How to join the new Qubes OS testing team (message from deeplow & unman)

[Andrew David Wong]

Dear Qubes Community,

The message below is from deeplow and unman. Here's the link to the
original post on the Qubes Forum:

https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/joining-the-testing-team/5190

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# Joining the Testing Team

## What's the testing team?

It's a group of users who help make Qubes better.
They commit to testing updates and releases of Qubes OS, and are willing
to provide test results, confirm issues, and identify particular edge cases.
This is key to detecting issues early on, and stop them affecting more
users.

## What's the risk?

For those willing to enable the testing repositories for the [current
release](https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/testing/#updates)
the risk is minimal, because the packages will end up in current anyway.

**If security and stability are crucial to you, you should use the
current stable release,
not enable the testing repositories, and not join the testing team.**

## How to join the testing team?

1. Request to join the testing team
* **Via forum** (preferred): request to join [here
](https://forum.qubes-os.org/g/testing-team) (requires JavaScript and a
forum account)
* **Via email:** send an email to `register-testing-team at
forum.qubes-os.org` saying you'd like to join (does not require
JavaScript or a forum account)

2. Follow the instructions for the kind of testing you want to help with
(testing updates / releases)

>Testing Type|Instructions|Description|
> --- | --- | --- |
>Testing Updates|[see
here](https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/testing/#updates)|Enabling the
testing repositories (e.g. 4.0 testing)|
>Testing Releases|[part 1
](https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/testing/#releases) & [part
2](https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/testing/#updates)|Running the upcoming
Qubes version (e.g. 4.1) and enabling the testing repositories.|

3. Report issues in the appropriate category:
* **If testing updates**, post in the '4.0 Testing' category, or
email `testing-updates at forum.qubes-os.org` .
* **if testing releases**, post in the '4.1 Testing' category, or
email `testing-releases at forum.qubes-os.org` .

You can leave the group at any time by following steps similar to the
ones in `1`.

Packages move through the testing process quite quickly. Ideally you
would be able to update at least once a week.

When 4.1 moves toward release, we will see if we can test some of the
open issues in 4.0, and confirm they have been closed.

[Yethal]

Does running automated tests on own hardware count as being part of testing team? I have some spare machines I can dedicate to that

[Andrew David Wong]

On 7/29/21 9:05 AM, Yethal wrote:
> Does running automated tests on own hardware count as being part of testing
> team? I have some spare machines I can dedicate to that
>

Thanks! That's a good question. I'm not entirely certain. It might be
best to ask this in the testing section of the forum.

--
Andrew David Wong
Community Manager
The Qubes OS Project
https://www.qubes-os.org

[unman]

On Thu, Jul 29, 2021 at 11:10:54PM -0700, Andrew David Wong wrote:
> On 7/29/21 9:05 AM, Yethal wrote:
> > Does running automated tests on own hardware count as being part of testing
> > team? I have some spare machines I can dedicate to that
> >
>
> Thanks! That's a good question. I'm not entirely certain. It might be best
> to ask this in the testing section of the forum.
>

Thanks- it probably would, and could play an important part.
One of the problems with Qubes is that we know the packages compile and
pass some tests. What's missing is the use testing, and that's primarily
what the testing team is aimed at. Automated tests can certainly play
some part in that.