Comments on first verification QA

[Tres Seaver]

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I finally got my stuff together to add verifies to a couple of packages
(openssh, httpd) in 'updates-testing' last night.  Here are some
thoughts on the matter:

  - I have only the one FC box, and it is my production mailserver,
    as well as serving as DNS / webserver for a number of low-volume
    domains with reasonable availability constraints.

  - I rent the box from an ISP, which makes it much scarier to update
    the "core" packages than if I had it physically available.

  - I was only confident enough to update the box because I first did
    a dry-run of the updates against a recently-built "mockup" image
    I built using VMWare's new "VMWare Server" product (freely available
    from their site).

  - I didn't feel comfortable issuing a VERIFY solely on the basis of
    installing the packages in the VMWare replica, mostly because of
    the interations with the parts of the system (virtual domains, etc.)
    which I haven't been able or willing to replicate;  nonetheless,
    having the replica available to do initial testing (particularly
    for openssh) enabled me to proceed with confidence.

I am therefore very much inclined to back the idea that Legacy offer
"minimal" images as starting points for would-be QA volunteers, along
with directions on how to set up either VMWare's Server or Player
products to use them.  We might need to give people clues about using
the "snapshot" facilities provided by the tools to ease the process, as
well.


Tres.
- --
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Tres Seaver          +1 202-558-7113          tseaver at palladion.com
Palladion Software   "Excellence by Design"    http://palladion.com
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