Comprehensive Overview of Sauce Labs for Software Testing
Intro
Software testing is a fundamental component of software development. In recent years, cloud-based platforms like Sauce Labs have gained traction. These platforms aim to streamline the testing process, ensuring swift identifications of issues. Sauce Labs offers a suite of tools designed to enhance both functional and performance testing, which gives it an edge for developers and testers.
Software Overview
Features and Functionalities Overview
Sauce Labs provides an extensive array of features beneficial for software testing. The platform supports automated testing for both web and mobile applications. Key functionalities include:
- Test Automation: Developers can execute tests across various browsers and devices without manual intervention. This saves time and simplifies repetitive tasks.
- Live Testing: Users can actively engage with their applications in real-time while monitoring performance and usability.
- Reporting and Analytics: Sauce Labs offers detailed insights on test runs and errors through comprehensive reports. Users can analyze trends and make data-driven decisions.
- Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with popular CI/CD tools ensures a smooth workflow within development environments.
User Interface and Navigation
The user interface of Sauce Labs is designed for simplicity and efficiency. Navigation is intuitive, allowing users to quickly access necessary tools. The layout minimizes clutter. Users appreciate the dashboard where they can oversee test statuses prominently. The organization of testing environments helps maintain focus.
Compatibility and Integrations
Sauce Labs excels in compatibility, supporting various operating systems, browsers, and mobile devices. This extensive coverage ensures that tests are representative of real user experiences. The platform integrates well with existing systems like Jenkins, GitHub, and Jira, enabling users to incorporate Sauce Labs into their CI/CD pipelines effortlessly.
Pros and Cons
Strengths
Sauce Labs holds many advantages in the testing landscape:
- Cloud-based Convenience: No need for extensive infrastructure; users can test from anywhere.
- Cross-Browser Testing: Allows users to identify discrepancies across different web environments.
- Support for Mobile Applications: The platform includes robust functionalities for mobile app testing.
Weaknesses
While Sauce Labs offers significant benefits, there are some considerations:
- Learning Curve: New users may require time to fully understand advanced features.
- Cost: Continuous subscription fees may be a barrier for smaller teams.
Comparison with Similar Software
When compared to other platforms like BrowserStack or TestComplete, Sauce Labs stands out in test automation capabilities but may fall short on customizations. BrowserStack has a broader device emulator range, while TestComplete offers deep scripting integrations for advanced technical users.
Pricing and Plans
Subscription Options
Sauce Labs offers a tiered pricing model that caters to different user needs:
- Team Plan: Ideal for small teams focusing on automated functional testing.
- Enterprise Plan: Offers advanced integrations and features for large businesses.
Free Trial or Demo Availability
New users can access a 14-day free trial which allows them to evaluate features without commitment. This trial is beneficial for making informed decisions about long-term usage.
Value for Money
While the pricing may seem high for limited use departments, the comprehensive toolset justifies the cost for larger projects. The efficiency gained from automation reduces software release cycles.
Expert Verdict
Final Thoughts and Recommendations
Sauce Labs emerges as a powerful tool for enhancing testing efficiency. Its automation capabilities combined with comprehensive reporting features make it valuable for developers. That said, it is recommended for those with moderate to high testing needs.
Target Audience Suitability
This platform suits not only software developers but also QA engineers and project managers committed to ensuring product quality. Teams that utilize CI/CD practices will particularly benefit.
Potential for Future Updates
As technology evolves, Sauce Labs may introduce enhancements such as improved AI-driven testing solutions or integrations with additional development tools. Keeping pace with advancements will likely remain a priority for their roadmap.
Effective testing tools are essential for modern software development to meet increasing market demands. Sauce Labs helps streamline this process and ensures test integrity efficiently.
Prolusion to Sauce Labs
In today's digital landscape, efficiently testing software applications is crucial for their quality and success. Not only does software need to be functional, but it must also perform well across a variety of devices and platforms. This hereditary necessity leads us to Sauce Labs.
Sauce Labs is a comprehensive testing platform that enhances the software testing process. The integration of numerous testing capabilities in one place is of excellence. By utilizing Sauce Labs, developers and testers experience performance improvements, accelerated cycles, and the ability to assure high software quality. The learning curve for new solutions can often influence their adoption, making an understanding of this tool and a favorable perspective of its methodology beneficial.
