Getting Ready

• A spare computer or hard drive for test installs. A virtual machine can be used but we would prefer to see more tests performed on a variety of physical hardware. The installer will present different questions depending on the hardware detected.
• A moderate level of Linux experience so you are able to find the relevant log files and produce useful bug reports: The Reporting Bugs guide for Ubuntu is a useful read.
• Some available time before a milestone release to perform tests and file reports.
• A launchpad account so you can sign up for testing and report bugs. If you have signed up to edit the Ubuntu wiki you will already have one.

Testing CD Releases

In doing specific testing of the CD/DVD images it is important to focus on those aspects that are typically not used by those who simply run the latest unstable version on their system through daily updates (Such testing is of course also extremely valuable). Key points in image testing include Live CD and installer functionality.

Candidate images will be posted at http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/daily-live/

Filling Bugs

As with all testing it is important to file bugs. If you find a bug, please, search if it has already been reported, and if it hasn't, report it yourself. You should also refer to the bug filing/debugging guide for that specific package (if available) to make sure you are aware of known issues and have attached the relevant log files.

If you don't know what package the bug falls under, file it directly against the Mythbuntu project at:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/mythbuntu

Reporting results

Once you have completed your testing of a particular image, you can report your results at http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/build/mythbuntu

Testing Packages

If you are working on a stable Mythbuntu release, we occasionally post backported versions of packages in the unstable release when they are likely to work on earlier releases too. You can help test these packages by enabling the Mythbuntu Updates PPA.

The Mythbuntu Updates PPA contains software that may not be available in the official repositories, or newer versions of software in the official repositories. This PPA does not contain core MythTV packages but instead software such as MythExport. Adding this PPA is simple, just install the package, and configure it via the Mythbuntu Control Centre.

The Mythbuntu Repos package is configurable from the Mythbuntu Control Centre (installed by default in 12.04+). If you already have the Mythbuntu Repos package installed and would like to activate the Mythbuntu Updates PPA, or just want to change which Mythbuntu repos you currently have activated, just open up the Mythbuntu Control Centre, change your settings, and hit apply. 

For more information see the Mythbuntu Repos page.

1. Disable the MythTV Updates repo from the Mythbuntu Control Centre.
2. Add the relevant bug fixing PPA as requested (eg. "sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mythbuntu-bugs/test1")
3. Update your package lists by doing "sudo apt-get update"
4. Upgrade your packages by doing "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade"
5. Attempt to reproduce the issue that the patch is addressing
6. Report results back to the location requested
7. Disable the PPA that you just enabled (eg. "sudo apt-add-repository -r ppa:mythbuntu-bugs/test1")
8. Reenable the MythTV Updates repo from the Mythbuntu Control Centre (You may want to hold off on reenabling this repo until the proposed patch makes it upstream)
9. Reupdate the package lists by doing "sudo apt-get update"