Testing the Xubuntu daily images

by Jackson Doak and Pasi Lallinaho

Development of the Xubuntu operating system requires the skills and time of individuals of all kinds and testing is an excellent and easy way to get involved with this development process. Testing a vital part of the Xubuntu release cycle and anyone with a virtual machine, or even better, a spare computer, can help out. Plus, when you do testing you will work with most of the people involved in Xubuntu and Ubuntu as a whole so it's a great way to join the community.

Image caption: “Testing in action!”

How can I help?

There several are different ways of testing the ISOs for all of the Xubuntu releases. Here’s a quick overview of the different tests which need to be run:

Installation testing to make sure the Xubuntu ISO’s are installable

Live DVD testing to make sure the live DVD environment works as expected (and to make sure persistency works on live USB)

Post-installation testing to make sure all applications work as expected, this includes using development releases on a daily basis and reporting bugs as you find them

Upgrade testing to make sure upgrades from old releases work as expected

All the results from different tests should be reported to the Ubuntu ISO Tracker. You will need a Ubuntu Single Sign On (see the Glossary for more information) account to log in and send results.

Running and reporting a test

Go to the Ubuntu ISO Tracker at http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/ and log in.

Click <release name> Daily and select your infrastructure from the Xubuntu product at the bottom of the page. Once you get to the product page for your infrastructure, click Link to download information to get a download link for the currently tested ISO.

Once you have downloaded the appropriate ISO, you will need to boot it on a physical system or a virtual machine. If you want to test on a physical system, you can create a bootable USB with either the usb-creator-gtk or unetbootin tools, either of which can be installed via the Ubuntu Software Center. Alternatively, you can run the test on a virtual machine. For more information and instructions, see the glossary for virtual machine.

Image caption: “usb-creator-gtk”

Select and click on a test you want to run. We recommend starting with an installation test and then advancing to post-installation tests. This way both you and us will get the most out of your time.

When the page loads, you should see the testcase instructions (if you don’t, click on the Testcase label) and follow the instructions step by step.

If you find bugs while running the test, first see if they are already reported on Launchpad. The Bugs to look for section in the Ubuntu ISO Tracker will show bugs that people have been experiencing with the same test before – specifically look out for these. If the bug you are seeing hasn’t been reported yet, file it to Launchpad. Finally, add the bug numbers to the appropriate fields; the bug is critical if it prevents you from finishing the test, otherwise it’s a normal bug.

Tip: To read about reporting bugs correctly and searching existing bugs for duplicates, refer to the community help section on reporting bugs at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs.

Once you’ve finished with the testcase, submit your results; select the overall result for the test and list any bugs you experienced during testing. You can also leave a link to your hardware profile or add comments for other people who are reviewing the tests at a later time. Remember to click Submit result when you’re done – only submitted tests count!

Image caption: “Testing resources”

Need more information or help?

All of the different testing areas for Xubuntu follow more or less the same pattern. To get detailed instructions with pictures on how to report test results refer to the ISO testing Walkthrough on the Ubuntu wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/ISO/Walkthrough. You can also ask for help in the Xubuntu developer IRC channel #xubuntu-devel on the Freenode IRC network.

Glossary

ISO. A term used to denote a file from which you can create a physical mediums with predefined contents. Alternatively, you can use ISO files with virtual machines without having to use any physical mediums. The term daily (ISO) is used to denote ISO for any specific day.

Ubuntu Single Sign On. Ubuntu Single Sign On is a service that allows you to create an account you can use to login to several websites. You can obtain a Ubuntu Single Sign On account at http://login.ubuntu.com/.

Virtual machine. Virtual machine is used to run an operating system inside an isolated system. This allows testing Xubuntu images even when you only have one computer and don’t want or can’t reinstall it. There are multiple applications which can create virtual machines, but we recommend using VirtualBox. For more information about VirtualBox and instructions on how to create a virtual machine, visit the VirtualBox website at virtualbox.org.