Quality Assurance Process

QA at FlyByWire

FlyByWire Simulations aims to maintain professional standards as well as industry-wide best practices to maximize developer productivity and deliver high-quality, tested products.

This is why we adopt a set of rules and practices that create a strong framework, not only around the usage of git, but also surrounding code quality.

Therefore, every change or addition to the code of our aircraft goes through a multistep development and quality assurance process.

This documentation describes the FlyByWire QA Process and tools in detail to make sure we can efficiently and effectively deliver the highest quality in our products.

What you need

To QA test for FlyByWire, you need the following prerequisites:

Having read and understood this page!
Microsoft Flight Simulator (PC)
GitHub Account and access to our Pull Requests
Discord Account and joined our server FlyByWire Simulations
A QA Trainee or QA Tester Discord role

Becoming a QA Tester

We try to keep the number of QA testers at a reasonable and manageable level to ensure quality and sufficient PRs to test for each QA team member.

If you'd like to apply for the QA Trainee role, we recommend to actually conduct a few tests as described below without submitting any reports to GitHub!

Send an application message and your test reports to the contact(s) at the bottom of this page via DM, and the QA leaders will decide if you are eligible for a QA Trainee role (provided there are open positions).

Please do not submit reports to GitHub without having a QA Discord role.

What to Test

The FlyByWire development process provides a constant stream of new Pull Requests to be tested as every single code change goes through this workflow. All commits to the master branch (Development Version) are therefore code-reviewed and QA-tested.

To manage this process, we use the GitHub Project feature.

This is a simple Kanban board where items move from the left to the right. For QA tests, the third column is relevant ("QA Team Review: Ready to Test")

QA Project Board on GitHub

If you have gotten a grasp on the above instructions, pick a PR to test from the list.

Read the description and testing instructions of the PR carefully and make sure you have the required skills and the necessary time available to conduct the test in a high-quality fashion.

Tip: Labels

You will notice that some PRs will have labels specific to the QA team:

PRs that have the "QA Passed", have been tested, typically you will not have to perform another test unless requested to do so in the QA channel. Additional tests in Tier 2 reports are welcome!
PRs that have the "QA Failed" do not require further testing, unless requested to do so.
PRs with the label "QA Ready to Test" should be prioritized over PRs that already have successful tests.
PRs with "QA Not Required" should not be tested.

Tip: Projects

You may take notice of the section for "Awaiting Actions", this section typically means the PR has been approved and is waiting to be merged. You do not have to test these PRs, as they will find their way to the development version of the aircraft shortly.

How to get PR Builds

Every pull request to the master branch triggers a build of the add-on with the changes made by that PR. This build can be downloaded and manually installed to your Community folder.

How to download the PR for QA

Open the PR in a browser window (press Ctrl+Left Button on PR link).
Go to the "Checks" tab in the PR.
On the left side, click on the PR label saying on: pull_request.
Download the zipped Artifact at the bottom.
Unzip the file and place the "flybywire-aircraft-a320-neo" folder into your Community Folder.

PR Builds only for FlyByWire QA Team

The PR builds are only meant for QA testing and not for daily use. Outside of the FlyByWire QA Team, we do not provide any support or answer any questions regarding these builds.

How to Test

QA Tiers for PRs

The FlyByWire developers are required to categorize their PRs into two test tiers to indicate the complexity or importance of the PR.

More complex features or features vital for the stability of the add-on will need considerably more testing than a simple change of a button text.

The developer, developer leader and QA leader determine the tier of testing required and how many successful tests must be reported before a PR can be accepted and merged into the master branch.

Tier 1

Extensive and careful testing is expected, but no full flight is required.
Providing media is not required.
Of course, you can always do a full flight and provide media, but the test is valid without it.

Tier 2

At least one full flight is required to test Tier 2.
Providing media (screenshots/videos) is a requirement, especially for any issues that might arise.
Tests without a full flight or media are not valid and will require another tester to still do a full tier 2 test.

Clean Community Folder

It is important that the QA tests are done on a clean system with no other add-ons or liveries installed. These could create false issues and render the whole test meaningless.

Remove everything from your Community folder apart from the "flybywire-aircraft-a320-neo".

Typically, it is ok to keep your Navigraph data installed, though some PRs may require you to test using both the default simulator navdata and the Navigraph ones. Please check the description and instructions of each PR for such remarks.

Tip: Use MSFS Addons Linker

An easy way to manage add-ons in the Community folder is the MSFS Addons Linker tool from flightsim.to.

It allows you to create presets to easily switch between different sets of installed add-ons. You can create a preset with only the "flybywire-aircraft-a320-neo" folder left in the Community folder.

Focus on the PR Test Instructions

Read the test instructions of the PR carefully. Focus only on what is requested and part of this PR. Do not bloat your reports with many additional observations or information that is expected to be the same through each QA test (such as how you installed the PR or if you emptied your community folder).

If you find additional issues which are not part of the PR, reproduce and test them with the latest Development version and then create a GitHub Issue for them.

Ask on Discord

If the test instructions are unclear or any questions come up regarding the test or the outcome, please ask on the Discord "quality-assurance" channel for support.

Look in "quality-assurance" if a discussion thread already exists for this issue (thread title starting with PR#), and if it does, ask your questions directly there.

