CheckboxLDTPIntegration

Summary

This should provide an overview of the issue/functionality/change proposed here. Focus here on what will actually be DONE, summarising that so that other people don't have to read the whole spec. See also CategorySpec for examples.

Release Note

When these changes are implemented tests written for LDTP and, specifically, for Ubuntu Desktop Testing, Checkbox will be used to run desktop tests and reporting will be consistent.

Rationale

We want to have a consistent test harness for the majority of our tests. Checkbox, formerly hwtest, it is a tool to run tests. It is flexible enough to be used to run all kind of tests, including desktop tests.

Design

Permissions

We need Checkbox to be able to run as a normal user, rather than running always as root. This need changes from both Checkbox and Ubuntu Desktop Testing

  • Checkbox can be run as non-root: 

./bin/checkbox-cli --config="checkbox/plugins/blacklist=permission_prompt"
  • Suites and scripts are written on installation under /usr/share/checkbox, with root-only permissions. It would be better to have a .checkbox folder in the user's home folder to store this kind of information.
  • Results are stored by default in /var/lib/checkbox, and this is only writable by root.
  • Ubuntu Desktop Testing package installs scripts in /usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests only readable by root.

Test results

Right now test results in Checkbox only accept zero for pass, non-zero for a fail, in a unix-like manner. The problem is that if we want more complex reporting (i.e. screenshots when something fails) we need more flexibility here.

When running LDTP tests a XML file is generated. This should be parsed by maybe a Checkbox plugin in order to transform that answer to a Checkbox consistent format, while keeping this XML for human-readable reporting.

An example of this XML file: 

<ldtp>
<group name="group1">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenAisleRiotSolitaire">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 6.22046804428</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:15:17 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:11"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group2">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenBlackjack">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.48234200478</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:15:28 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:11"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group3">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenChess">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.38424086571</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:15:39 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:10"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group4">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenFiveormore">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.5373609066</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:15:50 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:11"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group5">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenFour-in-a-row">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.54238200188</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:16:01 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:11"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group6">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenGnometris">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.35859894753</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:16:12 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:10"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group7">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenKlotski">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.61202001572</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:16:23 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:11"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group8">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenMahjongg">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.51350283623</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:16:34 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:10"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group9">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenMines">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.41266489029</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:16:45 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:11"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group10">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenNibbles">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.88356804848</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:16:56 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:11"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group11">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenSamegNOME">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.41124200821</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:17:07 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:10"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group12">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenSudoku">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.65414404869</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:17:18 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:11"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group13">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenTali">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.56410288811</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:17:29 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:11"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
<group name="group14">
<script name="/usr/share/ubuntu-desktop-tests/gnome-panel/open_app.py">
<test name="OpenTetravex">
<COMMENT>elapsed_time: 5.51043796539</COMMENT>
<pass>1</pass>
</test>
</script>
<timeinfo start="11:17:40 AM on 04-Dec-2008" elapsed="0:0:11"></timeinfo>
<groupsstatus total="1" pass="1" fail="0"></groupsstatus>
</group>
</ldtp>

For Intrepid milestones these results have been parsed and transformed into a HTML file. An example can be found here http://people.ubuntu.com/~ara/ldtp/test_results/intrepid/alpha-6/openAll/Accessories.html

Test definition

The current test definition in Checkbox should be enough to define the tests. When the desktop-testing plugin is written, that would be the type of test.

It is necessary, though, to implement a way to differentiate a test failure from a script error. This is going to be tracked in Launchpad Bug #306113 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/checkbox/+bug/306113)

Implementation

Code Changes

New desktop-testing plugin

New error test status

Unresolved issues

Sometimes the LDTP server breaks its connection. We should be able in further implementations to start a new LDTP server automatically to run the remaining tests of the suite.

BoF agenda and discussion

CategorySpec

QATeam/Specs/CheckboxLDTPIntegration (last edited 2008-12-17 12:22:06 by 152)