Testing: What do you want?

[Scott Robert Ladd <coyote@coyotegulch.com>]

OSNews and LinuxJournal are urging people to test the Linux kernel. I've 
been doing so for several months now, running the latest kernel live on 
my primary development system. I figure the best way to know if the 
kernel works is to use it when I'm working. ;)

At the moment, my biggest contribution to kernel development is testing, 
given that I'm not yet comfortable hacking kernel code in public. My 
question is: What do the kernel developers want from testers? What sort 
of reports are helpful? Is there anything in particular that needs 
extensive testing?

I haven't found a "Guide to Testing the Kernel" anywhere -- perhaps such 
a document exists, but I've missed it. Such a document could provide 
basic information for "testing newbies."

My experience thus far:
For the most part, the 2.5 series has worked very well for me, albeit 
with a few glitches (radeonfb, for example, as reported last week.) I'll 
build the 2.5.65 kernel on my Sparc later today, and see how well it 
works there.

-- 
Scott Robert Ladd
Coyote Gulch Productions (http://www.coyotegulch.com)
Professional programming for science and engineering;
Interesting and unusual bits of very free code.