Selenium/Ruby/Features testing

QA on new features is assessed mainly through manual testing of software build through the continuous integration process. Developers and community testers manually check function and features, either on their own or through organized testing activities.

Where to test

WMF runs a lot of wikis running different versions of the code in a lot of places.

live wikipedias ("enwiki", other languages) are fine for regression testing ("Is it broken the same way in production?").

test2.wikipedia.org ("test2wiki") is a test wiki running the latest release. It shares single user login so you can reuse your WMF username.

mediawiki.org ("mw.org") is frequently used as a test bed for new features once they are stable enough for adventurous users.

Beta cluster ("en-beta", other languages, ...) constantly updates to run the latest source code checked in. Its configuration is similar to production wikis.

MediaWiki developers can use Cloud VPS "instances" (virtual machines) to have their own testing environment.

See also the MediaWiki Manual pages for Unit testing.

Who to test

If you have to create test accounts (e.g. to test account creation, or Echo notifications between users), wiki Admins will notice and wonder what you're doing. Use "MyUsername FeatureName test" to hint at what you're doing and so they know how to get hold of you.

Get involved

Visual Editor Test

Help testing Echo, the new notifications framework for Wikipedia and other MediaWiki based projects.

Contributing to Features testing may take several forms:

Helping organize test efforts or test events
Checking software under development for proper function.
Reporting issues in Phabricator - see How to report a bug.
Collaborating with others to specify proper behavior of software features to be checked.

If you are interested in manual/feature/functional testing, join the proposed MediaWiki Group Features testing.

Learning

See /Guide to getting started

New testers may want to read about w:Exploratory testing. The Test Heuristics Cheat Sheet (warning: PDF) from Elisabeth Hendrickson is a particularly valuable resource for exploratory testers. Tester may want to look into w:Session-based_testing when planning testing activities.