Different types of tests done in the 'Clam Antivirus Project'

Compatibility Testing

Why compatibility tests?

Compatibility test makes sure that the software applications and hardware devices function correctly with all relevant operating systems, platforms, architectures  and with computing environments.

1. A compatibility test is a kind of  Environment Test.

2. 'Buildbot' is a good tool which can be used for compatibility testing.

For antivirus software it is needed to do compatibility testing for both software and database as they are expected to be reliably run on different computer platforms. Therefore compatibility test is an unavoidable test for anti-virus software.   

Performance Testing

In simple terms, performance testing is a type of testing which is intended to determine the responsiveness, throughput, reliability and scalability (if necessary) of a system under a given workload.

Antivirus software need to handle hundreds of thousands of virus signatures and hundreds of file formats, at the same time they must perform all the tasks fast enough to, not to fail the computer system. Therefore performance testing is a must for antivirus software. 

‘Profilers’ are some special tools designed for; code execution performance analysis. It is said that even with profilers, it’s not an easy task to identify parts of the code that can result in slowdowns. One of the reasons for this is; that a code with problems can be hidden in routines that are not called frequently.

Stress testing can be done as a part of the performance testing. Stress testing helps to discover potential problems with stability, robustness, and general efficiency of the software.

User Acceptance Testing

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is performed by the users of the system to certify the system with respect to the requirements that was agreed upon or it to certify that it is what they wanted.

The usability and user acceptance testing is the last step before giving out the final product.

Advantages of UAT

1. It is able to provide many useful suggestions to the system being developed

2. Can help to verify companie’s development ideas

3. The people who contribute help the project as the best black box testers. 

Methods of User Acceptance Testing

1. Opinion polling 

 Discussions can be held and opinions can be taken from the public about the major changes, so that the complaints can be reduced.

2. Candidate releasing

As a good practice, the releasing of candidates is not done for mission critical   applications. Otherwise the alpha or beta releases of the product can be thrown to use.