Extras-testing

The maemo.org extras-testing repository hosts community applications and related packages that are waiting to be evaluated and promoted to Maemo 5 Extras. The packages hosted here are promoted from extras-devel and have gone through an automated quality check. Now they need real humans assessing that they are indeed ready to be released.

Contents

Target: Maemo 5 testers

Power users willing to help Maemo 5 developers getting their apps ready are encouraged to activate this repository. Applications in extras-testing might break and cause trouble to your system! Regular users are enouraged to stay away.

Activating extras-testing

Users willing to give a hand testing and evaluating community applications must start activating the extras-testing repository in the Application Manager of their Maemo 5 compatible device.

Application manager --> Application catalogs --> New
Catalog name: maemo.org extras-testing
Web address: http://repository.maemo.org/extras-testing
Distribution: fremantle
Components: free non-free

Packages waiting to be evaluated

Quality criteria

There are several elements to be considered before voting Up/Down. Please take your time looking at them. Don't evaluate lightly an application! If you are busy or in a hurry just let others do the job.

Blockers

If one of these criteria is not met, the application cannot go to Extras.

  • Reproducible crashes.
  • Visible affects performance and responsiveness of the system.
  • Power management issues affecting battery life.
  • Unacceptable security risks.
  • Core features advertised through UI or product page don't work or are missing.
  • Lack of bug reporting database (http://bugs.maemo.org is the preferred option, otherwise it needs to be identified in the http://maemo.org/packages/ page).
  • Only for updates of apps already existing in Extras: missing page with screenshot in http://maemo.org/downloads.
  • Evident licensing or copyright violation.
  • (((Anything else to say about content? e.g. racist, pornographic...)))

Warnings

If one of these criteria is not met, the developers will be asked to fix them urgently. Still, the app can make it slowly to Extras unless a blocker is raised.

  • Details at http://maemo.org/packages/ are missing or incomplete: summary, URL to project, updates info.
  • Application icon missing or not visible in the device.

Testers with good technical knowledge are invited to look deeper in the Maemo Quality considerations (((waiting for Fremantle update))) in order to find weak points in applications waiting to be promoted.

Promotion / Demotion

An application is promoted to Extras when...

An application is demoted to Extras-devel when, for some reason, "extras-devel issues" still show up: missing dependencies, install/uninstall problems, "Other" section (what else? are they documented anywhere?).

Tools for testers

Testing tools help finding non-obvious flaws and getting useful data from visible problems.

Crash Reporter

Install this tool in your device (((once the Fremantle version is public))) in order to register data from crashes suffered by an application or its dependent components.