Good morning all, I hope you're doing well today.
I am writing to you today to discuss a few ideas, proposals and concerns
that I have about my experience in the Debian community over the past 6
months or so:
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Script for Point Release ISO Testing Session
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I have been a Debian fan for the longest time and I wanted to get
involved in the project somehow, so I joined the point release ISO
testing team last year and it was an amazing experience. I had a great
time, I learned a lot and I met some great people. I did notice the
testing procedures that were used were a little ad-hoc and manual in
nature and I saw a potential opportunity to enhance the testing process.
I had some ideas for improvements that I feel could benefit the project
from an accountability standpoint, time to release standpoint and
enhanced efficiency and efficacy of user testing. Here are my ideas:
-- Development of a custom script that would work very much in a
wizard-like fashion that testers would run on their machines when
conducting their tests. The script would gather pertinent information
such as the time data related to the test, the specific ISO that was
tested and by whom, the hardware that was tested on, who their tester
manager was, etc, etc. The script would produce some kind of data or
report that could be filed away with the point release artefacts or they
could be published to increase trust from customers. I was considering
Bash or Perl for that piece as there would be no problem running either
script on Linux. I have a rough outline of the script that I personally
developed for my last testing run but I could have the piece in a
production ready state if you like the idea. If the script were to enter
some kind of development, I would appreciate the assistance from former
DPL sledge as he deals a lot with the ISO work.
-- Having formal testing criteria. When I arrived last year, there were
no formal testing requirements given to me so I was slightly confused as
to what to test honestly. One thing that bothers me a bit about the lack
of formal testing criteria is that it lower our chances of catching bugs
across the various architectures. Given the lack of testing criteria, we
could potentially okay an ISO and then it breaks in the customer’s
production environment that may cause issues. A couple of ideas that I
had to enhance the testing effort are:
oCompose a formal testing document that can be issued to the testing
team on the day of testing and can be signed off by the tester.
oIncluding the test run within the proposed script idea above. The
script above was more about information gathering and stats about the
test but I see no reason why the test criteria itself could not be
included within the script after the entire info gathering is done.
-This will increase the integrity of the ISO testing process, enhance
customer trust within the ISOs and allow the team a wider scope for
catching bugs prior to release and shipping. I feel the more rigorous
our testing is, the greater the trust we can gain from customers.
I would love to hear your take on those ideas and if you think they
would benefit the project. I’m happy to discuss further and provide
demos of the script or the document, just let me know if this is
something that you think would benefit Debian.
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Formal Recognition of Point Release ISO Testers
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When I took part in the testing run last year, I noticed that there was
no formal recognition of the testers. I know that might sound like a
small thing but personally, I think it is an important thing. I and
other volunteers in the testing team gave up our own time in support of
the project that we love and the leaders present were very thankful for
our contributions but I think some formal recognition would go a long
way. A couple of ideas that I had surrounding this point:
- - Congratulatory email from the DPL to the testers involved or
at least to the tester distribution list.
-- Acknowledgement of testers in release notes.
-- Certificates of participation for the testers.
They may seem small but I think they would have a big impact on the
testing team personally and given how small they are, I would say it
would be beneficial to include something like that. The certificate
could be generated quite easily and I am happy to provide templates for
that. Of course, names and handles of testers will only be included in
such acknowledgements only when they opt-in to them as to not cause any
issues for individuals.
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Point Release Testing Register
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I am not sure if there is an official register but I had an idea of
having a register just so Sledge and the team can plan the event a
little ahead of time. It does not have to be anything fancy but simple a
PHP form or an Excel document would probably suffice. I know we register
our interests on email but I think it might be a good idea to register
intent on a web form and then we can de-register if plans change or
whatnot. Again, this is mainly for planning purposes so Sledge and the
team can plan ahead somewhat and make the testing runs as quick and
efficient as possible.
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Extended Modes / Inclusion Modes In Debian Installer
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We live in a time where almost everyone has access to computers
regardless of their ability or disability. I have an ambition to make
changes to the Debian Installer that would make DI more inclusive to
people with disabilities. Some feature ideas include:
-- Colour blindness mode.
-- High contrast mode.
-- Large text / Braille toggles.
-- Dark mode toggle.
-- Colour scheme toggles.
-- Dyslexic mode.
-- Jumbo mode.
-- Easy / Novice mode for technophobic or novice users.
-- Etc
It is something that came to mind and thought I would propose. There is
no code or project setup for this piece but I would love to hear your
take on it, if the project could benefit from such inclusion features
within the DI. If such features were to be included, it could be a
contender for most inclusive Linux installer of them all.
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Bullying & Harassment By A Debian Member
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When I came into the project last year in 2023, I experienced bullying
and harassment by a member of the Debian project and since that time, I
have distanced myself from that person, their accomplices, the Debian
project itself, and have not participated in any point release testing
due to that person being there. I was wondering:
- - Are Debian members held to any kind of Code of Conduct whilst
being a member of the Debian project?
-- Is there a person or team who deal with issues such as bullying and
harassment within the project that I could make contact with to help
make the project testing area a safe place for me to return to.
I want to thank you for your time today. I wish our new leader, Mr
Andreas Tille all the best in his role and I hope I can return to the
project as I am bursting with enthusiasm, drive, passion and ideas for
this wonderful project and have a great day. Enjoy the weather if you can.
Best regards,
Martin