Example:

If no dedicated thread exists for the PR, please provide the #PR number and title in the "quality-assurance" channel and ask your question or describe your issue.

Additionally, the "quality-assurance" channel contains some helpful pinned messages, so make sure you check those occasionally.

Communication

Multiple tests in PRs are always welcome. It is still good practice to announce it on the Discord "quality-assurance" channel, if you are starting a test on a certain PR, so that the QA team is aware of progress in testing.
(Example: Starting test on PR #1234 <PR-title>)

Also reporting the PR# and test result after completing a report is strongly recommended as it helps both developers & QA members to see which PR have been tested and if there were issues in quick time.
(Example: Tested PR #1234 <PR-title>: passed.)

Reporting on Tests

To report test results on GitHub, please use the template below:

<!-- !! DO NOT REMOVE THIS LINE !! - QUALITY ASSURANCE REPORT -->
<!-- Refer to the https://docs.flybywiresim.com/dev-corner/qa-process/#reporting-on-tests for details about this template -->

<!-- Please use one or the other depending on your Discord Role -->
Quality Assurance Tester/Trainee Report

Discord Username  : XXXXXX <!-- Use your username, not your display name! -->
Object of testing : #XXXX <!-- PR Number -->
Aircraft          : A32NX/A380X <!-- Choose only one -->
Tier of Testing   : 1/2
Date              : XX/XX/XXXX <!-- Date of test in DD/MM/YYYY format -->

Testing Process: 
<!-- List the process - Required section --> 

Testing Results: 
Passed/Not Passed <!-- Required section --> 

Negatives:       
<!-- Ommit this section if none are found -->

Conclusions: 
<!-- Ommit section if nothing to add -->

Media:
<!-- Ommit this section if no media to add -->

Text wrapped with  (a.k.a. html comments) in the template will not be visible on your report. You may remove these comments except for the required one at the top of the report.

"Report Details" Section

This section should be filled with details about your report. Please ensure this section is unaltered as our GitHub action read this area. This section is required.

For consistency purposes, please use the DD/MM/YYYY format for the report date.

"Testing Process" Section

Fill this section with details about the testing process. Though there isn't a specific format to use, it's recommended to include a list of each task (as described in the PR testing instructions) and a note of any part that failed to pass. Common information, such as how you downloaded the PR or if your community folder was empty, should not be included in this section.

This section is required.

"Testing Results" Section

Used to indicate if the test was a success or a failure.

This section is required.

Please make sure to do the following for the Testing Results section of your report:

Make sure the wording is below the Testing Results: line. This triggers the GitHub actions on the PR.
Use the exact wording "Passed" or "Not Passed".

"Negatives" Section

List any issues or negatives with this PR test. It is best you also include your expectation (if different from the testing instructions).

You can omit this section if no negatives are found.

"Conclusions" Section

Any notes you may have, the positives in the PR, and anything extra you would like to note for your report.

You can omit this section.

"Media" Section

If you have any media to be included in the report, make sure to include them in this section. Images, videos, YouTube links or Streamable links are welcome. Please ensure externally linked media is unlisted/public and available for at least 4 weeks from the date you post the report.

You can omit this section there is no media to include.

Tip: Label Your Media

We recommend you label your images (e.g. A-B-C) especially if you have linked them to a specific item in the negatives section, though for one or two images this is not necessary!

Tip: Using Collapsible Sections

If you need to include multiple images, you can take advantage of the Collapsed Sections feature GitHub offers. Learn more here

Tips

Tip: Look at Closed PRs

To better understand what a report should look like, you can look at closed PRs on GitHub to see how others approach this.

Link to Closed PR list: Closed PRs

Tip: Using GitHub Save for Template

We suggest using the "Saved Replies" feature of GitHub for the QA Template. You can set them up as follows:

Click on your profile picture in the top-right corner and click on Settings.
Click on Saved replies.
Give your saved reply a name and paste the QA template.

Then, when writing a QA report, click on the arrow in the top-right corner of the comment field. Select your saved reply and insert the necessary data.

Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+. CTRL+1 -> note that the number represents your saved replies, so if you have multiple and your QA template is the third one, you would have to use CTRL+3.

Tip: GitHub Text Customization

GitHub offers a suite of markdown and HTML style tools to format and customize the text in your reports. Learn more here

Discord Roles

To manage the QA team and focus on quality, the FlyByWire QA Team currently has two levels of QA testers: QA Trainee and QA Testers.

After being accepted as a QA tester (see Becoming a QA Tester) you will get the QA Trainee role.

QA Roles

QA Trainees

Should focus on Tier 1 tests at the beginning until the quality of tests and test reports has been established.

Moving from QA Trainee to QA Tester will be based on a combination of report numbers, quality of reports and handling of more in-depth/Tier 2 reports.

QA Testers

Free to test all available Pull Requests ready to test. The high standard they have proven as a QA Trainee will continue to be expected from them.

In general, to maintain your QA Team status, a minimum of one test every few weeks is required. You can message a QA Team lead on Discord if you need to take a break from testing to retain your status, if you are not able to submit any test reports for an extended period of time.

Special QA requests to IRL pilots will be made in the #pilot-feedback channel. If you are a pilot and wish to contribute to the project with your knowledge, please contact an online moderator or an administrator on our Discord server.

Contacts

QA Team leader contact on Discord: alepouna