Megatest

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// This file is part of Megatest.
// 
//     Megatest is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
//     it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
//     the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
//     (at your option) any later version.
// 
//     Megatest is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
//     but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
//     MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
//     GNU General Public License for more details.
// 
//     You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
//     along with Megatest.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
//
// Copyright 2006-2012, Matthew Welland.

How To Do Things
----------------

Process Runs
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remove Runs
^^^^^^^^^^^

From the dashboard click on the button (PASS/FAIL...) for one of the tests. From the test control panel that 
comes up push the clean test button. The command field will be prefilled with a template command for removing 
that test. You can edit the command, for example change the argument to -testpatt to "%" to remove all tests.

.Remove the test diskperf and all it's items
----------------
megatest -remove-runs -target ubuntu/nfs/none -runname ww28.1a -testpatt diskperf/% -v
----------------

.Remove all tests for all runs and all targets
----------------
megatest -remove-runs -target %/%/% -runname % -testpatt % -v
----------------

Archive Runs
^^^^^^^^^^^^

Megatest supports using the bup backup tool (https://bup.github.io/) to archive your tests for efficient storage
and retrieval. Archived data can be rapidly retrieved if needed. The metadata for the run (PASS/FAIL status, run 
durations, time stamps etc.) are all preserved in the megatest database.

For setup information see the Archiving topic in the reference section of this manual.

To Archive
++++++++++

Hint: use the test control panel to create a template command by pushing the "Archive Tests" button.

.Archive a full run
----------------
megatest -target ubuntu/nfs/none -runname ww28.1a -archive save-remove -testpatt %
----------------

To Restore
++++++++++

.Retrieve a single test
----------------
megatest -target ubuntu/nfs/none -runname ww28.1a -archive restore -testpatt diskperf/%
----------------

Hint: You can browse the archive using bup commands directly.

----------------
bup -d /path/to/bup/archive ftp
----------------

Pass Data from Test to Test
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.To save the data call archive save within your test:
----------------
megatest -archive save
----------------

.To retrieve the data call archive get using patterns as needed
----------------
# Put the retrieved data into /tmp
DESTPATH=/tmp/$USER/$MT_TARGET/$MT_RUN_NAME/$MT_TESTNAME/$MT_ITEMPATH/my_data
mkdir -p $DESTPATH
megatest -archive get -runname % -dest $DESTPATH
----------------


Submit jobs to Host Types based on Test Name
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.In megatest.config
------------------------
[host-types]
general ssh #{getbgesthost general}
nbgeneral nbjob run JOBCOMMAND -log $MT_LINKTREE/$MT_TARGET/$MT_RUNNAME.$MT_TESTNAME-$MT_ITEM_PATH.lgo

[hosts]
general cubian xena

[launchers]
envsetup general
xor/%/n 4C16G
% nbgeneral

[jobtools]
launcher bsub
# if defined and not "no" flexi-launcher will bypass launcher unless there is no
# match.
flexi-launcher yes
------------------------

Tricks
------

This section is a compendium of a various useful tricks for debugging,
configuring and generally getting the most out of Megatest.

Limiting your running jobs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following example will limit a test in the jobgroup "group1" to no more than 10 tests simultaneously.

In your testconfig:

----------------
[test_meta]
jobgroup group1
----------------

In your megatest.config:

---------------
[jobgroups]
group1 10
custdes 4
---------------

Debugging Tricks
----------------

Examining The Environment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Test Control Panel - xterm
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

From the dashboard click on a test PASS/FAIL button. This brings up a test control panel. Aproximately near the center left of the 
window there is a button "Start Xterm". Push this to get an xterm with the full context and environment loaded for that test. You can run
scripts or ezsteps by copying from the testconfig (hint, load up the testconfig in a separate gvim or emacs window). This is the easiest way
to debug your tests.

During Config File Processing
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It is often helpful to know the content of variables in various
contexts as Megatest does the actions needed to run your tests. A handy technique is to force the startup of an xterm in the context being examined.

For example, if an item list is not being generated as expected you
can inject the startup of an xterm as if it were an item:

.Original items table
-----------------
[items]
CELLNAME [system getcellname.sh]
-----------------

.Items table modified for debug
-----------------
[items]
DEBUG [system xterm]
CELLNAME [system getcellnames.sh]
-----------------

When this test is run an xterm will pop up. In that xterm the
environment is exactly that in which the script "getcellnames.sh"
would run. You can now debug the script to find out why it isn't
working as expected.

Organising Your Tests and Tasks
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The default location "tests" for storing tests can be extended by
adding to your tests-paths section.

----------------------------
[misc]
parent #{shell dirname $(readlink -f .)}

[tests-paths]
1 #{get misc parent}/simplerun/tests
----------------------------

The above example shows how you can use addition sections in your
config file to do complex processing. By putting results of relatively
slow operations into variables the processing of your configs can be
kept fast.

Alternative Method for Running your Job Script
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

.Directly running job in testconfig
-------------------
[setup]
runscript main.csh
-------------------

The runscript method is essentially a brute force way to run scripts where the
user is responsible for setting STATE and STATUS and managing the details of running a test. 

Debugging Server Problems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some handy Unix commands to track down issues with servers not
communicating with your test manager processes. Please put in tickets
at https://www.kiatoa.com/fossils/megatest if you have problems with
servers getting stuck.

----------------
sudo lsof -i
sudo netstat -lptu
sudo netstat -tulpn
----------------