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

[Alex Bennée]

Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com> writes:

> On 13/01/2021 20.52, 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>
>> ---
>> CI (success): https://gitlab.com/wainersm/qemu/-/pipelines/241249714
>> 
>>   docs/devel/testing.rst | 62 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>   1 file changed, 62 insertions(+)
>> 
>> diff --git a/docs/devel/testing.rst b/docs/devel/testing.rst
>> index 0aa7a13bba..3cdb458565 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 an CI system. For 
>> further
>
> s/is an CI/is a CI/
>
>> +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.
>> +
>> +It follows a not comprehensive list of those variables.
>
> s/It follows a/Here is a/ ?

There now follows a non-comprehensive list of those variables:

?

I'm not sure if that is idiomatic international English or just British
English - it's usually a phrase that precedes our party political
broadcasts on TV ;-)

>
>> +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 assets to get running.
>
> maybe better: "... which make use of those kind of assets." ?
>
>> +AVOCADO_TIMEOUT_EXPECTED
>> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> +The Avocado framework has a timeout mechanism which interrupt tests to 
>> avoid the
>
> s/interrupt/interrupts/
>
>> +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()
>> +
>>   Uninstalling Avocado
>>   --------------------
>>   
>
>   Thomas


-- 
Alex Bennée