Smoke Testing

Smoke testing is the preliminary stage of software testing. The term "smoke testing" is derived from basic type of hardware testing processes, where the hardware was deemed fit for further testing if they did not catch fire after initial testing. Similarly, when a software passes a smoke test, it means that installation and other fundamental features operate as expected and that the current software build is stable enough to withstand additional testing.

Smoke testing, also known as build verification testing or build acceptance testing, is non-exhaustive software package analysis that ascertains that the foremost crucial functions of a program work however does not dig into finer details.

How smoke testing works

When a software build is finished by the developer, it is either sent to a peer developer or a tester for initial testing, at which point it is tested to see if it can carry out its fundamental functions without going into greater detail because the objective of smoke testing is to determine whether the software is testing-ready or not. When a build passes the smoke test, it is obvious that it is stable and is ready for more thorough testing, such integration testing or unit testing which is then performed by highly skilled teams like Geekferry. If the build does not pass the smoke test, it has been found to be seriously flawed and must be sent back to the developer for correction.

Customer satisfaction is the cornerstone of every enterprise; thus, it is obvious that software is developed in compliance with user requirements. Testing is also carried out from the user's perspective, typically by replicating the full user environment and needs.

Automation and smoke testing

Smoke tests can be performed manually or automated, however using an automation tool and setting up the smoke suite to run whenever a new build is made is the best approach to perform a smoke test. Testing time can be significantly reduced using automated smoke testing. Depending on how many smoke tests are required, manual testing may take a half-day. Smoke testing may just require a few minutes after those tests have been automated. Automating smoke tests will allow QA testers to provide faster input on test builds if developers regularly make builds or if continuous testing is used.

Some automation tools used for smoke testing are:

Selenium
Appium
Jenkins (CI tool)
Robotium
Cucumber
Calabash
Test Complete
Watir

Characteristics of smoke testing

Some characteristics of smoke testing are:

Smoke testing is documented as well as scripted so a proper record of it is maintained.
Smoke testing is a subset of acceptance testing.
Smoke is the shallow and broad testing strategy; we merely test the most typical/basic use cases while covering greater functionality.
To move on to more thorough testing, smoke testing's goal is to confirm the system's "stability."

Advantages of smoke testing

Smoke testing is simple to carry out.
It aids in spotting flaws at an early stage.
Smoke testing lowers the possibility of failure.
Progress is easy to access thanks to smoke testing.
It reduces test time and effort.
It facilitates the detection of important faults and aids in their rectification.
It moves swiftly.
The hazards of integration are reduced.

Disadvantages of smoke testing

Not all of the application's features are covered by smoke testing. Only a portion of the testing is completed.
Even after doing all the smoke tests, mistakes can still happen.
For larger projects, the manual smoke testing technique is very time-consuming to carry out.
Since there are typically only a few test cases, we are unable to identify any additional problems that arose throughout the testing process.

To sum up

Smoke testing is a crucial component of development because it finds some of the software's biggest bugs early on in the process, saving time. Smoke testing is important as it ensures that the software is stable before more in-depth testing and development. Let's discuss if you want to get some quality testing done. To contact us, send an email to info@geekferry.com or go to www.geekferry.com. Our primary goal is to identify every bug and error, no matter how tiny, which is why we at Geekferry use the best testing techniques on the market.