Hello one and all!
Yes its that time again! A new release, 4.6, is fast approaching, and to ensure its worthy, working and behaving we need
volunteers to once again take part in the testing.
For those of you who remember the last phase, you'll probably recall we didn't get as much help/support as required. That was a
real shame, but I suspect we'll have better luck this time!
For this phase we now have a couple of Test Servers for people without suitable resources, and I may even have an offer of
some Oracle installations in a similar vein.
So........
The real question is 'Who's gonna volunteer?
There are going to be a few changes from last time. Most notably last time I asked people which ones they'd test. What I ended up
with is authors/users testing packages, and too many people volunteering for the same package. So this time I'll allocate
differently.
If you volunteer I will assign you a package(s) based on priority and need (and then on circumstances).
What we require is people to perform Acceptance Testing! This is not a highly technical exercise and largely
speaking, if you can use a mouse and a web browser then you can test a package.
I want people who will sit down with a package, install it, use all its functions, and record the results. You don't have to fix
bugs, understand code, or even figure out what went wrong. Thats the job of the developers! All you need to do is report it when
it looks wrong.
Deliverables
Each volunteer will need to do the following:
Produce a test plan/checklist. This will be a simple list of test performed, that can be re-used each release.
Exercise each test for the given package.
Record the results for each test.
We'll then compile up all the results and produce an Acceptance Test Report that gives everyone a resonable idea of the
state of the release.
It couldn't be simpler!
We estimate that testing the average package should not take much more than a couple of hours. Once initial plans are produced it
will be even quicker!
I know many of you could spare this amount of time. We have about 15 separate items to be tested. So We don't need an army
of volunteers, and handful of dedicated persons, could really make the difference.
Lets remember, code without testing is meaningless! This is a great way for anyone to contribute and add real value to the
community......
Also, If any of you out there work for companies who've done testing on OpenACS before as part of your work (for a specific
delivery lets say) we'd be very, very glad of any test plans/details and so forth you might have generated. These might make an
excellent start point! Think of all those dull hours you spent preparing them... why not put them to some more altruistic use and
donate them!
Looking forward to you help
Warmest regards
Simon
PS: I won't be contacting people till nearer the time, so just let me know your keen and I'll be in touch.
PPS: Any of you who helped out last time (many thanks) and who have suggestions/experience/advice on how we can improve our
ability to carry out this function, please let me know.