What is Sauce Labs?
Sauce Labs operates as a cloud-based testing more added that provides support for web and mobile applications. It's specialized in automated testing and enables cross-browser testing across various real devices and operating systems. As an all-encompassing platform, Sauce Labs facilitates quick and efficient testing processes with features that address key challenges in software development.
Through Sauce Labs's functionality, developers can access a dynamic range of environments. This variety aids in enabling rigorous testing plans without requiring complex setups or managing physical devices. Furthermore, Sauce Labs simplifies these processes, leading to faster release cycles and fewer discrepancies in software behavior across different platforms.
Historical Context
The journey of Sauce Labs dates back to its founding, which reflects its commitment to innovation in the testing field. Launched in 2008, Sauce Labs originally focused on advancing automated testing. With the rising demand for diverse browsing and device options, it quickly evolved, expanding its test case presentation from simply automating web browsers to covering an extensive lineup of mobile applications.
The road to its current comprehensive performance was marked by strategic partnerships and continuous development of features capability that match modern software needs. As web applications continued to rise globally, Sauce Labs adapted by creating features tailored to accelerate continuous integration workflows – an essential for software teams to remain competitive and responsive.
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Key Features of Sauce Labs
The significance of the key features of Sauce Labs cannot be understated in the realm of software testing. Sauce Labs provides a robust platform that enhances not only workflow but also the overall quality of software products. The integration of multiple features allows teams to streamline their testing processes, ensuring that they can quickly and efficiently deliver high-quality software.
Cross-Browser Testing
Cross-browser testing is a critical function provided by Sauce Labs. This capability allows teams to validate software applications across various web browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. As browsers continuously evolve, organizations must ensure consistent user experiences regardless of the browser used.
Modern applications often need to work effectively on new and diverse browsers. Sauce Labs offers a pool of pre-configured browser settings, which allows users to start tests quicker and ramp up their testing coverage with little setup required.
Merely writing cross-browser tests does not suffice; one needs real-time insights into performance metrics. Sauce Labs supplies this data through numerous reports which highlight rendering differences, performance bottlenecks, and gives actionable insights.
Automated Testing
Automated testing is central to the success of any comprehensive testing strategy. With Sauce Labs, users can leverage automation frameworks such as Selenium and Appium. These packages enable developers to execute tests continuously without human input, reducing time spent on repetitive tasks.
By implementing automated testing, teams can idrntify issues rapidly. This rapid identification leads to quicker resolutions during the development cycle, ultimately improving end-user experience. Additionally, Sauce Labs allows for parallel execution of tests, enabling simultaneous testing on multiple environments.
Through the Dashboard, teams gain visibility over the status of the tests run and easily address failing tests. This effective management paves the way for continuous delivery, aligning with modern DevOps methodologies.
Live Testing
Live Testing is the real-time testing feature offered by Sauce Labs. It allows developers to interact with their applications while they undergo testing. This interactive feature provides a direct way to view how an application behaves in various environments and devices.
The direct connection with every action helps identify UI problems or performance hindrances that may not surface during automated tests. Moreover, it allows developers to quickly assess and address issues as they observe them. This hands-on testing experience proves particularly beneficial during debugging sessions where seeing conditions as they unfold can clarify problems.
Real Device Testing
In an era where users operate on a variety of devices, the relevance of real device testing is paramount. Sauce Labs supports real device testing, allowing developers to validate their applications on actual hardware instead of simulators.
The use of real devices means that developers can ensure compatibility and performance align with real-world usage. Sauce Labs contains an extensive inventory of devices, giving developers a rich environment in which to check their applications. This capability is particularly critical for mobile apps where performance variances among devices can significantly affect user satisfaction.
Real device testing empowers QA teams to pinpoint device-specific issues that emulators or simulators could easily overlook, leading ultimately toward higher confidence in their deployments.
Advantages of Using Sauce Labs
Sauce Labs provides numerous advantages that significantly amplify the software testing processes. As development continues to merge with adopting cloud-based solutions, understanding these benefits becomes essential for professionals in IT and software development. With Sauce Labs, teams can expect enhanced efficiency, broad device and browser compatibility, and scalability options tailored for large development groups.
