Re: Extras-testing marathon
 

What mve said.

I spoke too simply previously. It's not just bugs I've been wrong about, but app usability/enjoyability/etc. So, yeah, I like to play with things a while. But committing to a marathon on my day off from work should do the trick... :D

Re: Extras-testing marathon
 

Uh... I didn't once say "don't test properly", so please, don't put words into my mouth. I'm talking about voting on the apps you're already using anyway, not clicking thumbs up just because they install cleanly.

And by the way, users much prefer having OS bugs than not having apps available. Look at how many people bought and keep using their iPhones even though iPhones seem to drop 10-30% of their calls (depending on who you ask). That's the most major function on a phone with a really major problem, but yet the iPhone is still flying off the shelves. Why? Because it has the apps that users want.

As soon as the user sees that a phone doesn't have any software, they almost always just end up returning it and buying something else instead. That's why testing these apps and actually trying to help get packages the extra love or thumbs up/down is so important.

Re: Extras-testing marathon
 

I plan to work today on a basic checklist both for developers and betatesters. That list will probably contain evident tests e.g. it installs / deinstalls and others less evident e.g. power management abuse.

I believe that once we have a more mature community testing workflow it won't be needed that all betatesters go through all items. Some might spend few mnutes to check that descrptiond and bugzilla component are in place, others might look at legal content and overall functionality in place. Other familiar with the right tools will check power management and system performance. Others might concentrate on optification, and so on.

There are two things I'm missing after using the system a lot:

- Clear differentiation between new uploads and updates. If an app is already in Extras and what comes is a minor update with a documented changelog and perhaps even a link to a diff then testing might be quite strightforward in many cases.

- Clear differentiation between items I have already rated and the rest. Already in the generic list. It would be also great to see the general history of evaluations of previous versions. And my own ratings of previous versions of an app. Testing a minor update of an app that has gone through 5 updates all with very positive feedback and always thumbs up from me is a different case than an app that got rejected a couple of times and actually got thumbs down from me in the past.

Yes, I know all this is plenty of work. I was wondering if with so many new people we wouldn't find more web developers around?

Re: Extras-testing marathon
 

Maybe looking into the Bugzilla addon Testopia (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/testopia/) would be a good idea. Programmers/project managers can create full test plans which basically work exactly like a checklist, split up into parts. Perhaps user A will run through the Save/Load checklist and user B will run through installation procedures. Once a test fails, a bug is automatically created with most of the important points and steps already filled in.

Even if it's deemed that Testopia is too hardcore for our users, it can be used as a checklist management tool anyways, hidden away.

Re: Extras-testing marathon
 

Sweet.

Uhm, I happen to know of a web developer. Me. ;-) Why?

Nathan.

Re: Extras-testing marathon
 

Showing that the app is already in Extras is pretty easy to add.

Changelog is on my TODO, but this is a bigger item. This requires parsing of the actual debs.

You can now see on which app you have voted already in the QA list.

History should be relatively easy to add. I'm not actually sure if this is a good thing. Aren't you more likely to vote thumb up and test less when you have voted on the app in the past?

As said before, a simple fix in a package can make it not behave or crash. Every version of a package should be tested, no matter what.

Re: Extras-testing marathon
 

I have some code to do that. I can dump the deb contents somewhere if you like?

I think so. But it would be nice to see how others voted.

The list of older versions is already kinda long and bound to get longer so I think limiting history at least might be worthwhile.

Re: Extras-testing marathon
 

I don't agree.

a) I am sure you are using some of these programs already (are you really not using gainroot/openssh/... etc?) So you can at least leave a comment/rating for those applications you are already using. I doubt that their number really is zero

b) If all those 300 people were developers adding their programs right now, we'd be seeing much more new software coming into extras-devel

Re: Extras-testing marathon
 

I have had the device for a month now, but I also got a daily work and a girlfriend to whom I want to spend my evenings with.
It's already HARD to find time to work my own application (and that's REALLY FUN!).
I decided to give the two hours I had yesterday evening to testing instead of playing with my code and I voted a few apps.

I will try to do it again, but it's already hard to dedicate a full (two hours!) evening to Xournal let alone testing (properly) also. Even though I use some of those apps already (and, in fact, I voted for them).

So.. please, it's not easy for us to find time to do testing.
But we'll do it anyway.
But understand us :)

Re: Extras-testing marathon
 

this video at the beginning (also at the end of part1, easily found) is about the app manager. the nokia employee shows how to enable the by default disabled extras repository.