[X2Go-Dev] X2Go QA brain storming session

Mike Gabriel mike.gabriel at das-netzwerkteam.de
Wed Nov 12 13:20:07 CET 2014


Hi All,

Kjetil from fleten.net and I just had an X2Go QA brain storming  
session. The context is a school project with a 2 months duration  
about the general topic QA. The teachers at that school addressed  
Kjetil in the search for possible QA projects. We arranged for an X2Go  
QA project with that school, starting in two weeks' time (or so) from  
now.

Being aware of several approaches one could take for software QA, we  
chose a very simple and feasible approach (considering the short  
period of preparation time).

X2Go currently offers two clients (X2Go Client, PyHoca-GUI).

These two clients run on various Linux distributions, MS Windows and  
Mac OS X (X2Go Client only).

These two clients connect to Linux servers running X2Go.

The possible scenarios on X2Go Servers are so versatile, that we  
definitely need to exclude many possible scenarios from testing and  
only focus on some. As this project is supported by Kjetil's company  
as a non-profit project, we will as a first step focus on testing  
current X2Go features that are provided to customer's at fleten.net.

So the gain for fleten.net is intensive testing of a setup similar to  
what they provide to their customers.

The gain for the X2Go project is a matrix / a scheme for testing  
current X2Go features in various contexts. The idea is that others  
jump in and enhance the methodology, increase the number of tests and  
automize parts of the tests, as well. The final goal is that someone  
comes in who really knows how software QA works and set up a proper QA  
scheme for X2Go. Not now, but as a final goal.

For X2Go QA, Kjetil and I were of the same opinion, that never any  
X2Go component should ever "call home" if an error occurs. This is  
about respecting people's privacy when using X2Go software in the  
first place. Also, a potential "calling-home" feature should  
definitely be optional (the user gets asked, if a bug report is to be  
sent...). However, from experiences with MS Windows and also with  
recent Ubuntu versions, this extra bit of requiring a certain user  
interaction is not something we want the user to burden with.

What we will work on during this week: Provide a(n incomplete) list of  
X2Go features and compile information about which of the two clients  
supports what feature. Months back, I already started such a list (but  
got distracted by other stuff). Kjetil will fill in more features and  
rework that list, whereas I will review and edit that list later-on.  
We work on this list via the X2Go wiki [1].

Potential subprojects for the student project could then be:

(1)

   o Create a general remote desktop computing feature list
     (what would I expect from a remote desktop computing software)
   o Create a list of X2Go features
   o see how these two list match...

(2)

   o Create a matrix for X2Go feature testing
   o Not all features can be tested, as this maybe goes beyond the  
scope of this student
     project

(3)

   o Some students could work on jenkins based package installation  
tests (after new
     nightly build packages are available)

(4)

   o Students can focus on X2Go Server / X2Go Client / PyHoca-GUI  
debug messages and see
     if there are log messages that are:

       - useless (and should be silenced)
       - really helpful for debugging
       - are useful for heavy debugging, but obfuscate log message output
         -> change log levels of certain debug messages

   o Basically, the debug output of X2Go Server / Client / Python X2Go  
should provide\
     easy-to-read information on what the actual problem of the user is.

(5)

   o Translate better between server-side errors and reporting them on  
the client-side
     (big task!!!)


(6)

   o The QA testers need to be able to use the X2Go bug tracker, so  
that they can provide
     information to the X2Go BTS if tests fail.


(7)

   o ... (??? any input from others ???)

So far to the summary of what we are currently working on. If people  
have input on this and that or ideas, please feel free to enhance our  
discussion.

For next week, we will schedule a meeting with the QA teacher of the  
school that we are about to cooperate with. Part of the project will  
be that I (Mike#1) will come to Denmark and visit that class of  
students and provide support at critical points of the project  
(integration).

light+love,
Mike

[1] http://wiki.x2go.org/doku.php/wiki:development:x2go-qa


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