Compatibility testing is a kind of software testing characterized by non-functional testing that tests the compatibility of an application on different platforms/environments.
To perform compatibility testing, the following conditions must be met:
Define the environments or the platforms that the application is expected to work on.
The testing team should have sufficient knowledge about the platforms to monitor the expected behavior.
Set up the testing with different devices to test if the application works under various configurations.
Compatibility tests are performed on the following:
Operating system - checks if the application is compatible with Windows, Mac OS, Linux, etc.
Software - checks if the developed application is compatible with other software.
Hardware - checks the compatibility with different sizes of RAM, ROM, hard disks, etc.
Browser - checks the compatibility of the application with Chrome, Opera, Firefox, etc.
Devices - checks the compatibility of the application with devices like USB ports, printers, scanners, etc.
Versions of the software - checks if the application is compatible with different software versions, e.g., windows 7, windows 8, etc.
There are two types of version checking in compatibility testing, shown below:
Some common tools for compatibility testing include:
BrowserStack - checks for browser compatibility.
Virtual Desktops - checks for operating system compatibility.
Compatibility testing is an essential part of software testing, as it ensures the identification of bugs during the development phase, ensures maximum customer satisfaction, and provides the service across multiple platforms and environments.
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