Wiki » QA process for testing installations

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What is an installation?

An installation is the process of putting a release onto a computer without keeping the previous release. It differs from an upgrade in that it does not simply update what is already there, it completely starts afresh. Perhaps even re-partitioning.

This procedure explains how to perform the upgrade and how to check if it was successful. Commands are shown in Italic text. Wherever you see a command beginning with # it should be used as root and if it begins with $ it should be used as a normal user. You will notice these two symbols in your terminal.

Please open a separate bug for each problem encountered.

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Before doing the installation

• please back up all your important data
• back up your /home/$USER so it can be restored if necessary
• do a check disk and a defragmentation under Windows if you will be resizing a Windows installation to make space.

How to do an installation

Via a Mageia DVD

• download an ISO from your favourite Mageia mirror. The ISO files can be found in mageia/iso on the mirror. eg. http://ftp.belnet.be/mirror/mageia/iso/
• check the download with $ md5sum /home/$USER/path-to-my-iso.iso
• burn it on a DVD or DVD-RW
• reboot your computer
• boot from the DVD, check your BIOS settings to make sure it will do so.
• choose to install, rather than upgrade, when it asks.

To use a USB stick

• download the iso from your favourite mirror
• dump it onto a USB stick, as below
  • $ dmesg | grep removable to find the device. It will look like sdb. Use this in the next step.
  • # dd if=/path/to/iso of=/dev/sdX bs=1M to dump the image on the USB stick. Changing sdX to the output you found with dmesg.
• boot from the USB stick, check your BIOS settings to make sure it will do so

Warning! Don't forget to plug in the AC adapter if you are working on a laptop

What to check

A lot of different steps need to be checked during the installation process. To make it easier to follow it is broken down into sections below:

During the installation

booting the DVD

• check all the menu entries on the DVD
  1. check that the gfxboot theme is the right one
  2. check that all entries, even F1 etc are well translated
  3. Boot from Hard Disk must boot your computer from the hard disk
  4. Install Mageia must load the installation image of Mageia
  5. Rescue System must load the rescue image and allow you to perform rescue tasks
  6. Memory Test must load memtest to allow you to check your physical memory

starting the installation

• wait to check that the image recognises your chipset and loads the installer

starting the graphical installation (stage2)

• choose your language then follow the installation process by choosing the options you want

finalising the installation (summary)

• click on each entry to check the hardware configuration choices made by the installer
• click on each entry to check that you can configure your computer as you want and that no packages are missing on the media

rebooting the computer

• check that gfxmenu entries are good
• check that you can see the graphical bootsplash

After the installation

Launch your favourite desktop

add the nonfree repository and install all updates

• open a root terminal
• add the nonfree repository with urpmi.addmedia nonfree $PROTOCOL://your-favorite-mirror/Mageia/distrib/cauldron/$ARCH/media/nonfree/release
• apply all latest updates with # urpmi –auto-update
• reboot your computer if any dkms module is built

Checking hardware

• launch # harddrake2 and check that all needed packages are already installed and report them if not
• reboot your computer if a dkms module is built
• check with # dkms status that your dkms modules are all installed

HDD and raid configuration with

• $ lspcidrake | grep STORAGE to see the modules for your hardware
• $ cat /proc/partitions/
• # fdisk -l
• $ lsmod | grep $MODULE (modules are dmraid, megaraid-sas, etc)
• if using raid, unplug and plug back a raid disk to check it

network card

• $ lspcidrake | grep NETWORK_ETHERNET to see the module for the hardware
• check your network interfaces with # ifconfig
• # ethtool ethX where X is the interface number
• # ping -c 10 -I ethX free.fr
• do a big download to check that you don't have any performance issues

wifi chipset

• $ lspcidrake | grep NETWORK_OTHER to see the module for the hardware
• $ rfkill list will show if the interface is/isn't soft or hard blocked
• # iwconfig
• you can also check network interfaces with # ifconfig
• # ping -c 10 -I wlanX free.fr
• # drakroam to configure and check interfaces
• do a big download to check that you don't have any performance issues

graphic card

• $ lspcidrake | grep DISPLAY to see the modules for the hardware
• # XFdrake –auto to auto-configure the graphic card
• $ lsmod | grep $MODULE (modules are i915, nv, nvidia, ati, radeonhd, fglrx, etc)
• $ glxinfo | grep rendering to check if your GPU support DRI or not
• $ xrandr and launch $ reflect

bluetooth

• $ lspcidrake | grep Bluetooth to see the modules for the hardware
• and/or # lsmod |grep blue
• and/or # lsmod |grep bt
• $ rfkill list will show if the interface is/isn't soft or hard blocked
• # hciconfig inq to check the interface, and find, for example hci0
• # hciconfig hci0 up to activate the device if the previous command finds that it is DOWN
• use gnome-bluetooth or kde-bluetooth to check with GUI
• also # drakconnect --wizard should be able to find it now.

3G/HSDPA

• # comgt -d /dev/ttyX (X = USBx or Sx)
• # draknetcenter to check the configuration with a GUI tool

S3 and S4 (suspend and hibernate) PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT WORKING IN live mode, alpha2 or Cauldron

i.e. this section needs fixing

• $ echo S3 > /proc/acpi/sleep
• $ echo S4 > /proc/acpi/sleep
• do each at least 5 times to check that it's working as expected and that on each wake up sounds, DRI and network still work
• also check S3 and S4 with keyboard, usually [Fn] + [..] on a laptop, and GNOME/KDE etc tools to suspend and hibernate.

USB

• # lsusb to display USB peripherals
• $ cat /proc/bus/usb/devices to diplay peripheral's information
• # blkid and $ dmesg to display hotplug USB devices

Firewire

• $ lspcidrake | grep FIREWIRE to see the modules for your hardware
• $ lsmod | grep sbp2 to check if the module is loaded

sound card

• $ lspcidrake | grep Audio to see the modules for your hardware
• $ alsamixer -c 0 displays peripheral information
• $ aplay /usr/share/sounds/*.wav to play sounds
• $ audacity to test your microphone, if you have one

webcam

• $ lspcidrake | grep Video to see the modules for your hardware
  • if the module is not uvcvideo check that the dkms module or kernel module is available
• $ luvcview -L to check supported modes of the webcam
• $ luvcview to check your webcam image

multimedia keyboard

• $ xev to check that the keyboard sends a signal when pressing a key
• check that you can mute sound, disable wifi etc. using any special keys

printer and scanner

• plug in your peripheral and try to print or scan a file under libreoffice or gimp

Checking software

• is your favourite application available on the DVD or on the mirror?
• can you open your odt, ods, pdf, jpeg, docx, avi, mpeg, … files?
• can you browse the Internet with a browser?
  • can you see flash animations?
  • can you hear sound on flash animations?
  • does java work?
  • can you bookmark a website?
• can you burn a CD/DVD?
• test all the applications you can think of using and report any bug!