The Art of Software Testing, Second Edition
by Glenford J. Myers, Corey Sandler, Tom Badgett, Todd M. Thomas
6.4. Installation Testing
The remaining testing process in Figure 6.3 is the installation test. Its position in Figure 6.3 is a bit unusual, since it is not related, as all of the other testing processes are, to specific phases in the design process. It is an unusual type of testing because its purpose is not to find software errors but to find errors that occur during the installation process.
Many events occur when installing software systems. A short list of examples includes the following:
User must select a variety of options.
Files and libraries must be allocated and loaded.
Valid hardware configurations must be present.
Programs may need network connectivity to connect to other programs.
Installation tests should be developed by the organization that produced the system, delivered as part of the system, and run after the system is installed. Among other things, the test cases might check to ensure that a compatible set of options has been selected, that all parts of the system exist, that all files have been created and have the necessary contents, and that the hardware configuration is appropriate.
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