Enhancing Development Efficiency
Using Sauce Labs greatly enhances development efficiency. It does this by allowing testers to perform simultaneous tests across multiple browsers and devices. Testers no longer need to worry about the logistics of physical devices or local environments. Integrating Sauce Labs into the development cycle can reduce testing times considerably. This ability to test in parallel expedites feedback loops, which means that developers can address issues sooner rather than later.
Moreover, automated testing capabilities provided by Sauce Labs facilitates compliance with testing standards. Continuous integration ensures that testing occurs as part of the natural workflow. This automation can help to eliminate manual errors and guarantee smoother rollouts of features. Hence, the shortened cycles and reduced downtimes optimize developmental routines greatly.
Wide Range of Browser and Device Support
Sauce Labs excels in providing a wide range of browser and device support. This coverage is essential because today’s applications must work on an array of access points. Testing across various browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and even legacy browsers is straightforward with Sauce Labs. Devices range from mobile phones to tablets and desktops, adding more flexibility.
The extensive device lab ensures that applications result in a consistent user experience, no matter the platform it's run on. As user expectations evolve, maintaining cross-platform usability is necessary, especially considering how different systems with diverse browsers render content differently.
Scalability for Large Teams
Scalability is another advantage of Sauce Labs. As digital products grow, so do the teams that create them. Sauce Labs is designed to scale with demand, allowing organizations to onboard new team members quickly without sacrificing performance.
In a large team setting, different testers can access the system simultaneously without encumbers. Here’s a few aspects of scalability worth noting:
- Flexible Plans: Sauce Labs offers various pricing options to scale operations over time. Teams can adjust as per requirement.
- Team Collaboration: Multiple team members can simultaneously run tests, facilitating effective collaboration.
- Resource Management: Teams can monitor and allocate resources effectively to address urgent needs or intensive testing requirements.
The result is that teams can leverage resource management tools effectively, ensuring efficiency during resource-intensive phases of development.
Integration with Development Tools
Integration with development tools is vital for maximizing the efficiencies of software testing. Sauce Labs offers seamless integration with numerous systems and frameworks that developers already use. This synergy is critical in enhancing collaboration and workflow within teams while committing resources more wisely.
Continuous Integration Systems
Continuous Integration (CI) is a cornerstone of modern software development practices. Sauce Labs integrates smoothly with popular CI tools like Jenkins, CircleCI, and Travis CI. This incorporation allows for automated testing during the build process, meaning that as new code gets integrated, tests can run automatically. Automating tests helps discover bugs earlier, thus preventing potential disruptions down the line.
Additionally, developers can adopt parallel testing, significantly reducing the time it takes to complete test cycles. This efficiency becomes essential when time is of the essence in our increasingly fast-paced environment.
Collaboration Tools
Effective software testing is not just about running automated tests; it involves an environment where teams can collaborate seamlessly. Sauce Labs supports integrations with prominent collaboration tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. These integrations facilitate team communication, as teams can share test results, logs, and insights instantly.
Real-time accessibility of testing results enhances transparency and allows for a quicker response to issues. When developers or testers identify a problem, they can notify relevant parties promptly, speeding up resolution times. Moreover, clear communication aids in keeping track of the testing progress as well.
Test Automation Frameworks
Sauce Labs also offers integrations with various test automation frameworks, including Selenium, Appium, and Cypress. These frameworks facilitate the creation of automated tests, allowing developers to simulate user interactions efficiently. An established integration with Sauce Labs enables testing across a wide array of browsers and devices, enabling precise simulations of real-world scenarios.
Through these frameworks, developers can easily write, execute, and report on tests. This capacity gives developers a comprehensive view of application performance across diverse environments, driving not only improvements in functioning but also yielding better user experiences.
In summary, the integration of Sauce Labs with key development tools is a strategic asset, enhancing overall efficiencies in the software development lifecycle.
Functional Testing with Sauce Labs
Understanding Functional Testing
Functional testing is a critical aspect of the software development process. It ensures that the software behaves as expected under various conditions. This type of testing focuses on certain functionalities, requirements, and specifications of the software. By validating each feature through QA processes, developers can identify bugs, incorrect behavior, and regressions.
The underlying logic of functional testing rests on the understanding that software should meet its design specifications. It verifies inputs and outputs against defined requirements. This approach emphasizes testing user interactions, API calls, and data integrity.
