Thank you QA Community!

Your commitment to quality and excellence has shown itself in this release. People love numbers, so let me spill some!

We had 13 calls for testing this cycle, with 6 iso testing milestones, and lots of bug reports, support and users using the development version of precise. Additionally, we set a new record for iso testing the precise final isos! Have a look yourself!

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/ReleaseReports/PreciseFinalTestReport

That's 114 people who helped make sure your ubuntu precise experience was going to be a good one out of the box. Thank you to all of our testers this cycle!

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PrecisePangolin/ReleaseNotes/Credits/Testers

ISO Adoptions

Ubuntu Desktop i386

Yesterday, ~70 people (and counting! you guys are rockstars, thank you so much!) answered the call to adopt, and are now sponsoring over 2 dozen isos for ubuntu, and it's flavors like xubuntu, kubuntu, edubuntu, lubuntu and ubuntu studio. That is wonderful news.


However, there are a couple sad iso's still out there who are wanting to be adopted. They are the more troublesome ones to adopt if you will. Everyone loves and wants to help Ubuntu Desktop iso, but little pay attention to our mac and wubi specific testing. If you have access         to a windows machine and can help test wubi, please let me know! If you have access to a macbook or other mac hardware please also let me know! I can help you adopt those troublesome iso's and make ubuntu precise a better experience for those with similar hardware.

Ubuntu Desktop amd64+mac

Look at his face and then hit your compose button to email me. You'll be glad you did. Contact me at nicholas.skaggs at the canonical.com domain and I will make sure to get you connected to one of these little guys!

Would you adopt an ISO?

Would you adopt an ISO? A poor ISO, who cannot otherwise fend for itself in the cruel world of digital information. He's here one day and gone the next. Replaced by newer and better. Would you be willing to love, test, and use him while he is in existence? May his death not be in vain, but rather for the greater good of advancing us closer to that golden iso release to which we will all turn. It's powers we hope will transform our computers into the goodness that is ubuntu precise!

I trust my story has stirred your heart to action! In all seriousness, the ubuntu community is looking for a few brave volunteers to help shepherd our iso's thru the remaining week before release. If you volunteer, we are asking you to run through all of the testcases each day until next week when we release, for a particular iso and report your results to the isotracker. You can see what's required by having a look at this page. That lists the builds for the isos that were created today, each having some tests that help ensure the isos don't contain bugs. It's worth budgeting an hour or two to complete these tests, not including the time you need to download the iso. On Thursday of this week (April 19th 2012), we are scheduled to start the RC image testing which will be a dedicated milestone iso testing, utilizing the same tests.

As an added bonus to sponsoring, I am committing to personally emailing you and following up with help, tips and status updates on iso testing as we go throughout the week. Hurry, this offer won't last forever! To get started, email me personally with your the following info:

• Your testing hardware (real or virtual machine; amd64 or i386)
• Your name and email address
• Optionally, a specific iso(s) you wish to sponsor

I can be reached at nicholas.skaggs at the canonical.com domain. You may also leave a comment on this post, or send a message to the ubuntu-qa mailing list and I will followup with you. After you contact me, I will help you through the adoption process and get you and your new iso off to a wonderful start. Thanks so much for considering making a commitment to ubuntu!

 (If this reads like a "Help save X, donate now!" campaign, then you've read it correctly :-) )

Unity 5.10: What's new and a call for testing

Sprinting in to the finish! Unity 5.8 saw the introduction of the sticky edge being able to be turned off, and the addition of being able to control where the launcher appeared on which monitors.  Unity 5.10 has been released into the team's ppa. This release has been about bugfixes and polish as the precise cycle winds down to a close. Still, there are some notables changes:

• New version of compiz 0.9.7.4
• Bugfixes
• Keybindings changes
• Ctrl + Super + D Minimises all windows
• Ctrl + Super + Cursor up Maximizes the current window
• Ctrl + Super + Cursor down Restores or minimises current window
• Ctrl + Super + Cursor Left or Right Semi-maximises current window
• Unity 2D and Unity 3D has right edge support for sticky edge detection

In addition to the instructions below, Alan Pope (aka popey) has put together an awesome video walkthrough of how to do unity testing. Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgL957zo5QM

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. 

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 by Sunday evening April 8th. Unity 5.10 should land into precise sometime in the middle of next week.

Filing Bugs
Apport should automatically allow you to file crashes for any issues you find during testing. Please mention any bug reports you file in the comments of the failed tests. If you need to report a bug that didn't cause a crash, simply type 'ubuntu-bug unity' into a terminal window and follow the normal process.

Giving Feedback
If you'd like to give feedback on design for unity, Check out the awesome http://unity.ubuntu.com/getinvolved/ site. If your wanting to contribute code or patches, visit the folks on the #ubuntu-unity on freenode.

Getting Help
Don't hesitate to reach out to the wonderful folks on freenode @ #ubuntu-unity, the unity web site, the ubuntu+1 forums, or myself if you have questions. Thanks for helping test ubuntu!

Opportunity: Manual Application Testing for Precise Beta2

As of last Friday, the precise beta2 release went to final and was published. As with beta1, a ppa containing manual test cases via checkbox has been made available. For those who helped test or contribute, perhaps you saw your name in lights? If not go check out those release notes! We appreciate your good work; kudos to our testing community. (BTW, if we missed you, we apologize! Shoot me an email and I will get you added to the list!)

Thanks for everyone who contributed testcases for this testing cycle. We got more comprehensive coverage than beta1. We're always happy to get more tests :-) Take a look at the wiki page for contributing tests. If you are unable to use launchpad for whatever reason, feel free to send a message to the ubuntu-qa mailing list. We can help you get your test cases added to checkbox even if your not a developer.

Now onto the testing! First you need to download the precise beta2 iso. You will find the iso's available here. Pick one that will work on your hardware.

Next, follow this wiki page to get checkbox and the application tests installed, run through the test cases and report your results. Thanks so much for helping test! If you find a bug, Jono has a great tutorial on how to file a bug. Make sure you mention your bug report in your comment if a test fails!

Thanks for testing and helping make ubuntu rock!

Testing MAAS; no mas, no poco

Jorge Castro and Mark Shuttleworth have both blogged about MAAS, or metal as a service and what it means for ubuntu and the server community. The development team is eager to get folks out there testing, using and giving feedback on MAAS, and have created a series of checkbox tests to help do so.

Testing
Check out this page on the wiki for more information. In short, if you've done any unity testing or manual app testing this cycle you will feel right at home.

Filing Bugs
When you respond 'no' to a checkbox test, apport should automatically launch and guide you through the bug filing process.

Giving Feedback
If you'd like to give feedback, comments or even patches, get in touch with the team on launchpad at https://launchpad.net/~maas-devel.

Getting Help
Don't hesitate to reach out to the wonderful folks on MAAS Team, the MAAS devel mailing list, or on IRC #ubuntu-server on freenode. Thanks for helping test ubuntu!