As announced earlier the kernel team is looking for a some folks to help bring the 12.10 kernel to 12.04. Once 12.10 has been released, the team wants to enable newer hardware support via the kernel for the LTS version of the desktop. So, since the original announcement, we've had 10 people help test the various builds of the kernel from the ppa. Thanks so much to all who tested! Now we'd like to take this testing to the next level.
We've put together a list of commonly used hardware that we want to ensure proper support for the kernel. I'm asking for volunteers to run the kernel from the ppa on precise and report results. The catch here is that we want to have at least 1 person who has each piece of hardware listed be represented. Make sense? For example, we want folks running nvidia cards to have at least a couple people reporting results using nouveau and the proprietary driver. Same for AMD and Intel. On the wireless side, getting someone who has a chipset of each of the manufacturers listed is our goal. This is a first step in our on-going efforts to help make testing and quality a more assured and quantitative effort. We're going 'quantal' if you will. For those who want to have even more detailed and specific hardware testing, hang tight. If you'll remember this past UDS we spoke about creating a community hardware database. Work to enable this is on-going, and I hope to be able to share more about it in the coming months. In the meantime, let's build up a list of folks and systems ready to populate such a database, shall we? ;-)
So if your interested in helping, go ahead and edit that wiki page. Add yourself under one or more pieces of hardware. There's a handy script that should help you identify what's in your system if your not quite sure. Then head over to the QATracker.
Once there click on 'Quantal kernel for precise LTS', you will wind up on a page showcasing the tests and instructions for this call for testing. If you click the on 'Link to the installation information' you will get information on installing and uninstalling the package. Similarly the 'Link to bug reporting instructions' provides details on reporting a bug you find in the test case. Finally, if you click 'Kernel Smoke Tests' you'll arrive on the page to report your testcase results. Note you will need to sign in using your ubuntu sso account to report results.
If you encounter issues, you can always reboot into your current working kernel and be back to normal. As always, if you have any issues in using the tracker, feel free to get in touch with me.
Alright, this sounds like fun.
ReplyDeleteI am already a member of ubuntu ISO testing team
ReplyDeleteCan i join the kernel test team?
Certainly! Anyone is welcome to start testing. If you have any trouble understanding how to use the qatracker to report results, let me know and I'm happy to help you. Thanks!
DeleteMy name is Galen Hugh DeBord. I am the contact person for the Missouri (USA) Ubuntu LoCo Team and I will be posting some information about the kernel testing and seeking volunteers in my weekly meeting announcements. I need a little more information but I will start with the sticky post on the forum I found. I also would like to know of any special events that are coming up soon to announce at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI can be reached on the Missouri Ubuntu Team forum as Windwalker52 at any time and our meeting is every Friday at 8pm on Freenode ubuntu-us-mo Central Time.
Galen, sounds great I'd be happy to help. Feel free to get in touch with me via email -- contact links are above. Special testing events are always announced via the ubuntu-qa mailing list, among other places.
DeleteI just followed the instructions but ran into a snag; I forgot I had some non-standard packages installed to get my netbook's wireless going and they clashed with the new kernel. Then when I tried to follow the removal instructions at http://packages.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/milestones/223/builds/19371/downloads the changes wouldn't undo. For one thing there's a newer kernel now, so instead of 3.5.0-6.6 I believe it's 3.5.0-7 -- the second to the last line should now be:
ReplyDeletesudo apt-get remove --purge linux-image-generic-lts-quantal linux-headers-generic-lts-quantal linux-image-3.5.0-7-generic linux-headers-3.5.0-7 linux-headers-3.5.0-7-generic
I'm doing a clean install now so I can properly test the kernel. (If the wireless doesn't work again with the stock kernel I will use a wired connection until I finish the testing.)
Web, yes, the kernel got updated and I was a little delayed in updating the instructions. Everything should be clear now :-)
DeleteI've been testing the 3.5 kernel backport to precise and it solved my complete freeze problems that I had with precise vanilla kernel (e.g. LP 999910 and the infamous 993187).
ReplyDeleteThe ppa also shows upgrades to X and other packages. Are they also meant to be tested?
Pedro, no those x-bits aren't meant to be tested as of yet. The X team at some point may wish to also have the X-stack tested, but it's not ready yet.
DeleteWill the QA Tracker be updated for the 3.5.0-7 kernel?
ReplyDeleteRicardo, good eye. Yes, the tracker has been updated. Thanks!
DeleteI want to confirm how to create the hardware profile for the smoke tests.
ReplyDeleteI assumed I would just run checkbox and point to the URL it creates in Launchpad, HOWEVER that doesn't seem to be what other folks are doing AND it turns out the checkbox-created hwdb fingerprint is identical for the two laptops I am testing, despite them having completely different screen sizes, chipsets, processors, everything different except for the brand (ACER). I opened a question against launchpad because it seems like the fingerprints SHOULD be unique for unique hardware.
For this purpose, it looks like folks created a file with the output of lshw and posted it to public file storage such as ubuntuone. I just want to confirm this is the proper procedure, and maybe suggest the smoke test or case qatracker page could say so. Thank you!
Web, yes for now posting the output of lshw on public storage works fine. The long term plan is to have this integrate with a community hardware database. Once the database is up and running it will instead present you with a list of machines linked to your username. I will add this to the wiki so it's not a point of confusion.
DeleteLittle bit confused how to use the smoke test thingo.
ReplyDeleteEverything works fine on my xps15 ivy bridge.
Booted fine, graphics and networking are fine.
katoiam
Liam, I'm sorry to hear you were confused! There's a lovely walkthrough of the qatracker and more information here on our wiki page; including video. Let me know if that doesn't make the process clearer for you.
Deletehttps://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/QATracker
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/CallforTesting/Walkthrough