Incorporating functional testing within Sauce Labs allows organizations to perform consistent and thorough evaluations. Given that Sauce Labs provides a cloud-based platform, testing can happen across numerous environments, thus ensuring wider coverage.
Following the methodologies of functional testing can help teams uncover issues earlier, which is cost-effective and enhances product reliability. The seriousness of comprehensive functional tests cannot be underestimated in the agile development landscape, where quick deployment takes precedence.
Implementing Functional Tests
Implementing functional tests on Sauce Labs involves several strategic steps. First, it is pivotal to set clear objectives around the tests. Determining what functionalities require testing ensures that resources are appropriately allocated. Here are key considerations for successful implementation:
- Define Test Cases: Create detailed test cases that lay out different scenarios, actions, and expected results. This step ensures comprehensive coverage of functionalities.
- Utilize Frameworks: Integrate testing frameworks like Selenium or Cypress with Sauce Labs. This enhances automation capabilities, reducing manual intervention.
- Execute Tests Across Browsers: With Sauce Labs, execute your functional tests across various browsers and devices. This allows for quick identification of cross-compatibility issues and helps ensure that applications perform seamlessly regardless of the environment.
- Reporting and Analysis: Leverage the built-in reporting tools within Sauce Labs to gather insights. Analyzing results aids in understanding successful executions versus failures, paving the way for actionable insights.
Implementing these functional tests tightly ensures each release is reliable. As teams iterate on their products, keeping functionality intact through rigorous testing is paramount.
"Functional testing validates each feature of the software, ensuring alignment with user requirements and expectations."
Performance Testing using Sauce Labs
Performance testing plays a critical role in ensuring that applications run smoothly and efficiently under varying loads. By utilizing Sauce Labs, developers can conduct comprehensive performance tests across multiple platforms, which ensures that applications meet performance benchmarks and deliver a reliable user experience. This aspect of software testing not only reveals potential bottlenecks but also enhances the overall performance strategy with actionable insights.
Importance of Performance Testing
Performance testing is essential for several important reasons:
- User Satisfaction: In an age where speed and responsiveness dictate user retention, performance testing helps ensure that applications perform optimally under multiple conditions, working to enhance the user experience.
- Identifying Bottlenecks: Performance tests reveal areas where applications may slow down. This allows developers to refine the code or optimize resources ahead of deployment.
- Scalability Assurance: As user demand grows, applications must be able to scale effectively. Performance testing simulates increased loads to verify that the system can sustain additional stresses without degrading.
- Reduced Downtime: By validating performance before release, companies can reduce the chances of performance issues leading to downtimes and mitigate potential damage to their reputation.
Achieving these benefits requires a solid performance testing strategy and the use of a robust platform like Sauce Labs.
Techniques for Performance Testing
Sauce Labs offers various techniques that can be employed to ensure performance testing is effective and thorough:
- Load Testing: This technique evaluates how the application behaves under anticipated user loads. It helps uncover any performance discrepancies before the application is widely used.
- Stress Testing: This goes further than load testing, pushing the application to its limits to determine its breaking point. This process is essential in narrowing down performance constraints.
- Endurance Testing: This checks for memory leaks or other potential issues that may arise over extended periods of usage. It helps validate that applications can handle prolonged loads.
- Spike Testing: In this approach, developers assess how well the application reacts to sudden and extreme increases in load, testing the resilience and recovery mechanisms.
In using Sauce Labs for performance testing, developers can leverage automated tools that not only facilitate repeatable tests but also ensure comprehensive coverage across platforms and environments.
Through rigorous performance testing, organizations can greatly enhance the user experience, ultimately leading to higher engagement and satisfaction.
Incorporating these techniques ensures a proactive approach to performance, thus mitigating risks and maximizing reliability.
Case Studies: Sauce Labs in Action
Case studies are invaluable in illustrating how Sauce Labs impacts real-world testing environments. They bring to light the practical applications of this testing platform and demonstrate its wide-ranging benefits across different sectors. The reader can understand how critical challenges were addressed, and assess the results achieved by various organizations by examining specific implementations. This section emphasizes learning through observation - understanding how Sauce Labs can be a driving force behind efficiency and innovation in software testing.
