Alpha Release Candidate Testers

Alpha Testing Steps

Here's what you'll do (within 24 hours) when we sound the alarm:

  1. Make a copy of your production environment. Whether it's via a snapshot of your VM or by making copies of your filesystem and database -- you MUST not test using your real, production system!
  2. Point it to the Rock alpha repo (you'll get this when you Contact us to sign-up to be on the team).
  3. Optionally, you can snapshot/backup your database in this state since you may need to do this several times.
  4. Perform a Rock update.
  5. Send your install results to quality@sparkdevnetwork.org and proceed to the next step.
  6. Test the alpha using this Alpha Test Checklist as a guide, using the features as you typically use them. You should continue to kick the tires on as many functions/feature(s) as you can.
  7. Report any findings back to us through Github making sure to mention the alpha release number.
  8. When you are finished with your checklist, send your results to quality@sparkdevnetwork.org.
  9. Be on the lookout, as we may send out another notice to perform another update (i.e., release candidate 2). In this case, YOU MUST rollback to the state your copy was in before the first release candidate was installed. Then start back at step 2 (pointing to the alpha repo).
  10. IMPORTANT! Once the alpha testing phase is over YOU MUST destroy your alpha test Rock installation because it cannot be used for any additional testing. Rock Alpha Bits are unstable and cannot be successfully used for future updates. Alpha TESTERS WHO FAIL TO DO THIS WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE TEAM. (We've lost time dealing with false issues that resulted from people who attempted to upgrade an alpha release to another alpha release.)

Mind your URLs!

You need to be extremely cautious and always ensure you're working on your test-release candidate system and not your production system. It's too easy to confuse them since they'll look identical. We recommend you change the #content-wrapper #page-title theme background color on your test system to orange or another screamer.

Alpha Releases Are Unstable Bits

Remember: You must never try to continue using the alpha release after the testing period is over because those bits are unstable -- meaning we often make changes in the final release that your system would never pick-up during a future update.