"Super" testers required to clear up Extras backlog

Many developers feel they are suffering from the quality assurance process being used on maemo.org to ensure that high quality applications get into the Extras repository (which is enabled by default on all Maemo 5 devices).

Currently, a package must wait 10 days and get 10 votes before being promotable. This isn't too onerous for popular applications, with lots of testers, but for less popular - or niche - applications, it can become an almost insurmountable problem.

The Testing Squad is a group who commit to try and test as much as possible - and this has helped. However, there is now a new feature we can use on the testing queue.

A package which has been in the QA queue for 20 days without the requisite votes can be "swayed" by 3 votes from super testers. Testers will be shown as (tester), just like maintainers are visible now. So this process will be transparent to the maintainer too.

We now need volunteers!

If you'd like to be a super tester - and be involved as a final gatekeeper to Extras, please get in touch. Either email the council or reply to this post.

We're currently looking for about ten spots, the council - and the Testing Squad - will review the volunteers based on a number of factors, and we'll make a decision as a group.