Software Release is the public or private distribution of an initial or upgraded version of a software
Software Release Life Cycle is composed of different stages that describe the stability of the software and the amount of development it requires before final release.
Software Release Life Cycle is composed of different stages that describe the stability of the software and the amount of development it requires before final release.
(click the image if not possible to view)
- Pre-Alpha Phase refers to all the activates that are performed prior to testing. The Activities include Requirement Analysis, S/W Design, Development and Unit Testing.
- Alpha Release is releasing the feature complete software to an organization or independent testing group to perform Black Box testing.
- Beta Release is releasing the feature complete software to the Beta testers so that they can use the software in the real world and report any problems
- Gama Release is releasing the Release Candidate Software (RC Build). Release Candidate is the computer software which is stabilized, Code-Complete and has no major bugs in it.
- Release to Manufactures (RTM) is the process of providing the version of a software product to manufacturers to bundle into future versions of their hardware products. As a result manufacturers can conduct integration and work out any bugs the software may encounter with the hardware devices. This phase states that the software has achieved the sufficient quality for mass distribution. A Gold CD will be sent to the manufacturers for this purpose.
- General Availability Release (GA release) is the point where all the necessary commercialization activities have been completed and the software has been made available to the general market via Web or Physical media.
- Service Release is nothing but releasing service packs during the software life time after the GA release. These packs actually contains Service Packs, Updates, Fixes, changes or enhancements
- End of life is when the software is no longer supported or sold
'Automation Testing' concept will be explained in the next post.
