[LSF/MM/BPF ATTEND][LSF/MM/BPF TOPIC] : blktests: status, expansion plan for the storage stack test framework

Chaitanya Kulkarni
2026-02-11T20:35:34Z

Hi all,

Since the discussion at the LSFMM 2017 [1], Omar Sandoval introduced
the new
framework "blktests" dedicated for Linux Kernel Block layer testing.

Blktests serves as the centralized testing framework. It has grown
with the
latest block layer changes and successfully integrated various
stand-alone
test suites like SRP-tests, NVMFTESTS, NVMe Multipath tests, zone
block device
tests. This integration has significantly simplified the process of
block layer
testing and development, eliminating the need to configure and
execute test
cases for each kernel release.

The storage stack community is actively engaged, contributing and
adding new
test cases across diverse categories to the framework. Since the
beginning, we
are consistently finding bugs proactively with the help of blktests
testcases.

Below is a summary of the existing test categories and their test
cases as of
February 2026.

block        :  41
blktrace     :   2
dm           :   3
loop         :  11
md           :   4
meta         :  24
nbd          :   4
nvme         :  59
rnbd         :   2
scsi         :  10
srp          :  15
throtl       :   7
ublk         :   6
zbd          :  14
------------------

14 Categories   : 202 Tests

For the storage track at LSFMMBPF2026, I propose a session dedicated to
blktests to discuss expansion plan and CI integration progress.

-ck