How to be a good bug-buster
Example explained for the elpanel beta-testing in the Ticket 70 (but do not use so many words. Be precise to save time for both people.)
To test elpanel correctly you need to add elpanel to your dock, launch and do these 6 essential steps:
- Check if the program works well
- Search for bugs or visual defects
- Test the different parts of the program to see if the program works well in its entirety
- Try to launch all possible combinations of programs and different parts of the program
- Use your brain, try using the program under many different circumstances to see if it works with other programs and the distro as a whole. For example, configure the network with with different interfaces (eth0, eth1, ath0, wifi0, ra0...), also test what happens if you configure the network and disconnect the cable.
- Think how the program works. The work of a beta-tester is not show how well the program works. It is the complete opposite. Your mission is to try to crash the application, to find a bug. Just as a cracker looks for a bug to enter a system without privileges, you need to be more intelligent than the machine. You need to understand how the machine and the program works and how the program communicates with the machine. You should try to confuse the program within limits. You need to beat the program. Only then... are you really satisfied.
Note: If it is not possible to test something, inform others so that they may do the test.
