Test Stack Survey

Attached please find a high-level diagram of one view of the test stack.

Diagrams
Here is a diagram for the high level CI loop:



And here is a diagram with the QA loop:



Cover text
Hello Test Framework developer or user,

The purpose of this survey is to try to understand how different Test Frameworks and Automated Test components in the Linux Test ecosystem work - what features they have, what terminology they use, and so forth. The reason to characterize these different pieces of software (and hardware) is to try to come up with definitions for a Test Stack, and possibly API definitions, that will allow different elements to communicate and interact. We are interested in seeing the commonalities and differences between stack elements.

This information will be used, to start, to prepare for discussions about test stack standards at the Automated Testing Summit 2018.

Overview
Please list the major components of your test system.

Which of these aspects of the CI loop does your test framework perform:
The answers can be: "yes", "no", or "provided by the user".

If they are provided by a named component in your system (or by an external module), please provide the name. (For example, in Fuego, a Jenkins module is sometimes used to detect new SUT versions, but the user must install the module and configure Jenkins themselves.)


 * detect that the software under test has a new version?
 * build the software under test?
 * schedule the test for the DUT?
 * reserve the DUT?
 * release the DUT?
 * check that dependencies are met before a test is run?
 * install the software under test to the DUT?
 * power cycle the DUT?
 * add a new test program to the system?
 * build the test program?
 * deploy the test program to the DUT?
 * monitor the power usage during a run?
 * gather a kernel trace during a run?
 * claim other hardware resources or machines (other than the DUT) for use during a test?
 * transfer the test logs from the DUT to the artifact store?
 * is this done by pushing from the DUT, pulling from the server, or having a 3rd machine move the data between them?
 * parse the test logs, to extract machine-processable data?
 * store build artifacts
 * in what format?
 * store run artifacts
 * in what format?
 * show build artifacts to users
 * show run artifacts to users
 * aggregate and filter build artifacts
 * aggregate and filter run artifacts
 * generate reports for test runs
 * notify users of test results by e-mail

Languages:
Examples: json, python, yaml, C, javascript, etc. Which of these is the user required to learn?
 * what is the base language of your test framework core?
 * what language or data format is used to store board configuration data?
 * what language or data format is used to store test configuration data?
 * what language or data format is used to store server configuration data?
 * what language or data format is used to store build artifacts?
 * what language or data format is used to store run artifacts?
 * what language or data format is used for online results presentation?
 * what language or data format is used for reports?

Can a user do the following with your test framework:

 * request that a test be executed?
 * alter the command line for the test program?
 * save the altered command line for the test program (to share with others)?
 * adjust the environment of the test program?
 * save the altered environment for the test program (to share with others)?
 * see the results of recent tests?
 * set the pass criteria for a test?
 * set the threshold value for a benchmark test?
 * set the list of testcase results to ignore?
 * rate a test?
 * customize a test?
 * specify to skip a testcase execution?
 * edit the expected value for a test?
 * edit a test program?
 * share information about testcases with other users?
 * share test program customizations?
 * share variants with other users?
 * share pass criteria with other users?
 * share tests with other users?
 * customize the notification criteria?
 * customize the notification mechanism (eg. e-mail, text)
 * generate a custom report for a set of runs?
 * save the report parameters to generate the same report in the future?

Does your test framework:

 * require a toolchain or build system for the SUT?
 * require a toolchain or build system for the DUT?
 * require learning a language? - if so, which one(s)?
 * require agent software on the DUT? (e.g. extra software besides production software) If so, what software?
 * require minimum hardware on the DUT (e.g. memory)
 * have a published API for any of it's sub-module interactions?
 * Please provide a link or links to the APIs.

Relationship to other software:

 * what major components does your test framework use (e.g. Jenkins, Mondo DB, Squad, Lava, etc.)
 * does your test framework interoperate with other test frameworks or software?
 * which ones?

Glossary

 * Device under test (DUT) - the hardware or product being tested (consists of hardware under test and software under test) (also 'board', 'target')
 * Software under test (SUT) - the software being tested
 * Lab - a collection of resources for testing one or more DUTs (also 'board farm')
 * Provision (verb) - install the SUT to the device under test (also 'install')
 * Dependency - indicates a pre-requisite that must be filled in order for a test to run (e.g. must have root access, must have 100 meg of memory, etc.)
 * Test agent - software running on the DUT that assists in test operations (e.g. test deployment, execution, log gathering, debugging)
 * Transport (noun) - the method of communicating and transferring data between the test system and the DUT
 * Serial console - the Linux console connected over a serial connection
 * Test program - a script or binary on the DUT that performs the test
 * Run (noun) - an execution instance of a test (in Jenkins, a build)
 * Request (noun) - a request to execute a test
 * Build server - a machine that performs builds of the software under test
 * Build artifact - item created during build of the software under test
 * Run artifact - item created during run of the test program
 * Log - one of the run artifacts - output from the test program or test framework
 * Boot - to start the DUT from an off state
 * Deploy - put the test program on the DUT
 * Pass criteria - set of constraints indicating pass/fail conditions for a test
 * Result - pass/fail (or something else) for a Run
 * Variant - arguments or data that affect the execution and output of a test (e.g. test program command line; Fuego calls this a 'spec')
 * Monitor - a program or process to watch some attribute (e.g. power) while the test is running
 * Trigger - an event that causes the CI loop to start
 * DUT controller - program and hardware for controlling a DUT (reboot, provision, etc.)
 * DUT scheduler - program for managing access to a DUT (take offline, make available for interactive use, schedule tests)
 * Report generation - generation of run data into a formatted output
 * Results query - Selection and filtering of data from runs, to find patterns
 * Visualization - allowing the viewing of test artifacts, in aggregated form (e.g. multiple runs plotted in a single diagram)
 * Notification - communication based on results of test (triggered by results and including results)
 * Bisection - automatic testing of SUT variations to find the source of a problem
 * Log Parsing - extracting information from a log into a machine-processable format

= a couple of miscelaneous notes =
 * A Linux boot test is kind of strange, in that the software under test (the Linux kernel) is also the test program (the program that performs the action).
 * Maybe in this case, the test program does not reside on the DUT.
 * Fuego tests technically are composed of a host-side script and (usually) a DUT-side test program