Smoke Testing

What Does Smoke Testing Mean?

Smoke testing, in the context of software development, is a series of test cases that are run before the commencement of more rigorous tests. The goal of smoke testing is to verify that an application’s main features work properly. A smoke test suite can be automated or a combination of manual and automated testing.

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Techopedia Explains Smoke Testing

Smoke testing is a preliminary test which is used to catch the high-level functional errors of an application. If the tests fail, then further testing of the application stops, and the build is refused for additional testing until the build passes the smoke test.

The term itself is derived from the electronic industry. While repairing a hardware component, if the equipment works with no smoke, the component is said to have passed the test.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…