Enterprise Implementation
In enterprise environments, where complexity and scale are often the norm, businesses heavily rely on robust software testing solutions. Many large organizations have turned to Sauce Labs for its extensive capabilities.
A notable example involves a leading financial institution that faced significant barriers in testing cross-browser compatibility for its widely-used customer-facing applications. Implementing Sauce Labs enabled the development and QA teams to conduct simultaneous tests across multiple browsers and devices, significantly shortening the testing lifecycle. This automation minimized manual testing efforts, leading to quicker release cycles while increasing their product quality. Such implementations reveal the scalability and flexibility that Sauce Labs brings to large teams, addressing the unique challenges they face.
Moreover, with Sauce Labs' live testing feature, the enterprise facilitated real-time interactions, vastly improving the collaboration between development and QA teams. This synergy not only expedited feedback loops but also resulted in enhanced defect identification early in the development phase, optimizing resources effectively.
Start-Up Success Stories
Start-ups frequently operate in fast-paced environments where quick iterations and rapid delivery to market are crucial. Sauce Labs has been integral in helping several smaller teams to elevate their product quality without compromising speed.
For instance, a tech start-up focused on developing a health-tech app required comprehensive testing across diverse devices due to its extensive use case scenarios. By utilizing Sauce Labs, the start-up was able to integrate automated tests into its CI/CD pipeline seamlessly. This allowed them to run tests in parallel across multiple platforms quickly, thus ensuring that any discrepancies were flagged instantly during development.
Another start-up utilized Sauce Labs for user interface testing and was able to obtain user insights through live testing. They noticed improved user experience after a series of swift revisions guided by data retrieved from Sauce Labs. These case studies highlight how Sauce Labs can empower start-ups to outperform competitors by enabling them to release customer-ready applications efficiently and reliably.
Through these divers case studies, the capability of Sauce Labs to serve various needs across teams of different sizes becomes clear. Its role in fostering innovation and efficiency in testing processes positions it favorably within the tech industry for both enterprises and emerging businesses.
Challenges and Solutions
Understanding the complexities surrounding software testing is critical. In this section, we will explore some of the common challenges faced when using Sauce Labs and propose effective solutions. Being aware of these elements, benefits, and considerations can significantly enhance the process and outcomes.
Common Testing Pitfalls
Testing applications comes with its own challenges. It's easy to misjudge the depth and breadth of what is necessary for comprehensive coverage. Here are some common pitfalls:
- Inadequate Test Coverage: Often, teams may rush through testing phases without ensuring cases cover enough scenarios. Not addressing possible user interactions can lead to critical issues.
- Ignoring User Environment Variability: Different devices and browsers can respond diversely to the same application. Failure to account for this variability may result in unexpected behaviors that escape detection till the production phase.
- Underestimating Test Maintenance: Many underestimate the ongoing effort required to maintain tests. As features change, tests may become obsolete or require shipment expanded to other browsers or devices.
- Overlooking Performance Testing: It's common to focus primarily on functionality, neglecting how the application performs under various loads. This short-sightedness may lead to end-user dissatisfaction or system crashes.
Addressing these pitfalls early can transform the software testing process into a systematic and efficient facet of development rather than a bottleneck.
Overcoming Integration Issues
Integrating Sauce Labs into existing workflows presents challenge too, yet solving these impediments can unlock the platform's full potential. Here are a few strategies:
- Research Compatible Tooling: Ensuring your existing development tools and automation frameworks support Sauce Labs reduces friction. Many users benefit from leveraging standard tools which provide seamless integration experiences.
- Gradual Implementation: Start small. Instead of revamping every workflow at once, gradually incorporate Sauce Labs into pipelines. This also allows for adjustments along the way, ensuring integration becomes part of routine operations.
- A Collaborative Approach: Cross-team collaboration can mitigate integration errors. Involve both QA and DevOps teams early in the planning phase to address common oversights together.
- Utilizing Documentation and Support: Sauce Labs offers a wealth of resources. Regular perusal of documentation and tapping into official support channels can save time and streamline setup efforts.
Proper awareness and proactive measures associated with these challenges can minimize roadblocks and amplify the effectiveness of your enhanced software testing efforts.
