[xfstests-dev.git] / README

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BUILDING THE FSQA SUITE
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Building Linux:
        - cd into the xfstests directory
        - install prerequisite packages
          For example, for Ubuntu:
                "sudo apt-get install xfslibs-dev uuid-dev libtool e2fsprogs
                 automake gcc libuuid1 quota attr libattr1-dev
                 libacl1-dev libaio-dev xfsprogs libgdbm-dev gawk fio dbench"
        - run make
        - run make install
        - create fsgqa test user ("sudo useradd fsgqa")
        
Building IRIX:
        - cd into the xfstests directory 
        - set the ROOT and TOOLROOT env variables for IRIX appropriately
        - run ./make_irix

______________________
USING THE FSQA SUITE
______________________

Preparing system for tests (IRIX and Linux):

    - compile XFS into your kernel or load XFS modules
    - install user tools including mkfs.xfs, xfs_db & xfs_bmap
    - If you wish to run the udf components of the suite install 
      mkfs_udf and udf_db for IRIX and mkudffs for Linux. Also download and 
      build the Philips UDF Verification Software from 
      http://www.extra.research.philips.com/udf/, then copy the udf_test 
      binary to xfstests/src/. If you wish to disable UDF verification test
      set the environment variable DISABLE_UDF_TEST to 1.
        
    
    - create one or two partitions to use for testing
        - one TEST partition
            - format as XFS, mount & optionally populate with 
              NON-IMPORTANT stuff
        - one SCRATCH partition (optional)
            - leave empty and expect this partition to be clobbered
              by some tests.  If this is not provided, many tests will
              not be run.
              (SCRATCH and TEST must be two DIFFERENT partitions)
              OR
        - for btrfs only: some btrfs test cases will need 3 or more independent
              SCRATCH disks which should be set using SCRATCH_DEV_POOL (for eg:
              SCRATCH_DEV_POOL="/dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc") with which
              SCRATCH_DEV should be unused by the tester, and for the legacy
              support SCRATCH_DEV will be set to the first disk of the
              SCRATCH_DEV_POOL by xfstests script.
              
    - setup your environment
        - setenv TEST_DEV "device containing TEST PARTITION"
        - setenv TEST_DIR "mount point of TEST PARTITION"   
        - optionally:
             - setenv SCRATCH_DEV "device containing SCRATCH PARTITION" OR
               (btrfs only) setenv SCRATCH_DEV_POOL "to 3 or more SCRATCH disks for
               testing btrfs raid concepts"
             - setenv SCRATCH_MNT "mount point for SCRATCH PARTITION"
             - setenv TAPE_DEV "tape device for testing xfsdump"
             - setenv RMT_TAPE_DEV "remote tape device for testing xfsdump"
             - setenv RMT_IRIXTAPE_DEV "remote IRIX tape device for testing xfsdump"
             - setenv SCRATCH_LOGDEV "device for scratch-fs external log"
             - setenv SCRATCH_RTDEV "device for scratch-fs realtime data"
             - setenv TEST_LOGDEV "device for test-fs external log"
             - setenv TEST_RTDEV "device for test-fs realtime data"
             - if TEST_LOGDEV and/or TEST_RTDEV, these will always be used.
             - if SCRATCH_LOGDEV and/or SCRATCH_RTDEV, the USE_EXTERNAL
               environment variable set to "yes" will enable their use.
             - setenv DIFF_LENGTH "number of diff lines to print from a failed test",
               by default 10, set to 0 to print the full diff
             - setenv FSTYP "the filesystem you want to test", the filesystem
               type is devised from the TEST_DEV device, but you may want to
               override it; if unset, the default is 'xfs'
             - setenv FSSTRESS_AVOID and/or FSX_AVOID, which contain options
               added to the end of fsstresss and fsx invocations, respectively,
               in case you wish to exclude certain operational modes from these
               tests.

        - or add a case to the switch in common/config assigning
          these variables based on the hostname of your test
          machine
        - or add these variables to a file called local.config and keep that
          file in your workarea.

    - if testing xfsdump, make sure the tape devices have a
      tape which can be overwritten.
          
    - make sure $TEST_DEV is a mounted XFS partition
    - make sure that $SCRATCH_DEV or $SCRATCH_DEV_POOL contains nothing useful
    
Running tests:

    - cd xfstests
    - By default the tests suite will run xfs tests:
    - ./check '*/001' '*/002' '*/003'
    - ./check '*/06?'
    - You can explicitly specify NFS/CIFS/UDF, otherwise the filesystem type will
      be autodetected from $TEST_DEV:
      ./check -nfs [test(s)]
    - Groups of tests maybe ran by: ./check -g [group(s)]
      See the 'group' file for details on groups
    - for udf tests: ./check -udf [test(s)]
      Running all the udf tests: ./check -udf -g udf
    - for running nfs tests: ./check -nfs [test(s)]
    - for running cifs/smb3 tests: ./check -cifs [test(s)]
    - To randomize test order: ./check -r [test(s)]

    
    The check script tests the return value of each script, and
    compares the output against the expected output. If the output
    is not as expected, a diff will be output and an .out.bad file
    will be produced for the failing test.
    
