Open Source and Free Tools Workshop

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Open Source and Free Tools

Workshop

Gerrard Consulting Limited

PO Box 347 Maidenhead Berkshire SL6 2GU UK Tel: +44 (0) 1628 639173 Fax: +44 (0) 1628 630398 Web: gerrardconsulting.com Assessment Training Mentoring 1 1 © Copyright 2010 Gerrard Consulting

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Agenda

• An introduction to free/open source tools

– VMWare Player – Linux

– OpenOffice

– Some open source test tools – Playtime

• Discussion

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Introductions

• Who are you?

• Who do you work for?

• Are you a 'techie' by background?

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What I'm using today

Microsoft Windows 7 VMWare Player Ubuntu Linux v9.10 By the way, I wrote this presentation using Impress on this machine as I used the tools. Exported as a PDF and printed on Windows.

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VMWare Player

• A free to use utility used to run virtual

machines created in the VMWare format

• New machines can be created in, for

example VMWare workstation ($189)

• VMWare datacentre, management and cloud

products also available

• VMWare player is simple to use as I'll now

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Virtual machines

• Grow your own if you want to

• Or download pre-built 'appliances'

– Mostly free and work 'out of the box' but need some configuration

– JEOS (just enough OS) + Apache + DB + Script

language and the application code pre-configured – LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/Python/PHP etc) – Fee-based (e.g. JumpBox) – usually simpler to

configure, better documentation etc.

• But, if you are happy to learn a little Linux and configure yourself the world's your oyster

• Needless to say, you can create Windows or Mac, workstation or server virtual machines.

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Now, show

the group

the desktop

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Ubuntu desktop

• Uses the Gnome desktop interface (KDE is another example)

• Applications

• Usual 'start' menu with all apps and utilities • Places

• File system, home folder, network etc. • System

• Preferences – customisation of my desktop

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The task bar Date/time panel Mail/Messaging button User/logoff/switch user shutdown/restart

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Ubuntu desktop 2

• If you look along the bottom of the screen

• Show desktop/restore hidden windows

• Click to show the desktop or resore the windows

• Trash – the wastebasket

• Similar to Windows

• Workspace icons

• Windows can be moved to another workspace

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Ubuntu is a distribution of

Linux

• Linux is a 'kernel' and a core set of utilities that run on Intel x86 and 64 bit architectures

• There are many Linux 'distributions' e.g.

• Ubuntu

• Red Hat

• OpenSUSE

• Dozens of others

• A distribution = kernel + selected utilities and apps and desktop configuration

• Where to get it? All Linux magazines (c. #5) have DVDs for or download from one of the distribution websites.

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What comes with Linux?

• Set of OS drivers and utilities to manage disks, files, users, networking, software installation

• OpenOffice (usually) • Graphics (e.g. Gimp)

• Internet (Firefox, Evolution mail etc.)

• Selected programming tools (C, C++, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby... countless others)

• Infrastructure – Webservers (Apache), databases (MySQL)

• Music, video players

• Games We'll look closer at

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OpenOffice (cf. Office 97-2000)

●

Writer

●

Calc

●

Impress

●

Draw

●

Base

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The terminal, command line or

shell

• The command line is usually accessed using the terminal utility and runs a 'shell'

• Comparable to command or DOS prompt in Windows

• A shell is a program that gives you command line access to the operating system

• Bash (Bourne again shell is most common)

• Commands are terse, unintuitive, very flexible, powerful and sometimes dangerous

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Some shell commands

cd {dir} – change directory (same as DOS) ls – list files gedit filename – edit file using gedit GUI editor ifconfig – display network configuration cat filename – display file cat filename > more – page by page cat filename | sort > sorted.dat Output filename, sort it and store in sorted.dat cp file1 file2 – copy file1 to file2 rm file2 – delete file2

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Installation process

● Ubuntu uses a tool called apt (command

line) or Synaptic Package Manager (GUI)

● Software can be downloaded from the

Ubuntu servers

● Other sources can be defined

● Apt maintains a register of available and

installed software

● Need an internet connection or a source

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Description of selected package Green indicated installed To install, search for packages, check them and click apply.