Future Outlook for Sauce Labs
The future direction of Sauce Labs is crucial for professionals impacted by evolving technologies in software testing. Upcoming advancements promise to refine and enhance the testing process as automation becomes more mainstream. The increased agility brought by emerging capabilities will lead to better software quality and quicker release cycles.
Emerging Technologies
In recent years, new technologies have surged into the software testing domain. One prominent trend is the adoption of AI and machine learning. These systems can analyze vast sets of testing data, identifying patterns and predicting potential failures before code ever reaches production. This predictive analytics can proactively improve testing strategies.
Another vital technology is visual regression testing. Solutions like Percy allow for fast feedback and real-time checks on cross-browser compatibility, preventing user interface issues before they impact the user experience. Technologies in cloud computing also ease resource constraints for testing environments. By maximizing computing power as demanded through platforms like Sauce Labs, large-scale automation initiatives can become obtainable.
Furthermore, microservices testing will become an increasing focus. As organizations shift to microservices architecture, conventional monolithic testing will fall short. Tools that are optimized for this structure will help developers assure the functionality and seamless interaction of individual services. Attention toward scalability and modular testing will likely burgeon in importance.
Trends in Software Testing
As we look forward, several trends emerge likely to shape the future landscape of software testing. Agile and DevOps practices continue to gain momentum, suggesting the necessity for more integrated test cycles within these frameworks. Automation is not merely a nice-to-have; it has become an essential part to reduce time-to-market for software products.
There is a notable shift towards incorporating user feedback into testing cycles. Thanks to platforms that engage with users, testing teams understand user behavior, leading to more relevant tests. Performance testing, particularly in a microservice architecture, comes more to focus. Choosing the appropriate tools and defines the metrics is key in understanding how well services perform under stress.
Lastly, policy compliance and security regulations are factors now center-stage in software testing discussions. As companies navigate tighter regulations, testing frameworks that include automated compliance checks become essential. In many respects, the outcome and efficacy of Sauce Labs hinge upon adapting to these trends, accurately predicting new demands, and reinforcing their commitment to maintain cutting-edge capabilities.
The trajectory of Sauce Labs is intertwined with these emerging technologies and trends, compelling developers to adapt constantly. Maintaining relevance in this landscape requires continuous learning and integration of modern practices into testing methodologies.
Closure
The conclusion plays a critical role in synthesizing the extensive discussions within this article regarding Sauce Labs and its capabilities in software testing. This is where the reader can reflect on the key takeaways, understanding how Sauce Labs fits into the broader context of testing solutions and DevOps practices. In emphasizing the benefits of the platform, such as enhancing development efficiency and providing a robust testing environment across different devices and browsers, the conclusion allows the readers to see the holistic value of adopting such a tool.
Summary of Key Insights
Throughout the article, several essential points have emerged. Sauce Labs stands as a premier cloud-based testing service that meets the demands of modern-day software development. Its key features, including Cross-Browser Testing, Automated Testing, and Real Device Testing, are designed to simplify the testing process.
The discussion reveals several insights:
- Testing Efficiency: Automation and live testing capabilities enable rapid development cycles without sacrificing quality.
- Device Diversity: With an extensive suite of devices and browsers, developers can ensure compatibility without needing in-house hardware.
- Integration: Compatibility with seamless integration into Continuous Integration systems solidifies Sauce Labs as a critical part of the software production line.
By acknowledging these facets of Sauce Labs, developers can make informed decisions on how to integrate this tool into their workflows for impressive outcomes.
Final Thoughts on Sauce Labs
In closing, Sauce Labs serves as a powerful ally to software testing professionals. Embracing this platform can result in noticeable improvements in both the efficiency and effectiveness of software testing. As software environments become increasingly complex, robust testing solutions like Sauce Labs are not just beneficial; they are essential.
The ability to conduct real-time tests on multiple platforms strengthens the final product by uncovering defects early in the development cycle. Each development team can tailor their usage to meet project demands by leveraging Sauce Labs’ scalability.
The journey into the future of testing is bound to involve innovations that Sauce Labs aims to integrate, ensuring it continues to meet the needs of software developers. This landmark in the field of software testing will stay relevant by leveraging emerging technologies and addressing trends in quality assurance processes.
Incorporating Sauce Labs into development practices bridges the gap between effective testing and successful software delivery.
