openQA
More info
- Creator
- Bernhard M. Wiedemann / SUSE
- Type
- Test framework
- License
- GPL-2.0+
- Source
- github.com/os-autoinst/openQA
- Website
- open.qa
SUSE's test framework that installs an entire operating system in a virtual machine and checks the result by recognising images on the screen — like a patient human with a photographic memory.
openSUSE and SLES don't ship until openQA has run them through their paces. The core, os-autoinst, boots the distribution in a virtual machine and feeds it keystrokes and mouse clicks exactly as a tester would. Instead of APIs, it compares screenshots against reference images — "needles" — which lets it test graphical installers and even BIOS screens that no ordinary test tool can reach.
The project was created by Bernhard M. Wiedemann and substantially rewritten by the openSUSE team in 2013. The image matching is both its strength and its weakness: it sees exactly what the user sees, but a moved button or a changed colour can make a test fail without anything actually being broken.