Re: [PATCH 00/58] Unit test framework for klp-build toolchain

[Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@kernel.org>]

On Fri, Sep 11, 2026 at 11:42:07AM -0700, Song Liu wrote:
> This is the unit test part of a test framework for the klp-build toolchain.
> The other part of the test framework will be some integration tests,
> similar to an earlier propose [1].
> 
> This is joint work by Puranjay Mohan, Joe Lawrence, and myself (Song Liu).
> Note that, while only two patches here are under Joe's authorship, his
> contribution to this set is much bigger than the number represents. A lot
> of these tests are based on Joe's earlier work in this area [2].
> 
> As the Assisted-by tags show, a lot of the work here is done with assists
> of AI. We actually designed the framework to so that we expect AI to write
> these tests in the future. AI also contributed in the design of the test
> framework. However, we (human) carefully reviewed the test framework. Also,
> this cover letter is 100% written by a human being (Song Liu).
> 
> Here are some key design choices we made for this unit tests framework:
> 
> 1. We do not need different unit test here for different kernel CONFIG_*
>    options. Instead, the tests cover different CONFIG_* options by passing
>    different arguments to the compiler and objtool.
> 
> 2. The test is NOT designed to be backward compatible. Similar to objtool
>    itself, the unit tests are delivered with the kernel tree. The user of
>    these tests should test the objtool with the unit tests in the same
>    branch. Once this test framework lands, future changes and fixes to the
>    objtool klp command should land with unit tests that cover the changes.
> 
> 3. It is possible to run these tests on a different architecture with
>    proper cross compilers. However, for automated CI, we are planning to
>    focus on native tests. Please refer to "Future work" section below for
>    more information about the CI.
> 
> 4. AI will help write tests. We found AI is very cable to write good tests.
>    tools/objtool/Documentation/klp-write-tests.txt is added for AI to read,
>    so that AI can write tests for this test framework.
> 
> Future work
> 1. The integration test simiar to [1]. Unlike the unit tests, the
>    integration tests will need separate runs to cover different kernel
>    CONFIG_* combinations.
> 
> 2. CI. The plan is to build a lore => patchwork => GitHub CI framework.
>    This is the model used by subsystems such as netdev, bpf, and risc-v.
>    We also have some ideas on "who will pay for the CI" issue, but I would
>    rather not promise anything yet.
> 
> 3. More tests.
> 
> Thanks,
> Song
> 
> 
> [1] https://lore.kernel.org/live-patching/20260226005436.379303-9-song@kernel.org/
> [2] https://github.com/joe-lawrence/klp-build-unit-tests

Thank y'all for doing this, this is really nice, and very much needed!

I would like to merge these soon, once the sashiko comments are
addressed.

-- 
Josh