Beta Testing

Release cycle

New major releases (versions 1.x) go through a testing cycle before they are shipped to all users:

• alpha testing. Centurial is tested extensivelly, both automatically and manually, by the developer, both in a development and a production context.
• beta testing. After that, Centurial is tested by several beta testers, in order to catch issues early that are caused by different Windows configurations or that have slipped into the blind spot of the developer.

Bugs that are found after a release has shipped, will be triaged. When they are serious enough, a patch (v1.x.y) will be released. If they do no affact too many users or if there is a work around available, they will be fixed in the next major release.

Beta testing

Any Centurial user can join the beta test team through the contact form. A couple of days before a new major release, you will be informed that a new version is available for beta testing.

The main goal of beta testing is to run some basic tests, to make sure the new release runs without too much problems on your laptop or PC. Installing the new version, starting it and creating a little project with a couple of sources should be enough. Also consider opening an existing research project in the new Centurial version.

You're welcome to test the new Centurial release more extensivelly, or to test specific (new) functionality as well, but this is optional. To this end the release notes will be included in the beta release.

New major releases are expected once every 50 days or so. As there are multiple beta testers, it is perfectly ok if you miss a release every now and then.

Practical hints and tips

• Beta testing might involve installing and uninstalling Centurial. There is documentation available on this.
• Please make sure you have backups enabled (in the settings dialog), so you can return to earlier versions of your research project if errors occur.
• If you run into a problem or possible bug, please let us know as soon as possible so we can fix the problem before we ship the release. You can notify us by replying to the beta announcement mail you received or by using the contact form. Please describe how to reproduce the error, and consider attaching a screenshot if applicable.
• Please be advised that beta versions of Centurial expire within a couple of days. This means that after beta testing, you'll have to first uninstall the beta version and then install the official release.