Step 2: Testing your Xubuntu installation.

As was mentioned in the previous step, now that you've installed Xubuntu, you have already tested the installation and this very valuable testing needs to be reported via the Iso Tracker, more info about which you will see on the Step 3: Reporting back page that follows

There are actually two types of testing:

1. Exploratory Testing
2. Static Testing

Both types of testing are only summarised below, but a lot more detail can be found in the quality assurance chapters of the contributors docs.

Deciding which type of testing is best for you is dependent on the type of installation that you can do; installing Xubuntu as the main Operating System is best suited to exploratory testing - with the remaining installation options becoming more suited to static testing as you move down through the 4 alternatives listed on the Install the Xubuntu Development version page.

If in doubt it is perhaps best to start with exploratory testing with Xubuntu installed as your main OS, or as 'dual boot' option alongside your existing OS.

This type of testing holds the greatest value for the Xubuntu Development Team. The way to find bugs in applications is for you to use them.

You just do what you do during your normal use of Xubuntu.

After you have installed Xubuntu, install all your favourite extra apps and then carrying on using it until the release cycle ends.

It's important to keep Xubuntu up to date every day (e.g. using the software updater), to make sure that you don't see and report bugs that have already been fixed.

Although at the beginning of the release cycle using a VM may well be fine, later on installing as the main OS or dual-booting are preferred since they are closer to the 'real life' case.

Should you find bugs, or anything you think the Development Team should know, please move on to Step 3 and report back.

This is testing in its purest form – you get and install the ISO and test it without installing anything else or changing anything to your main system - the ISO remains 'static'. Static testing means that you check that Xubuntu installs without problems and that the pre-installed apps work. Actually, each of the different installation methods as shown in this example of test cases for Bionic Beaver on the Ubuntu QA tracker need to be tested, but you can choose which ones you want to help with.

Then the next day (or the next time you test) you download and install the latest Daily ISO and again test the OS without installing anything else or changing anything to your main system. Instead of re-downloading the whole ISO each time you can use Zsync to update it (zsync only downloads the bits that have changed). For zsync to work - you must have the original download available.

This type of testing is mostly needed during community testing weeks, when the Xubuntu QA team puts out a call for testers on the development mailing list and the social media outlets.

Although often done in a virtual machine, you can just as well static test on hardware; dual-booting for example would require just a small partition on your hard drive.

Should you find bugs, or anything you think the Development Team should know, please move on to Step 3 and report back.