This document describes how one could quickly test if a new package works
resonably well. The idea was posted on
http://lists.debian.org/debian-accessibility/2013/10/msg00026.html

eBook-speaker actually can read you any text (including OCR). So far, I
only test it with real ebook. I suggest to download a legally free book,
e.g. some work from Edgar Allan Poe:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32037
http://openlibrary.org/books/OL7044543M/The_works_of_Edgar_Allan_Poe.

eBook-speaker needs a console, so start it in a terminal window. You can
run eBook-speaker straight without input and it should show you your
current directory listing. Moving up and down should allow you to select
any file. eBook-speaker is made for 24 lines x 80 chars, if your window
is smaller, text might appear funny. Also, I try to keep the packaging
such that both ebook-speaker and eBook-speaker work. The former form is
preferred by me, the latter by the author of eBook-speaker.

paul@wollumbin ~/ $ ebook-speaker

- You should get a screen with two info lines of eBook-speaker and then
  the content of directory where you started eBook-speaker.
- Pressing h should bring you the help, then pressing any key should
  return you to the normal screen.
- Pressing Cursor Down should scroll down to the next file
- Pressing enter should start the reading and you should be able to hear
  the text.
- Hitting q should quite gracefully.

paul@wollumbin ~/ $ ebook-speaker Old_World_Romances.epub

- You should get a screen with the content of the book. You will only
  see at maximum the first 22 chapters of the book even if there are more.
- Hitting q should quite gracefully.
- Restarting eBook-speaker as before should start where you were the last
  time you "read" this book.

eBook-speaker stores it's current configuration in ~/.eBook-speaker.xml
and places bookmarks in ~/.eBook-speaker/ You might want to backup/remove
those to restore default settings. (Don't edit while eBook-speaker is
running or it will be overwritten.)

Lastly, testing if the translations still work is also nice:
paul@wollumbin ~/ $ LANGUAGE=nl_NL eBook-speaker