    Unexpected console messages, crashes and hangs may be considered
    to be failures but are not necessarily detected by the QA system.

__________________________ 
ADDING TO THE FSQA SUITE
__________________________


Creating new tests scripts:

    Use the "new" script.

Test script environment:

    When developing a new test script keep the following things in
    mind.  All of the environment variables and shell procedures are
    available to the script once the "common/rc" file has been
    sourced.

     1. The tests are run from an arbitrary directory.  If you want to
        do operations on an XFS filesystem (good idea, eh?), then do
        one of the following:

        (a) Create directories and files at will in the directory
            $TEST_DIR ... this is within an XFS filesystem and world
            writeable.  You should cleanup when your test is done,
            e.g. use a _cleanup shell procedure in the trap ... see
            001 for an example.  If you need to know, the $TEST_DIR
            directory is within the filesystem on the block device
            $TEST_DEV.

        (b) mkfs a new XFS filesystem on $SCRATCH_DEV, and mount this
            on $SCRATCH_MNT. Call the the _require_scratch function 
            on startup if you require use of the scratch partition.
            _require_scratch does some checks on $SCRATCH_DEV & 
            $SCRATCH_MNT and makes sure they're unmounted. You should 
            cleanup when your test is done, and in particular unmount 
            $SCRATCH_MNT.
            Tests can make use of $SCRATCH_LOGDEV and $SCRATCH_RTDEV
            for testing external log and realtime volumes - however,
            these tests need to simply "pass" (e.g. cat $seq.out; exit
            - or default to an internal log) in the common case where
            these variables are not set.

     2. You can safely create temporary files that are not part of the
        filesystem tests (e.g. to catch output, prepare lists of things
        to do, etc.) in files named $tmp.<anything>.  The standard test
        script framework created by "new" will initialize $tmp and
        cleanup on exit.

     3. By default, tests are run as the same uid as the person
        executing the control script "check" that runs the test scripts.

        If you need to be root, add a call to the shell procedure
        _need_to_be_root ... this will do nothing or exit with an
        error message depending on your current uid.

     4. Some other useful shell procedures:

        _get_fqdn               - echo the host's fully qualified
                                  domain name

        _get_pids_by_name       - one argument is a process name, and
                                  return all of the matching pids on
                                  standard output

        _within_tolerance       - fancy numerical "close enough is good
                                  enough" filter for deterministic
                                  output ... see comments in
                                  common/filter for an explanation

        _filter_date            - turn ctime(3) format dates into the
                                  string DATE for deterministic
                                  output

        _cat_passwd,            - dump the content of the password
        _cat_group                or group file (both the local file
                                  and the content of the NIS database
                                  if it is likely to be present)

     5. General recommendations, usage conventions, etc.:
        - When the content of the password or group file is
          required, get it using the _cat_passwd and _cat_group
          functions, to ensure NIS information is included if NIS
          is active.
        - When calling getfacl in a test, pass the "-n" argument so
          that numeric rather than symbolic identifiers are used in
          the output.
        - When creating a new test, it is possible to enter a custom name
          for the file. Filenames are in form NNN-custom-name, where NNN
          is automatically added by the ./new script as an unique ID,
          and "custom-name" is the optional string entered into a prompt
          in the ./new script. It can contain only alphanumeric characters
          and dash. Note the "NNN-" part is added automatically.

Verified output:

    Each test script has a name, e.g. 007, and an associated
    verified output, e.g. 007.out.

    It is important that the verified output is deterministic, and
    part of the job of the test script is to filter the output to
    make this so.  Examples of the sort of things that need filtering:

    - dates
    - pids
    - hostnames
    - filesystem names
    - timezones
    - variable directory contents
    - imprecise numbers, especially sizes and times

Pass/failure:

    The script "check" may be used to run one or more tests.

    Test number $seq is deemed to "pass" when:
    (a) no "core" file is created,
    (b) the file $seq.notrun is not created,
    (c) the exit status is 0, and
    (d) the output matches the verified output.

    In the "not run" case (b), the $seq.notrun file should contain a
    short one-line summary of why the test was not run.  The standard
    output is not checked, so this can be used for a more verbose
    explanation and to provide feedback when the QA test is run
    interactively.


    To force a non-zero exit status use:
        status=1
        exit

    Note that:
        exit 1
    won't have the desired effect because of the way the exit trap
    works.

    The recent pass/fail history is maintained in the file "check.log".
    The elapsed time for the most recent pass for each test is kept
    in "check.time".