[wpkg-users] Tips for testing new/upgraded packages before general deployment

[Nick Elmendorf]

RE: Tips for testing new/upgraded packages before general deployment

I have a idea for what could work.

We also use VM's for testing WPKG packages and the package upgrades.

What you can do is make a second profile for WPKG. So you start by having:

Profile A: Normal profile you've been using
Profile B: Testing profile.

Profile A remains unchanged almost all of the time, except when your ready to include good code
Profile B changes all the time, as you test, upgrade and add new packages. 

Now for your upgrades you keep your packages as they are. When you want to upgrade, say Firefox, you open your firefox.xml package, do a save as, and rename it test_firefox.xml. Now, before you upgrade/configure/test test_firefox.xml you need to do one more thing. 

Open your new testing profile, and copy over everything from your normal profile. Save it. Run it. Now you have two environments which should be identical, your normal production profile and your test profile. Now go into the test profile, change firefox.xml to test_firefox.xml and work the package until it works. 

Now in the host file make a new entry which points to the computer name of "testing VM" or "testing machine" and give it your testing profile.

Once its good, copy the good code into firefox.xml, which your good profile is already pointing to and now it works. Don't forget to roll back the snap shot on your VM to match your new environment, and make sure the profiles match and now your good to go for your next upgrade/test.

Hopefully that works for what your looking for. If not let me know and I'll be happy to answer any questions.

Nick Elmendorf
Senior Information Technology Specialist