feydrutha
2009-12-15, 17:54
Brainstorm link (http://maemo.org/community/brainstorm/view/notify_users_of_new_application_releases_ready_for _testing/)
I think it would be useful to allow users to register as testers for specific applications, and receive an email notification when a new version is uploaded to extras-testing.
This is useful for three reasons:
getting new releases into extras: the current QA process requires that each new version of an application go through the extras-testing repository, and be tested by a number of people before it can be moved to extras. This is sensible to ensure quality, but it introduces a lag in the release of new versions to users that slows down adoption of the new version and may be frustrating for developers. An email notification to interested testers should speed up the process, especially for popular applications. If a lot of users are interested in an application and some of them register as testers and receive a notification, chances are the update can quickly be tested and moved on to extras.
getting good testers: people who actually use an application on a daily basis are best qualified to test new releases and notice if there are regressions, if saved application data is lost, etc.
more casual testers: I think it would be important to make it easier for users who are not deeply involved in the maemo community to be able to contribute to testing of applications they are interested in. Many users are "selfish" in the sense that they are not willing or able to contribute a lot of time to the community, but they may be willing to test applications that they use, or where they are waiting for a specific feature to be implemented, or applications that they are simply curious to try out. However, this type of user may well forget to check for new updates of the apps he is interested in.
Additional Comment:
As discussed in this thread, if you enable the extras-testing repository you will be automatically informed of new versions of applications directly on the phone. However, I think most users do not want to keep the extras repository enabled most of the time, to avoid accidentally installing a testing version of apps they do NOT want to test.
I think it would be useful to allow users to register as testers for specific applications, and receive an email notification when a new version is uploaded to extras-testing.
This is useful for three reasons:
getting new releases into extras: the current QA process requires that each new version of an application go through the extras-testing repository, and be tested by a number of people before it can be moved to extras. This is sensible to ensure quality, but it introduces a lag in the release of new versions to users that slows down adoption of the new version and may be frustrating for developers. An email notification to interested testers should speed up the process, especially for popular applications. If a lot of users are interested in an application and some of them register as testers and receive a notification, chances are the update can quickly be tested and moved on to extras.
getting good testers: people who actually use an application on a daily basis are best qualified to test new releases and notice if there are regressions, if saved application data is lost, etc.
more casual testers: I think it would be important to make it easier for users who are not deeply involved in the maemo community to be able to contribute to testing of applications they are interested in. Many users are "selfish" in the sense that they are not willing or able to contribute a lot of time to the community, but they may be willing to test applications that they use, or where they are waiting for a specific feature to be implemented, or applications that they are simply curious to try out. However, this type of user may well forget to check for new updates of the apps he is interested in.
Additional Comment:
As discussed in this thread, if you enable the extras-testing repository you will be automatically informed of new versions of applications directly on the phone. However, I think most users do not want to keep the extras repository enabled most of the time, to avoid accidentally installing a testing version of apps they do NOT want to test.