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FAQ: Generalities about Squash AUTOM and Squash DEVOPS

This FAQ answers question about why develop these new products, what does this mean for Squash TF and how will the transition from Squash TF to Squash AUTOM and Squash DEVOPS take place?

Why develop two new products: Squash AUTOM et Squash DEVOPS?

The creation of Squash AUTOM and Squash DEVOPS is the result of a reflection on the evolution of automation practices (growth of CI/CD and DevOps practices, more and more democratized use of containerization, multiplication of integration tools) and on how the Squash software suite could be in line with them.

It emerged that Squash TF had architectural and other limitations for its adoption within the DevOps principles.

This is why we decided to develop a new tool for managing the execution of automated tests, and this tool must respect the following principles:

  • Micro-service architecture, particularly for deployment and usability reasons in DevOps environments.

  • Separation between the functionalities allowing automation (for testers and automation engineers) and those allowing the integration of automated tests (for the pipeline manager) within the DevOps plant. This gave rise to 2 products named Squash AUTOM and Squash DEVOPS.

  • Removal of the adhesion with Squash TM in order to make these two products independent of it.

What is the model of Squash AUTOM and Squash DEVOPS?

The model chosen is an "open core" model.

This model, which is the same as Squash TM, allows to offer two versions:

  • A free Community version composed of an open source core and freemium modules. This version is fully functional (unrestrained).

  • A commercial version, with annual subscription, composed of the Community version and commercial plugins. It brings additional value-added features, but not essential, as well as support.

What is the release frequency of Squash AUTOM and Squash DEVOPS ?

A new delivery of Squash AUTOM and Squash DEVOPS is available every second Wednesday of the month (except for August). It contain a variable number of updated components, depending on the added features. It is named according to the year and the month (using the YYYY-MM format).

Can Squash AUTOM and Squash DEVOPS be used without Squash TM?

Yes.

For both products, our goal is to bring value to companies or projects that do not use Squash TM:

  • The use of Squash AUTOM "alone" thus makes it possible to unify/homogenize the use of various automatons (Selenium, Cypress, SoapUI, Appium...) and various studios (Robot Framework, Cucumber, UFT, Agilitest...) while generating a common reporting format (such as Allure).

  • The use of Squash DEVOPS "alone" enables the orchestration of all automated tests, their integration into the DevOps pipeline (CI/CD) and the posting of results to the recipients (the pipeline itself, the test asset tool or the framework for reporting and aggregating test results).

Will new features for Squash TF be developed in the future?

No, there will be no new features developed for Squash TF.

We encourage you to make the transition from Squash TF to Squash AUTOM for the execution of your automated test assets in order to take advantage of all the new features offered by Squash.

Nevertheless, the elements of Squash TF will remain available for download. Likewise, the open source repositories will remain accessible.

Does support for Squash TF end with the release of Squash AUTOM and Squash DEVOPS?

No.

We will continue to provide support on Squash TF via the Squashtest forum and, for customers of the Squash AUTOM commercial offer, via our support service.

Does my legacy of automated tests, previously run with Squash TF, need to be modified to be used with Squash AUTOM?

No.

The scripts/automated tests that you run via Squash TF can be used by Squash AUTOM without any modification.

Can I run SKF tests with Squash AUTOM and Squash DEVOPS?

SKF tests are supported since version 2021-07.

What do I need to do in Squash TM to run my automated execution plans with Squash AUTOM instead of Squash TF?

It is necessary to create a link between a Squash TM test case and your automated test according to the Squash AUTOM documentation.

This action is almost instantaneous and can be done, at the same time, for several Squash TM Gherkin or BDD test cases using the Git plugin.
For the other test cases, an action on each test case will be necessary according to the Squash AUTOM documentation.

The link action between a Squash TM test case and an automated test for an execution with Squash AUTOM is different from the one for an execution with Squash TF.

Can I mix in the same execution plan automated test cases executed by Squash TF and test cases executed by Squash AUTOM?

Yes.

In order to ease the transition, it is perfectly possible to have test cases from a project running Squash TF and test cases from a project running Squash AUTOM within the same Squash TM execution plan.

Do I need to have a Jenkins server to run my automated tests from Squash TM via Squash AUTOM?

No.

The specific Jenkins jobs required to run automated tests from Squash TM via Squash TF are no longer a prerequisite for running from Squash TM via Squash AUTOM.

With Squash AUTOM, execution is handled by the Squash Orchestrator, a specific component of Squash AUTOM.

Can I launch my Squash TM automated execution plans from a Jenkins pipeline with Squash AUTOM and Squash DEVOPS?

Yes.

Running a Squash TM execution plan from a Jenkins pipeline is a new feature of Squash DEVOPS compared to Squash TF and requires the implementation of jobs as described in the Squash DEVOPS documentation.

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