canary testing
phrase

- a method of forecasting and potentially avoiding damage to a complex system

- the process of employing actual users in a live (production) environment to test a new software version or functionality

- a technique in which a small subset of users or systems are exposed to a new version of the software, while the rest of the users or systems continue to use the previous version. This allows for testing in a production-like environment while minimizing the impact on the overall system if there are issues with the new version.

Wingify

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PHRASE ORIGIN

The term “canary testing” originates from the phrase "canary in the coal mine”. Canary birds have a lower tolerance to toxic gases than humans, so they were used to alert miners when these gases reached dangerous levels inside the mine.

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CANARIES & WARFARE

With the use of poisonous gas in warfare in the 20th century, the canary became a highly valued asset on the battlefield. Considered as a “cheap and sensitive warning device in warfare”, they were first used during the First World War.

Canaries were used to detect poisonous gases well into the 20th and even 21st centuries. They were used during the Gulf War, where they were “code-named ELVIS – Early Liquid Vapour Indicator System”.

Similarly, after 9/11 sparked fears amongst New Yorkers about a chemical terrorist attack, 'The Times' reported that “canary breeders could barely keep up with demand”.

In 2003, during the Iraq War, the 'Financial Times' reported that canaries were in high demand in Baghdad, where they were considered as “the only chemical weapons detector available” for the local population.

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CANARIES AS SYMBOLS OF RISK

Over the past decades, the canary in the coal mine has become emblematic of risks and failures in the political, economic and cultural domain. In 2010, the 'International Herald Tribune' viewed the music industry as “the canary in the digital coal mine”, explaining that it served as a warning to what would happen to other art forms with the normalisation of internet connections.

The phrase is also repeatedly used in political contexts. Scotland, for example, is referred to as “the canary in the United Kingdom’s coal mine” in the context of debates on the Celtic fringe.

With increasing concern about environmental safety, the canary-in-the-coal-mine image has become associated with the identification of toxic substances in living creatures.

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SYNONYMS

canary deployment, canary launch, canary release, CANARY TESTING

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“The metaphor, CANARY TESTING, reminds us of the proverb ‘forewarned is forearmed’.”

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