From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Dave Chinner Subject: [LSF/MM TOPIC] [ATTEND] xfstests: what do we need to do to make it better? Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2012 10:44:55 +1100 Message-ID: <20120103234455.GU23662@dastard> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Cc: linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org, xfs@oss.sgi.com To: lsf-pc@lists.linux-foundation.org Return-path: Received: from ipmail06.adl2.internode.on.net ([150.101.137.129]:23944 "EHLO ipmail06.adl2.internode.on.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1755132Ab2ACXo6 (ORCPT ); Tue, 3 Jan 2012 18:44:58 -0500 Content-Disposition: inline Sender: linux-fsdevel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: Given that more people are using xfstests and developing tests, we need to consider how to make it friendlier to hack on. The current structure of the tree is difficult to work with, the way tests are organised and numbered make it difficult to co-ordinate new tests and results in patch conflicts, etc. We also see problems arising from people not really understanding how the xfstests harness is designed and how it really is supposed to work, so an overview of the underlying principles of operation would probably be helpful to a lot of people. It will also save review and rework time if we can avoid having people make the same mistakes the first time they submit tests.... I'd also like to discuss some potential infrastructure changes to make it easier to add new tests without conflicts with others developing new tests. Some of the ideas Christoph and I have previously tossed around include: - break tests up into groups in their own subdirectories. e.g. generic tests, xfs/ext4/btrfs specific tests, stress tests, performance tests, large FS tests, etc - change the way we define groups of tests so we don't have a single registry of tests and their groups - allow different naming of tests, such as desciptive text names rather than just plain numbers - allow duplicate test names in different groups I'm sure that other users of xfstests will have some ideas on how to improve it for the way they run it, so I'd like to gather and incorporate these ideas into any structural change we make to xfstests. Cheers, Dave. -- Dave Chinner david@fromorbit.com