Upgrade Testing

[Elfy]

On 29/01/14 19:21, Richard Elkins wrote:
> Elfy,
>
> I am not trying to be picky but it is not just an issue of 
> "settings".  There are issues about mixtures of MBR boot loaders, VBR 
> boot loaders, boot managers, their ages, and what order partition boot 
> chaining is performed.  To whatever degree that folks have time and 
> energy and resources, there are subtleties that are worth verifying.  
> Of course, I respect that we all need to prioritize our time.
>
> A useful if simplified reference: 
> http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-linuxboot/
> More detailed description of the MBR: 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record
> and the partition-resident Volume Boot Record (VBR) i.e. partition 
> boot record: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volume_boot_record
>
> For example, imagine a circa 2007 PC running Windows XP that had 12.04 
> added in 2012 as a dual-boot machine.  Both OSes are stable.  The MBR 
> is probably a 2005 bootloader created by Windows XP.  The boot manager 
> is probably the Windows XP NTLDR.  The user, based on the Windows 
> C:\boot.ini file, selects either Windows or 12.04 to boot.  If Windows 
> is selected, then NTLDR initiates the loading of the rest of Windows 
> from the current partition.  If 12.04 is selected, the 12.04 Linux 
> kernel in the destination partition is booted.
>
> Depending on how 12.04 was installed, it is also possible that the 
> boot manager invoked by the MBR is the 12.04 Grub.  In this case, the 
> user selects either Windows or 12.04 from the Grub menu.  Grub boots 
> up Windows in the destination partition or 12.04 in the current partition.
>
> So, in just this example, we can see the interaction of at least 3 
> different bootloaders and there are two different orders in which 
> either OS can be invoked.
>
> Note that I inadvertently forgot the multi-boot with MACOSX scenario 
> in the previous mail.   I have done this successfully in the past with 
> an iMac but dare not attempt this today with my wife's Macbook Air 
> without risking being exiled to the couch!
>
> Richard
>
>
>

You can do as you wish - and the more testing you can do - the happier 
we will be.

However, for the majority of people they don't have the time.

The testcases we use are in fact generic ones for Ubuntu and all the 
flavours who use the tracker.

I can almost guarantee that if we made the upgrade testcases anymore 
complicated with more variants that the numbers reported would drop from 
the ~12 we'll get to close to zero.

There is no way that we can cover ever eventuality.

Elfy

-- 
Ubuntu Forum Council Member
Xubuntu QA Lead

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