[PATCH] drm/ci: Default to UART for logging

[PATCH] drm/ci: Default to UART for logging

[Rob Clark]

From: Rob Clark <robdclark@chromium.org>

ssh logging is the default for mesa, as it is generally more reliable.
But if there are kernel issues, especially at boot, UART logging is
infinitely more useful.

Signed-off-by: Rob Clark <robdclark@chromium.org>
---
 drivers/gpu/drm/ci/gitlab-ci.yml | 6 ++++++
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/ci/gitlab-ci.yml b/drivers/gpu/drm/ci/gitlab-ci.yml
index 2c4df53f5dfe..7c55f02f7313 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/ci/gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/ci/gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ variables:
 
   LAVA_JOB_PRIORITY: 30
 
+  # Default to UART logging.  Mesa uses ssh by default, as that is more
+  # reliable if you have a stable kernel.  But kernel CI is more likely
+  # to encounter unstable kernels (and has lower volume of CI jobs so is
+  # less likely to be troubled by occasional UART flakes)
+  LAVA_FORCE_UART: 1
+
 default:
   before_script:
     - export SCRIPTS_DIR=$(mktemp -d)
-- 
2.41.0

Re: [PATCH] drm/ci: Default to UART for logging

[Helen Koike]

cc +guilherme

On 06/10/2023 14:32, Rob Clark wrote:
> From: Rob Clark <robdclark@chromium.org>
> 
> ssh logging is the default for mesa, as it is generally more reliable.
> But if there are kernel issues, especially at boot, UART logging is
> infinitely more useful.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Rob Clark <robdclark@chromium.org>
> ---
>   drivers/gpu/drm/ci/gitlab-ci.yml | 6 ++++++
>   1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/ci/gitlab-ci.yml b/drivers/gpu/drm/ci/gitlab-ci.yml
> index 2c4df53f5dfe..7c55f02f7313 100644
> --- a/drivers/gpu/drm/ci/gitlab-ci.yml
> +++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/ci/gitlab-ci.yml
> @@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ variables:
>   
>     LAVA_JOB_PRIORITY: 30
>   
> +  # Default to UART logging.  Mesa uses ssh by default, as that is more
> +  # reliable if you have a stable kernel.  But kernel CI is more likely
> +  # to encounter unstable kernels (and has lower volume of CI jobs so is
> +  # less likely to be troubled by occasional UART flakes)
> +  LAVA_FORCE_UART: 1
> +
>   default:
>     before_script:
>       - export SCRIPTS_DIR=$(mktemp -d)

Re: [PATCH] drm/ci: Default to UART for logging

[Daniel Stone]

On Fri, 6 Oct 2023 at 18:32, Rob Clark <robdclark@gmail.com> wrote:
> ssh logging is the default for mesa, as it is generally more reliable.
> But if there are kernel issues, especially at boot, UART logging is
> infinitely more useful.

Hmm, we should still be capturing the UART boot logs regardless. Those
go into a collapsed 'LAVA boot' section but they don't just disappear
... ?

Re: [PATCH] drm/ci: Default to UART for logging

[Rob Clark]

On Fri, Oct 13, 2023 at 9:28 AM Daniel Stone <daniel@fooishbar.org> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 6 Oct 2023 at 18:32, Rob Clark <robdclark@gmail.com> wrote:
> > ssh logging is the default for mesa, as it is generally more reliable.
> > But if there are kernel issues, especially at boot, UART logging is
> > infinitely more useful.
>
> Hmm, we should still be capturing the UART boot logs regardless. Those
> go into a collapsed 'LAVA boot' section but they don't just disappear
> ... ?

Hmm, I wasn't seeing anything in the raw log, which doesn't collapse sections..

That said, I still think uart is preferable to ssh for kernel CI.. we
aren't running jobs at the scale of mesa CI jobs so even if we get
UART flakes 1/1000 (or even 1/100) times, that is an acceptable
trade-off for the fact that uart can still work when things are too
fubar for ssh.

BR,
-R