Unity 5.2: What's new, and a call for testing

It's been a few weeks since the last drop of unity, and now the unity team has readied the new version of unity 5.2. Let's walk through how to preview the new features unity 5.2 is bringing, and help test those features using checkbox! Checkbox allows you to get your feedback straight into the hands of the unity developers and report any problems your system may have with the new version of unity. First let's talk a little bit about what's new. Note that these features only exist for right now in Unity 3D.

• Multi-monitor support
• You will now see launchers on each of your monitor, and when you scroll across a monitor, you should feel some resistance in order to allow for you to use the launcher on that screen.
• New screen edge detection
• To invoke the launcher, you now need to push (or "scroll into") against the left of the screen, rather than hover for X seconds. No more hitting the back button in firefox and having the launcher pop up in your way!

Feedback is appreciated on these features especially. Utilize #ubuntu-unity on freenode and checkbox feedback form to let the developers know how they work for you.

Installing

Prerequisites: Make sure you are running the latest version of precise, and all your packages are up to date. Unfortunately this cannot be installed on oneiric or any previous ubuntu release. 

Also, unity 5.2 did not ship with "the HUD" sadly. So if you have been testing the HUD you will need to use ppa-purge to remove and downgrade your packages. See this post for information on using ppa-purge if you need help doing so.

1) Add the unity ppa (https://launchpad.net/~unity-team/+archive/ppa). You can do this by issuing the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:unity-team/ppa

2) Update apt and run a dist upgrade -- this should prompt you to upgrade unity and some indicators as well as install checkbox-unity.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

3) Restart your unity session by logging out and logging back in again.

Ok, hopefully the upgrade went smooth for you, but if not, head over to freenode #ubuntu-unity channel and let folks know what went wrong.

Testing
So, now that your up and running you can run the through the manual tests the unity team has prepared. Open the dash and type 'unity testing'. The Checkbox Unity Tests should launch. Checkbox will gather some information on your system and then ask you which tests you wish to run. Once complete you will see a link containing your system report and an option to publish it to launchpad. Use the text box below the link to enter your launchpad email address and then hit submit. This will ensure your results and feedback go to the unity developers.

Please ensure you have finished and submitted your testing results ASAP. The testing window will be closed this Thursday at 8am UTC, in order to give the unity developers time to finish fixing the bugs found. Then unity 5.2 will be pushed to precise and coding on Unity 5.4 will begin.

Filing Bugs
Please file bugs against unity package in launchpad (https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+filebug). When filing, please make sure to tag your bug '5.2-rc1' and mention your running Unity 5.2-rc1 in your description.

Final Thoughts
Don't hesitate to reach out to the unity team on IRC #ubuntu-unity on freenode at any time or to follow the latest in unity development. Thanks for helping test ubuntu and unity!

PPA-Purge: the magic undo buttton

If your helping with testing new features in the development version of ubuntu, you will likely encounter installing new packages from a ppa. What happens when you want to roll back those changes? Thankfully there is a tool to help called ppa-purge. PPA-purge will uninstall all packages from a specified ppa and downgrade you back to the archive versions. In addition it will disable the ppa so you can't install packages from it.

Installation

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

 

How to use
Simply execute the following line, replace the ppa:NAMEOFPPA with the ppa you wish to purge.  

sudo ppa-purge ppa:NAMEOFPPA

I'll show you a quick example of me removing the HUD ppa: 

sudo ppa-purge ppa:unity-team/hud
Updating packages lists
PPA to be removed: unity-team hud
comm: file 2 is not in sorted order
Package revert list generated:
 gir1.2-dbusmenu-glib-0.4/precise gir1.2-dbusmenu-gtk-0.4/precise
indicator-appmenu/precise libdbusmenu-glib4/precise libdbusmenu-gtk3-4/precise
libdbusmenu-gtk4/precise libunity-core-5.0-5/precise unity/precise
unity-common/precise unity-services/precise

Disabling unity-team PPA from
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/unity-team-hud-precise.list
...
The following packages will be DOWNGRADED:
  gir1.2-dbusmenu-glib-0.4 gir1.2-dbusmenu-gtk-0.4 libdbusmenu-glib4
  libdbusmenu-gtk3-4 libdbusmenu-gtk4 indicator-appmenu

Note that it found the packages I had installed and offered to downgrade them. Say yes and ppa-purge will put you back to archive state. Neat!

A bug's tale

Have you ever filed a bug with ubuntu? Software is merely a reflection of our humanity and as such it is not perfect. Still assuming you make your way through the bug reporting process, you may be left wondering what next? As a user it's unclear what will happen to your report once submitted.  Charles Profitt has done us a wonderful favor by not only visually laying out the process, but in addition has taken a step back and examined a good workflow for what to do when we have a "problem" using ubuntu. Check it out here: Problem Lifecycle

It's important to note that indeed not every problem is a bug and as such the simplest workflow thru the chart is to get help and solve the problem without creating a bug report :-) Ubuntu has a wonderful community with a variety of outlets to get help. Don't let this bog you down! Interact with the community in whatever way is preferable for you. In addition, in the diagram Charles doesn't mention all of the states a bug can be in. In the past, a bug you reported might have been marked as invalid or won't fix. These states can be really confusing and upsetting for a bug reporter. In future posts, I hope to share more information about how a bug is worked once it has been reported, and more importantly how you as a user can help get your bug resolved as quickly as possible.

