Xen 4.9 RC test instructions

= What needs to be tested =
General things:
* Making sure that Xen 4.9 compiles and installs properly on different software configurations; particularly on distros
* Making sure that Xen 4.9, along with appropriately up-to-date kernels, work on different hardware. 
For more ideas about what to test, please see Testing Xen.
== ARM Smoke Testing ==
If you use ARM Hardware, which is not widely available or not rackable (and thus not part of our automated test suite), please check out Xen ARM Manual Smoke Test. Helping out to manually test ARM boards (which will only take a few minutes) will guarantee that Xen 4.9 will work on the board that you use. If you want to see which boards need testing, check Xen ARM Manual Smoke Test/Results.
= Installing =
== Getting a RC ==
For the expressions/examples below, set the following bash/sh/... variable to the release candidate number (e.g. one of rc1, rc2, ... )
 
 RC="<release candidate number>" # rc1, rc2 ...
Important notes:
 For RC1: RC=rc1.2 (see #RC1)
=== From xen.git ===
With a recent enough git (>= 1.7.8.2), just pull from the proper tag (4.9.0-$RC) from the main repo directly:
 git clone -b 4.9.0-$RC git://xenbits.xen.org/xen.git
With an older git version (and/or if that does not work, e.g., complaining with a message like this: Remote branch 4.9.0-$RC not found in upstream origin, using HEAD instead), do the following:
 git clone git://xenbits.xen.org/xen.git ; cd xen ; git checkout 4.9.0-$RC
=== From tarball ===
Download:
 https://downloads.xenproject.org/release/xen/4.9.0-$RC/xen-4.9.0-$RC.tar.gz 
 https://downloads.xenproject.org/release/xen/4.9.0-$RC/xen-4.9.0-$RC.tar.gz.sig
== Building == 
Instructions are available for building Xen on Linux, NetBSD, and FreeBSD
= Known issues =
== RC1 ==
Note that the numbering is different due to some issues with tagging: $RC=rc1.2
* git://xenbits.xen.org/xen.git 4.9.0-rc1.2
For your convenience there is also a tarball at:
* https://downloads.xenproject.org/release/xen/4.9.0-rc1.2/xen-4.9.0-rc1.2.tar.gz 
* https://downloads.xenproject.org/release/xen/4.9.0-rc1.2/xen-4.9.0-rc1.2.tar.gz.sig
= Test instructions =
== General ==
* Remove any old versions of Xen toolstack and userspace binaries (including qemu).
* Remove any Xen-related udev files under /etc because Xen 4.9 doesn't use those anymore.
* Download and install the most recent Xen 4.9 RC, as described above. Make sure to check the README and INSTALL for changes in required development libraries and procedures. Some particular things to note:
Once you have Xen 4.9 RC installed check that you can install a guest etc and use it in the ways which you normally would, i.e. that your existing guest configurations, scripts etc still work.
For more ideas about what to test, please see Testing Xen or the sections below. Note that typically specific tests for new features will be added around RC2.
== Specific ARM Test Instructions ==
Follow
Xen_ARM_with_Virtualization_Extensions and Xen_ARM_with_Virtualization_Extensions#Testing
=== Boards and hardware we do not test in our CI Loop ===
Although we do have automated Test Infrastructure for the project, we only include rackable hardware into our CI Loop. We do have a mixture of Allwinner and Exynos processors in a custom chassis. If you have one of the following boards and want to ensure it runs on Xen 4.9, please make sure you run the Xen ARM Manual Smoke Test on an RC.
Boards not tested by our CI Loop: Allwinner sun6i/A31, DRA7[J6] EVM, Exynos5410, HiKey board from 96boards.org, Mustang (XC-1), OMAP5432, Renesas R-Car H2, Versatile Express and Xilinx Zynq Ultrascale MPSoC
We are also not able to include non-production servers that require a legal agreement such as an NDA into our Test Infrastructure.
=== <TODO: Add Additional Feature here> ===
== Specific x86 testing instructions ==
=== <TODO: Add Additional Feature here> ===
== RC specific things to test ==
None for RC1.
= Reporting Bugs (& Issues) =
* Use Freenode IRC channel #xentest to discuss questions interactively
* Report any bugs / missing functionality / unexpected results. 
* Please put [TestDay] into the subject line
* Also make sure you specify the RC number you are using
* Make sure to follow the guidelines on Reporting Bugs against Xen (please CC the relevant maintainers and the Release Manager - julien dot grall at arm dot com).
= Reporting success =
We would love it if you could report successes by e-mailing xen-devel@lists.xen.org, preferably including:
* Hardware: Please at least include the processor manufacturer (Intel/AMD). Other helpful information might include specific processor models, amount of memory, number of cores, and so on
* Software: If you're using a distro, the distro name and version would be the most helpful. Other helpful information might include the kernel that you're running, or other virtualization-related software you're using (e.g., libvirt, xen-tools, drbd, &c).
* Guest operating systems: If running a Linux version, please specify whether you ran it in PV or HVM mode.
* Functionality tested: High-level would include toolstacks, and major functionality (e.g., suspend/resume, migration, pass-through, stubdomains, &c)
The following template might be helpful: should you use Xen 4.9.0-<Some RC> for testing, please make sure you state that information!
Subject: [TESTDAY] Test report
 
* Hardware:
 
* Software:
* Guest operating systems:
* Functionality tested:
* Comments:
For example:
Subject: [TESTDAY] Test report
 
* Hardware: 
Dell 390's (Intel, dual-core) x15
HP (AMD, quad-core) x5
 
* Software: 
Ubuntu 10.10,11.10
Fedora 17
* Guest operating systems:
Windows 8
Ubuntu 12.10,11.10 (HVM)
Fedora 17 (PV)
* Functionality tested:
xl
suspend/resume
pygrub
* Comments:
Window 8 booting seemed a little slower than normal.
Other than that, great work!
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