On 27 August 2015 the Ubuntu release team published Beta 1 images for every official flavour of Ubuntu 15.10 “Wily Werewolf.” Beta 1 is the first coordinated milestone where flavour maintainers ask the wider community for structured testing. This article breaks down what landed in each flavour, what was still broken, and how you could contribute meaningful test results.
What Beta 1 Means in the Ubuntu Cycle
Ubuntu follows a time-based release cadence with defined milestones:
| Milestone | Typical Date | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha 1 | Late June | Earliest images, highly unstable |
| Alpha 2 | Late July | Feature work in progress |
| Beta 1 | Late August | Feature freeze in effect; call for broad testing |
| Beta 2 / RC | Late September | Bug-fix only; final polish |
| Final Release | Late October | Stable release |
By Beta 1, the Debian Import Freeze and Feature Freeze have both passed. New upstream versions are no longer pulled in unless they fix critical bugs. This makes Beta 1 the first snapshot that roughly resembles the final product.
Step-by-Step: Testing a Beta 1 Image
1. Download the Image
Retrieve the Beta 1 ISO for your target flavour from the cdimage archive. Each image is between 1.0 and 2.4 GB.
2. Verify the Checksum
sha256sum xubuntu-15.10-beta1-desktop-amd64.iso
Compare against the published SHA256SUMS file. Beta images are especially prone to mirror corruption because they receive less replication testing than final releases.
3. Boot in a Virtual Machine
Use QEMU/KVM or VirtualBox to avoid risking hardware:
qemu-system-x86_64 -m 2048 -enable-kvm -cdrom xubuntu-15.10-beta1-desktop-amd64.iso -boot d
Allocate at least 2 GB of RAM and 20 GB of virtual disk.
4. Run the ISO QA Test Cases
Each flavour publishes a checklist on the ISO Tracker. A typical test case for Xubuntu might include:
- Boot to live desktop — confirm Xfce panel loads.
- Open Thunar — verify file operations (copy, move, delete).
- Connect to Wi-Fi — confirm NetworkManager detects adapters.
- Run the installer — verify partitioning, timezone, and user creation.
- Reboot into installed system — confirm GRUB and login screen.
5. Report Results
After completing a test case, mark it Passed, Failed, or Passed with bugs on the ISO Tracker. For failures, file a Launchpad bug:
ubuntu-bug <package-name>
This bundles system logs, package versions, and hardware details into the report automatically.
6. Update Daily
Beta 1 is a snapshot. Fixes land continuously. Keep your test installation current:
sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade -y
Re-test after significant updates to confirm regressions are resolved.
What Landed in Each Flavour
Kubuntu
- Plasma 5.3.95 (5.4 beta) with the new full-screen app dashboard.
- KDE Applications 15.08, including a rewritten Dolphin sidebar.
- Known issue: Plasma crash on logout when Baloo file indexer was active.
Xubuntu
- Xfce 4.12 stable, matching the version that shipped in 15.04.
- New default wallpaper set and Greybird theme refinements.
- Known issue: Panel clock applet misaligned on multi-monitor setups.
Lubuntu
- LXDE 0.99 with incremental Openbox fixes.
- PCManFM now used the shared GVFS mounts, improving USB auto-detection.
- Known issue: LXPanel crashed on right-click when certain third-party applets were loaded.
Ubuntu GNOME
- GNOME 3.16 shell with selective 3.17 development packages.
- GNOME Software replaced Ubuntu Software Centre.
- Known issue: Lock screen failed to activate on lid-close for some laptop models.
Ubuntu MATE
- MATE 1.10 stable with experimental GTK3 builds available in a PPA.
- MATE Tweak received the new “Mutiny” layout emulating Unity’s left panel.
- Known issue: Compiz panel shadow rendered incorrectly at non-default DPI.
Ubuntu Studio
- Ardour 4.2 and updated JACK 0.125.0.
- Low-latency kernel 4.2-rc with real-time preemption patches.
- Known issue: PulseAudio-JACK bridge failed silently on first boot; required manual restart of
pulseaudio.
Ubuntu Kylin
- UKUI 1.1 with improved HiDPI scaling.
- Sogou Pinyin 2.0 pre-installed.
- Known issue: Fcitx input method panel rendered behind full-screen applications.
What Was Stable vs. What Was Not
Generally stable at Beta 1:
- Kernel boot and hardware detection (kernel 4.2-rc7 was well-tested upstream).
- The Ubiquity installer for standard single-disk layouts.
- NetworkManager for Wi-Fi and Ethernet.
- Package management (
apt,dpkg, Software centres).
Still rough at Beta 1:
- Wayland sessions (Kubuntu only) — frequent crashes, no multi-monitor support.
- GNOME Software — slow startup, missing ratings data, occasional segfaults.
- Suspend/resume on NVIDIA Optimus laptops — regressions from the new kernel.
- Bluetooth audio — PulseAudio 6.0 had known A2DP pairing bugs.
- Installer edge cases — LUKS encryption with LVM occasionally produced unbootable systems.
Common Pitfalls
- Testing on your only computer without backups. Beta images can corrupt partition tables during installation. Always back up irreplaceable data before inserting a beta USB.
- Filing duplicate bugs. Before reporting, search Launchpad for the package name plus key error terms. Duplicate reports split developer attention and slow triage.
- Expecting beta performance to match the final release. Debug symbols, verbose logging, and unoptimised code paths are common at Beta 1. Benchmarks are meaningless until Release Candidate stage.
- Ignoring the ISO Tracker test cases. Random exploration is helpful, but structured test cases ensure coverage of the installer, first-boot experience, and core applications — areas where regressions are most dangerous.
- Forgetting to note your hardware. A bug report that says “Wi-Fi doesn’t work” is far less actionable than one that includes
lspci | grep -i netoutput and the exact adapter chipset.
How to Contribute Beyond Testing
- Triage existing bugs. Confirm whether a reported issue reproduces on your hardware and add your system details to the bug.
- Write documentation. If you discover a workaround, post it to the bug report and to the flavour’s community wiki.
- Translate. Launchpad’s translation portal lets you improve strings for any supported language before the UI freeze.
- Package fixes. If you are a developer, the Ubuntu Sponsorship Queue accepts debdiffs for packages that need urgent fixes before Beta 2.
Beta testing is the most direct way to improve the quality of a release that millions of users will run. Even a single afternoon of structured testing on real hardware contributes data that automated CI pipelines cannot replicate.