Fedora 13 Alpha Release Criteria

This page is a draft only
It is still under construction and content may change. Do not rely on the information on this page. This page is a proposal for Fedora 13. It has not been accepted or officially reviewed and should not be relied on.

Eventually this page will become a template which can be copy/pasted as a new page for each release.

Alpha Objectives

The objectives of the Alpha release are to:

1. Publicly release installable media versions of a feature complete test release
2. Test accepted features of Fedora 13
3. Execute all Fedora 13 test cases
4. Identify as many F13Beta blocker bugs as possible
5. Identify as many F13Blocker blocker bugs as possible

Alpha Release Requirements

In order to be the released to the general public, the Alpha Candidate (RC) must meet all of the following criteria. This is intentional to make the decision process as clear and straightforward as possible. Mostly met items are incomplete until they are met. Optional and nice to have items should not be included in this list.

Release Requirements:

1. No unfixed bugs blocking the Alpha tracker
   • No bugs in NEW or ASSIGNED
   • All MODIFIED bugs have been verified
2. All of the tests in the Fedora 13 Alpha Media Install test plan must be 100% executed
   • Link:
3. All tests in the Fedora 13 Alpha Install Release test plan must be 100% executed
   • Link:
4. All tests in the Fedora 13 Alpha Functional Release test plan must be 100% executed
   • Link:
5. The installed system boots and starts up properly
6. The installed system is able to download updates with yum.
7. No file conflicts during install
8. Installer boots and runs on all primary architectures: i686 and x86_64
9. The QA team has an installable testable Release Candidate for at least two full days (48 hours).

Requirements are as specific as possible and stated affirmatively in the present tense

Alpha Blocker Bugs

A bug is considered an Alpha blocker bug if any of the following criteria are met:

• A bug in a Critical Path <<NEED LINK>> package that:
  • Cannot be fixed with a future rawhide update
  • Is part of the media kit
  • Has a severity rating of high or greater and no reasonable workaround
• Bug hinders execution of required Alpha testplans or dramatically reduces test coverage
• Bug relates to an unmet Alpha Release Requirement (see above)

Blocker Bug details are less specific and provide general guidance about what bugs are considered blocker bugs. Specific requirements that must be present to release should be explicitly stated in the Release Requirements section

Contingency Plan

• If all of the Alpha Release Requirements are not met by Tuesday at 20:00 UTC (one week prior to release day) the release will be delayed by one week so that the Alpha Release Requirements can be met. One week will be added to all remaining tasks in the release schedule, including the final release date.

Confirming Alpha Requirements

QA has the responsibility of determining whether the criteria for the release has been met (as outlined above) through discussion with Development and Release Engineering. QA's findings will be reviewed and discussed at the Go/No-Go meeting.

Additional Notes, Thoughts, and Questions

• It would be valuable to work in some bullets that address meeting the needs of the target audience for this release
  • What are the needs of the target audience for the Alpha release?
• What are the distinguishing features of the Alpha Release?
  • How is it different from Beta and Final? It would be helpful to call this out at a high level even if the distinguishing differences are in the required test cases.
• What problem is the Alpha trying to solve?
• How will decide if the Alpha Release is a success?
• How good does the Alpha need to be?
• Do we put the Fedora distribution or project at risk if we don't meet this criterion?
• Do we negatively affect users or others if we don't meet this criterion?
• What is unique about Alpha blocker bugs and how can we capture that above (or tighten down in Beta and Final release sections)?
• Make sure all MUST and SHOULD items from [QA/ReleaseCriteria] are integrated into the test plans referenced in the requirements

Related Pages

• Fedora Release Criteria
• Fedora 13 Beta Release Criteria
• Fedora 13 Final Release Criteria
• Blocker Bug FAQ