - twaugh, huffd
 * Quality Assurance - jlaska, wwoods

Triage NEW Bugs
Much like a field hospital, bug triage is the art of quickly addressing the big issues in a bug, and moving it on for further review by the development team. Unlike a field hospital, there should be no blood or guts. The triage process has generated quite a following. You are encouraged to read more about the triage process on the BugZappers home. In a nutshell, bug triage is a several step process that includes:


 * 1)  Getting started
 * 2)  Finding bugs to triage, the list we'll use for Test Day includes:
 * 3) * NEW gtk2 print bugs
 * 4) * NEW appliance-tools bugs
 * 5)  Taking action

One should not spend more than 5 minutes triaging a single bug. If you have more time to spare, and are looking to get a bit more involved, please proceed with Bug Verification or Test Execution.

Review Proposed Test Plan
See a typo or spot a gap in coverage in the proposed test plans for these features? Either modify the pages noted below, or come to #fedora-qa to discuss your suggestions. Help improve this feature by making changes/suggestions.


 * ApplianceTools Proposed Test Plan
 * BetterPrinting Proposed Test Plan

Getting Started
To help with testing, you'll need to get a copy of the Fedora 10 Alpha. Additionally, since the Test Day involves testing installation, you'll likely need a spare system to install to.

Here are some testing requirements:
 * A spare system (can be a virtual guest)
 * Access to install F10-Alpha install media (mirror list)
 * Optical CD/DVD media and a media burner (optional)

One you have selected a mirror, you must decide how you'd like to start the installer. There are many options, but the following lists the most popular choices.

Installation from CD/DVD
This method requires:
 * A spare system (can be a virtual guest)
 * Optical CD/DVD media and a media burner (optional)

The same process used to install an Fedora release can be used to install F10-Alpha. For an overview of the process, please review the Installation Guide.


 * 1) First, determine your system architecture (docs).
 * 2) Next, locate a nearby mirror where you can download install media (mirror list).
 * 3) Next, download a F10-Alpha Fedora CD, DVD, or   for your architecture from a (docs)
 * 4) Burn the downloaded image to a CD/DVD
 * 5) Boot from the CD/DVD

Installation from LiveUSB

 * Refer to USB HowTo

Installation over Network
This method requires:
 * A spare system (can be a virtual guest) - already installed OS (F9, F10-Alpha)

Information on installing without http://docs.fedoraproject.org/install-guide/f9/en_US/ap-medialess-install.html. The same process for locating installation media will be used.


 * 1) First, determine your system architecture (see http://docs.fedoraproject.org/install-guide/f9/en_US/sn-which-arch.html).
 * 2) Next, locate a nearby mirror where you can download install media (see http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/development/).
 * 3) Next, install the   utility: # yum install snake
 * 4) Using the mirror you selected above, update your bootloader information using snake: # snake-install http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/releases/test/10-Alpha/Fedora/i386/os
 * 5) Reboot your system to start the install

With your system installed, you are ready to move on to testing. Good luck!

Install/Update Appliance Tools
Since rawhide is not fully functional yet, the latest Appliance Tools packages have been built and are available for download at http://thincrust.org/download/. To install the updates ...


 * 1) First, install F10-Alpha using a method described in the sections above
 * 2) Next, install all prerequisites using yum: yum install libvirt virt-manager libvirt-python python-virtinst qemu kvm
 * 3) Next, install appliance-tools and livecd-tools which are not yet available in  rawhide by issuing the following commands: rpm -ivh http://thincrust.net/download/appliance-tools-003-3.fc10.noarch.rpm  rpm -ivh http://thincrust.net/download/livecd-tools-018-1.fc10.thincrust.x86_64.rpm or rpm -ivh http://thincrust.net/download/livecd-tools-018-1.fc10.thincrust.i386.rpm
 * 4) Finally, confirm that packages have been installed by typing: some md5 comparisons?

Exploratory Testing
Exploratory testing is an approach to software testing that is not scripted or planned in as much detail as a more traditional test plan. Rather than walking through a series of pre-defined test cases, the tester is asked to think about the high-level test areas in the software. From there, the tester is encouraged to use their knowledge of the product and the code in order to navigate through different areas of the software. As they walk through the software, their emphasis is to find bugs, expose new test areas, and learn more about the product to help guide future test efforts.

The simplest definition from Exploratory Testing Explained by James Bach works the best:

Exploratory testing is simultaneous learning, test design, and test execution.

For further reading on exploratory testing can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploratory_testing.

Test Areas
For our test day, let's define the following test areas as primary focus areas for exploratory testing:

Targeted Testing
Not in the mood for exploratory testing? That's fine. We've taken the time to define explicit test cases for the different test areas noted above.

With a spare system(s) in hand, you are welcome to walk through one or more of the following test cases.


 * ApplianceTools Test Plan
 * BetterPrinting Test Plan

The goal is to flesh out any bugs in the software that might be exposed by your special hardware environment.

Test review
See a typo in the proposed test matrix? Have an interesting hardware scenario to share? Is something not clear? Help us improve the test coverage.

Come join us on #fedora-qa, ask questions, propose changes, and share your issues.

Known Issues
Both features have been available for testing already through rawhide. As a result, there is a list of bugs already filed for each area. Before you file a new bug, please refer to the following before filing a new bug:


 * BetterPrinting known issues
 * ApplianceTools known issues