Linux.com | A dozen tips for testing free software

One of the best ways you can participate in the free and open source software (FOSS) revolution is by helping to test software and reporting bugs and issues to project developers to help them improve their code. Even in the wild and woolly, sometimes undisciplined approach to development that we see in FOSS projects, there are ways to test more effectively. Here are more than a dozen tips suggested by testing gurus and developers that can help you become a successful tester.

One of my more regular frustrations is people who ask for computer help with the words “It isn’t working, fix it”, often accompanied with some form of demand or even threat if the problem isn’t fixed. It’s like people going to the garage to fix that odd rattling noise in the car but can’t say whether it is inside or outside the car.

OK,some of the tips are a little advanced for ordinary users but the call to include as much information as possible and to try and recreate the problem should be heard by as many people as possible