Re: [PATCH v2] docs/devel: Explain how acceptance tests can be skipped

[Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>]

On 15/01/2021 22.00, Wainer dos Santos Moschetta wrote:
> Documented under the "Acceptance tests using the Avocado Framework"
> section in testing.rst how environment variables are used to skip tests.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Wainer dos Santos Moschetta <wainersm@redhat.com>
> ---
> v2:
>   - Made the changes Thomas pointed out.
> 
>   docs/devel/testing.rst | 62 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>   1 file changed, 62 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/docs/devel/testing.rst b/docs/devel/testing.rst
> index 0aa7a13bba..9f8b77c8ec 100644
> --- a/docs/devel/testing.rst
> +++ b/docs/devel/testing.rst
> @@ -871,6 +871,68 @@ qemu_bin
>   
>   The exact QEMU binary to be used on QEMUMachine.
>   
> +Skipping tests
> +--------------
> +The Avocado framework provides Python decorators which allow for easily skip
> +tests running under certain conditions. For example, on the lack of a binary
> +on the test system or when the running environment is a CI system. For further
> +information about those decorators, please refer to::
> +
> +  https://avocado-framework.readthedocs.io/en/latest/guides/writer/chapters/writing.html#skipping-tests
> +
> +While the conditions for skipping tests are often specifics of each one, there
> +are recurring scenarios identified by the QEMU developers and the use of
> +environment variables became a kind of standard way to enable/disable tests.
> +
> +Here is a list of the most used variables:
> +
> +AVOCADO_ALLOW_LARGE_STORAGE
> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> +Tests which are going to fetch or produce assets considered *large* are not
> +going to run unless that `AVOCADO_ALLOW_LARGE_STORAGE=1` is exported on
> +the environment.
> +
> +The definition of *large* is a bit arbitrary here, but it usually means an
> +asset which occupies at least 1GB of size on disk when uncompressed.
> +
> +AVOCADO_ALLOW_UNTRUSTED_CODE
> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> +There are tests which will boot a kernel image or firmware that can be
> +considered not safe to run on the developer's workstation, thus they are
> +skipped by default. The definition of *not safe* is also arbitrary but
> +usually it means a blob which either its source or build process aren't
> +public available.
> +
> +You should export `AVOCADO_ALLOW_UNTRUSTED_CODE=1` on the environment in
> +order to allow tests which make use of those kind of assets.
> +
> +AVOCADO_TIMEOUT_EXPECTED
> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> +The Avocado framework has a timeout mechanism which interrupts tests to avoid the
> +test suite of getting stuck. The timeout value can be set via test parameter or
> +property defined in the test class, for further details::
> +
> +  https://avocado-framework.readthedocs.io/en/latest/guides/writer/chapters/writing.html#setting-a-test-timeout
> +
> +Even though the timeout can be set by the test developer, there are some tests
> +that may not have a well-defined limit of time to finish under certain
> +conditions. For example, tests that take longer to execute when QEMU is
> +compiled with debug flags. Therefore, the `AVOCADO_TIMEOUT_EXPECTED` variable
> +has been used to determine whether those tests should run or not.
> +
> +GITLAB_CI
> +~~~~~~~~~
> +A number of tests are flagged to not run on the GitLab CI. Usually because
> +they proved to the flaky or there are constraints on the CI environment which
> +would make them fail. If you encounter a similar situation then use that
> +variable as shown on the code snippet below to skip the test:
> +
> +.. code::
> +
> +  @skipIf(os.getenv('GITLAB_CI'), 'Running on GitLab')
> +  def test(self):
> +      do_something()

Reviewed-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>

I can take this trough my testing branch.