Quality in Quantal: A community perspective

I originally posted this wonderful wall of text on the ubuntu-qa mailing list. If you want to get invovled in QA on ubuntu this cycle, you should subscribe to that list. Additionally, sign-up for the ubuntu testing team. Monitoring this blog and @UbuntuTesting will also keep you informed.


ISOTesting
My goal is to help ensure things are smooth before milestones, and
before isotesting events. Before we spin an iso, we want to feel good
about what's going on that iso. And we as a community can help make that
happen. Overall, I want each individual to have a lighter workload than
last cycle, despite having a similar amount of overall work we need to
achieve. To do this I'd like to help enable more people to be testing,
and to expand the 'adopt an iso' program so that folks can focus on
testing things they like and are able to test without becoming
overwhelmed or burnt out. Additionally, respins will be a continuous
focus and communication of what has changed and what needs tested will
be a priority. As a community we want to avoid doing re-work/extra work
and dedicate ourselves to performing quality testing, not merely having
a large quantity of testing.

Application Testing
Last cycle we utilized checkbox to deliver manual application tests.
During UDS, we spoke of expanding the isotracker to do our testcase
management, and thus consolidate our application testing by using the
same tool used for the isotracker to create an application tracker. This
work is on-going, but should be finished at some point during the cycle
so we can adopt it and use it. In the interim period will be continue
utilizing checkbox or doing manual testing via blogs or mailing lists, etc.

SRU Verification
SRU verification is currently a manual process with a high learning
curve and little visibility for many people. During the cycle, we hope
to help change that but also utilizing a new tracker to do SRU testing.
This testing will involve running the stable version (currently precise)
of ubuntu, but testing fixes to individual packages. This makes it a
good fit for those who aren't living on the bleeding edge but wish to
help. When this process is ironed out (sometime during the cycle) I will
contact everyone again with information on howto get involved.

General Testing (eg, Day-to-Day running of the development version)
Some good feedback was given on how to help make this better. There are
a few things we would like to do to help improve this process. First,
day to day changes should be able to be followed easier with some
proposed changes to update-manager to better display changelogs for
updated packages. I'll be detailing some information about how
'whoopsie' works and what it means to you. In addition, keeping the
development release stable at all times will continue to be a priority
for the development teams.

Calls for testing (specific feature or new features of critical package
or focused testing on a specific package)
Last cycle this typically involved me posting and laying out a basic
testplan on my blog with instructions on how to help test. This cycle,
again we hope to consolidate this onto a tracker where the tests and
results can be recorded. I will still be utilizing my blog, the
@ubuntutesting twitter account, this mailing list and our IRC meeting to
publicize events like this for people to get involved and contribute.
It's always fun to see new features before they come to everyone else,
and the feedback loop with the developers was welcome on both sides.

QATracker Development
With these changes to the qatracker, there is room for some folks who
know python and django to get involved and help improve the qatracker
codebase to make testing and reporting easier  Contact me, or simply
have a look at the code on launchpad and start hacking.
lp:~ubuntu-qa-website-devel/ubuntu-qa-website/drupal7-rewrite
lp:~ubuntu-qa-website-devel/ubuntu-qa-website/drupal7-rewrite-testcase-management
lp:~ubuntu-qa-website-devel/ubuntu-qa-website/python-qatracker
lp:~ubuntu-qa-website-devel/ubuntu-qa-website/python-qatracker-testcase-management

Hardware Database
The idea for having a hardware database for testing is not a new one,
but work has begun anew. This is work that will go beyond this cycle,
but ideas are being explored at using ubuntu friendly and other tools to
make this a reality.

Testcases
As a testcase management system will soon be in place (hurray!), we'll
be migrating all of the testcases over to this system. That means will
have much better visibility and ease of maintenance for all of our
testcases. Cleanup and expansion of the number of testcases is
definitely a goal for the cycle, and expect to hear more about getting
involved in this area.

Whew, that's a wall of text, but I hope it helps outline what the plans
are for the cycle. Feedback appreciated and encouraged  Happy Testing!