Abstract

The purpose of this page is to provide a very "top level" explanation of the QA ISO testing process to help those not currently testing QA ISO images to do so.

Testing QA ISO images is an important, pervasive, and a required step in the release process and everyone can help.

Definition

QA ISO image testing ca be defined as scheduled testing done on specific ISO images of short availability for quality assurances (QA) purposes, i.e. to make sure the product is fit for purpose and mistakes are eliminated, using specific use case testing procedures.

Purpose

The purpose of QA ISO image testing is to make sure the product is fit for it's intended purpose and mistakes are eliminated.

In the first case (fit for intended purpose) one could evaluate the ISO image by the following primary considerations:

• can the ISO image be downloaded?
• does the ISO image match the associated MD5 sum?
• can the ISO image be installed?
• is the operating system operational once installed?
• do applications start?

The second case (mistakes eliminated) one could evaluate the ISO image by the following secondary (and perhaps tertiary) considerations:

• do applications behave as expected (i.e. not crash or have strange behavior)?
• are settings correct and functional?

The above are intended as examples of conditions that could be tested during QA and a definitive or complete list of required test cases.

More information can be found at the Ubuntu QA test cases page.

Image Availability

QA ISO images are available at the QA ISO testing tracker website only before specific milestones per the release schedule (reference 12.04 LTS 'Precise Pangolin' schedule).

The images for each milestone will only be available for a few days for testing. If an image does not achieve all test it might not be release for the next milestone, therefore it is critical for many testers to be involved to guarantee that all images are tested!

Ubuntu Studio specific ISO image for testing can be found at the Ubuntu Studio QA ISO Testing wiki page.

Process

ISO images can be tested with using a virtual machine (VM) or using spare computers (also know as bare iron) and follow slightly different processes.

A generalized work flow for each is described below:

Testing with VM

• download or zsync ISO image

• install and setup VM (see virtual box tutorial)

• mount ISO image in VM
• install and test per required test cases

Testing on Bare Iron

• download or zsync ISO image

• burn ISO image to CD or DVD

• place CD or DVD in test machine and reboot machine
• install and test per required test cases

Get Involved

procedure outline - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/ISO/Procedures and http://qa.ubuntu.com/testing/iso-testing/

general QA testing information - http://qa.ubuntu.com/testing/iso-testing/

also - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/ISO

virtual box instructions - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/VirtualBox

ask on irc channel - #ubuntustudio-devel

contact - scottalavender@gmail.com