For now, if you want to learn more about the the ubuntu problem lifecycle check out Charles's session on "Problem Lifecycle" at 21:30 UTC on 2 Feb 2012. Thanks for giving a talk Charles!

Testing the HUD! (Heads up display)

I hope everyone has seen the announcement about the upcoming Heads Up Display feature hopefully landing in 12.04. If not, go read about it here: http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/939 I'll wait.

Great, now in order for this feature to show up in precise it needs some more work and refinement. Our focus on quality continues and this feature is not excluded -- in order to ensure its of release quality for precise, we're asking the community to help test and evaluate the feature. Here's everything you need to know to get started:

Prerequisites: Make sure you are running the latest version of precise, and all your packages are up to date. Unfortunately this cannot be installed on oneiric or any previous ubuntu release.

1) Add the HUD ppa (https://launchpad.net/~unity-team/+archive/hud). You can do this by issuing the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:unity-team/hud

2) Update apt and run a dist upgrade -- this should prompt you to upgrade unity and some indicators

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

3) Restart your unity session by logging out and logging back in again.

Now you should be up and running. Invoke the HUD using the 'alt' key. Go and try out your favorite apps and see how things work. When you find a bug, at this point please do not use the ubuntu-bug command or apport -- these tools are not setup to handle working within a ppa. Instead file a bug using launchpad against one of the following projects depending on the nature of the bug:

For anything related to the user interface, ie directly unity related, file a bug against unity: http://bugs.launchpad.net/unity When filing, tagging the bug with 'HUD' would be helpful to streamline visibility to the unity developers.

For any issues with matching or other issues core to the tool itself, file them against the appmenu indicator. http://bugs.launchpad.net/indicator-appmenu

Still stuck or have more questions? Visit the wonderful folks on #ubuntu-unity on Freenode. And remember, HUD will also land with unity 5.2 coming soon!

Introducing me

Ahh yes, the days of old, when I was simply that that guy Jono blogged about. Shortly after that post, I wrote an email to the QA mailing list as a way of introducing myself. As it remains an unspoiled view of me from before beginning work, I thought I would share now with everyone on this blog. It represents my first impressions of ubuntu and QA, as well as my hopes for the future.

"I think ubuntu is in a unique place to be a leader among open source projects in the area of QA. The more I have used ubuntu over the years, the more impressed I become. Each release gets better and better and provides a better experience. It's that "just works" nirvana that all technology projects seek to provide its users and ubuntu more and more "just works". I was reminded of this the other day after coming home to find my wife happily printing some documents using the new printer we had purchased. I hadn't yet had time to setup the printer so imagine my surprise that my wife was now printing from it! I asked her how she figured out how to setup the printer and was met with a blank stare. She had simply turned it on and plugged it in. Ubuntu did the rest when she hit the print button -- ubuntu saw she wanted to print, found an unconfigured printer available on USB, configured it, set it as the default printer, and then sent the document to it. Amazing! It's this community's tireless work and focus on finishing ideas well that these experiences are a testament to. I look forward to creating more and more of these experiences with all of you."

Where is quality found in ubuntu?

Everywhere. It's not a cliché. Being the new guy, one of my first objectives was to survey the landscape of ubuntu and meet all the great folks who are already doing QA work. While I found some interesting teams whose work I hope to spotlight in future posts on this blog, the biggest surprise was the commitment to quality on every team I met. Perhaps this is just because the precise release will be an LTS; and not just any LTS, but the first to be supported for 5 years on the desktop. In my opinion, this is the biggest release since dapper changed how we looked at ubuntu!

Delivering a release that will help define ubuntu is not an easy task -- we need everyone's help. Perhaps your like me and just getting started (or maybe a longtime lurker who has never contributed). Regardless, you can help make this release the best ubuntu release yet. Get involved! There is something for everyone to contribute, for many different skills and time commitments. The real answer to where quality is found in ubuntu is in you!

The first week

I must say the first day working for Canonical certainly was unique. Imagine 8 hours on a plane with nirvana's "I'm on a plain" looping through your head while your knees are shooting pain down your legs.

"I'm on a plain..., I can't complain..."

And so it began. Monday morning came with little jetlag and it was time to face the music₁. The opening session revealed Canonical was a sizable company₂ -- more than I had realized. I can't imagine a better way to have begun than to meet everyone face to face in Budapest. Having the first meeting be a physical one really helps jumpstart productivity from that point onward. Phone calls and video conferences don't cut it in this regard. A physical meeting will enhance all future communications and break down confusion and differences of opinion.

I can attest to this fact having seen it firsthand on a separate open source project. The core team was split on several decisive issues for a long time until a physical meeting was agreed to. Once everyone arrived in the same room, it turned out that many of the differences weren't so different after all, and we were able to come to an agreement to move forward. The productivity gains in working with the remote team members upon there return home was instantly enhanced. Something as simple as placing a name with a face goes a long way towards building a relationship.

In due time, I returned home having learned my lesson on international travel after spending 30 hours traveling for a 16 hour trip. Check your itineraries closely!

1. Sorry, I really couldn't help myself. Puns are puns...
2. http://www.canonical.com/about-canonical

Our journey ends in a new beginning

Consider this the 'Hello World' post for this new blog. I hope to fill it with content surrounding my work inside the wonderful ubuntu community.