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Edit a new file called hello.py (a Python script) By the way, an & means: release the terminal to me while you execute the command Run the script: python hello.py

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Another Python program

● Try running primes.py

● Try and break the script – easy to do ;-) ● Try changing the script and re-running

Script languages – in general, script languages all work the same way:

● perl primes.pl ● php primes.php ● ruby primes.rb

● Note the file endings indicate the language

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Local apache webserver uses /var/www as its home directory. Lests edit the home page index.html source code

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Using open source applications

- requirements

● LAMP ● Linux ● Apache ● MySQL ● Perl/PHP/Python ● LAMP on Windows ● Windows

● IIS (or Apache) ● MySQL

● Perl/PHP/Python

● Some variations e.g. alternative Dbs

● Installation process: download, copy and

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Installing Bugzilla

● Installation sequence:

i. Have IIS or Apache up and running

ii.Have a local mail server running SMTP

iii.Download and install perl and required perl modules

iv.Install MySQL

v.Download Bugzilla, unzip into the web server directory

vi.Create Bugzilla database and user

vii.Configure webserver

viii.Run checksetup.pl in the root directory

ix.Edit localconfig file in root directory

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Click on “log in” Username: [email protected]

Password:

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NB: there is an unconfigured Postfix email server on your machine. Bugzilla uses email extensively but it is turned off in this installation. This is a completely uncustomised version of Bugzilla for you to experiment with. (There are few options set up). You are an administrator so you can completely reconfigure the installation.

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Bugzilla - things to play with

● Custom fields: add your own fields to the

bug database

● Field values: add values to existing

codebooks and your custom fields

● Products: things to test!

● Mailserver and state-transitions: send

notifications to interested parties when bug status changes

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Selenium – script capture and

editing

● Selenium started as a relatively simple

Firefox plug-in to do basic capture/replay (IDE)

● Now supports a host of script languages

(java, C#, perl, PHP, python, ruby et al.)

● Use Firefox and Selenium to capture

scripts and export into your preferred language

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Selenium script playback

● Replay, or edit and replay with

● Selenium IDE

● Selenium Remote Control – multiple OS platforms and browsers ● Selenium Grid – replay on multiple machines – or an EC Cloud!

● Integrate with a Selenium Test Suite

● Integrated with popular test frameworks: Bromine, Junit,

Nunit, RSPec (Ruby), Test::Unit (Ruby), TestNG (Java), unittest (Python)

● February 2008: Google are committed to Selenium as their

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Installing Selenium IDE

● Using Firefox:

● Download the IDE and install the plug-in ● Restart Firefox

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The Grinder

● Java-based performance test tool

● Uses Python as its script language (java

implementation of python is jython)

● Has a script recording facility

● Simply replay using one load injector ● Large scale replay

● Users = threads x worker processes x machines

● Website: grinder.sourceforge.net makes an

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The Grinder v LoadRunner (etc.)

● The Grinder is lightweight in comparison

● A “Programmers load tester” - it helps if you understand

HTTP and Python!

● Cf LR scripting and HTTP – no different

● Fast to install (it's java) and fast to record, configure and

replay tests

● Flexibility is only limited by your ability to program (a good

and bad thing)

● Can only generate load

● Can't drive workstations

● Can't monitor systems under test

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We don't use Linux

● Everything we've looked at in this workshop runs on

Windows (and Macs too – but I haven't checked that)

● VMWare (and equivalent VM products) ● Perl, python, java, jython, php

● Apache, MySQL, Firefox

● Bugzilla, Selenium, Watir, The Grinder

● The heritage of nearly all this is Linux/Unix

● There are some installation and configuration quirks here

and there

● Text-based configuration files, not GUI ● Command line operation

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What have you learnt about

using open source so far?

● What have you noticed about how to install

and use OS products?

● What skills do you think you need?

● If you can't call technical support, what do

you need to take ownership of?

● What compromises do you need to make?

● How do you find other tools that might help?

● How do you upgrade? Do you bother?

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No support? Getting better...

● Companies offering paid support are emerging

● Hosting companies take on server based products

● Some offer setup/config, backup etc. ● Some offer support services (for a fee)

● Perhaps you need to invest a little more and give your

people more time to become expert

● Here's the trade-off

● Free software GREAT ↔ investment in skills HMMM? ● Is investing in skills a bad thing?

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Skills availability

● Skills are still thin on the ground

● Training will emerge as contractors and companies

exploit their skills and opportunities

● Skills in the marketplace will proliferate driven by cost

and the power of technically skilled testers

● Public training is becoming available

● Some enthusiasts offering free informal training to promote

their own skills and to 'spread the word'

● But, as time goes on, expect more professional, integrated

and expensive courses

● Most popular tools initially (mainly dev-oriented), but the

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Poor documentation?

● Getting better all the time, but much of it

is written by programmers – for programmers

● The test tools seem to be better than the

developer tools in this respect

● Tools like Watir, Selenium, The Grinder

have working examples

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Getting into open source

● Most contributors to the open source movement

are individuals

● Contractors or independent practitioners ● FTEs with the approval of their employer

● OS projects always need documentation

● Why not contribute?

● Your name/email is credited

● Users contact you directly - develop a valuable network ● Promote your own skills and use of the tool

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