Megatest

megatest_manual.html : megatest_manual.txt getting_started.txt writing_tests.txt reference.txt ../plan.txt
	asciidoc megatest_manual.txt
	dos2unix megatest_manual.html

clean:
	rm -f megatest_manual.html

<h2 id="_preface">Preface</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>This book is organised as three sub-books; getting started, writing tests and reference.</p></div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_why_megatest">Why Megatest?</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The Megatest project was started for two reasons, the first was an
immediate and pressing need for a generalized tool to manage a suite
of regression tests and the second was the fact that the author had
written or maintained several such tools at different companies over
the years and it seemed a good thing to have a single open source
tool, flexible enough to meet the needs of any team doing continuous
integrating and or running a complex suite of tests for release
qualification.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_megatest_design_philosophy">Megatest Design Philosophy</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Megatest is intended to provide the minimum needed resources to make
writing a suite of tests and tasks for implementing continuous build
for software, design engineering or process control (via owlfs for
example) without being specialized for any specific problem
space. Megatest in of itself does not know what constitutes a PASS or
FAIL of a test. In most cases megatest is best used in conjunction
with logpro or a similar tool to parse, analyze and decide on the test
outcome.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_megatest_architecture">Megatest Architecture</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>All data to specify the tests and configure the system is stored in
plain text files. All system state is stored in an sqlite3
database. Tests are launched using the launching system available for
the distributed compute platform in use. A template script is provided
which can launch jobs on local and remote Linux hosts. Currently
megatest uses the network filesystem to call home to your master
sqlite3 database.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<h1 id="_road_map">Road Map</h1>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Note: This road-map is tentative and subject to change without notice.</p></div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_ww32">ww32</h3>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
Rerun step and or subsequent steps from gui
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Refresh test area files from gui
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Clean and re-run button
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Clean up STATE and STATUS handling.
</p>
<div class="olist loweralpha"><ol class="loweralpha">
<li>
<p>
Dashboard and Test control panel are reverse order - choose and fix
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Move seldom used states and status to drop down selector
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Access test control panel when clicking on Run Summary tests
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Feature: -generate-index-tree
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Change specifing of state and status to use STATE1/STATUS1,STATE2/STATUS2
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_ww33">ww33</h3>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
http api available for use with Perl, Ruby etc. scripts
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
megatest.config setup entries for:
</p>
<div class="olist loweralpha"><ol class="loweralpha">
<li>
<p>
run launching (e.g. /bin/sh %CMD% &gt; /dev/null)
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
browser "konqueror %FNAME%
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</li>
</ol></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_ww34">ww34</h3>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
Mark dependent tests for clean/rerun -rerun-downstream
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
On run start check for defunct tests in RUNNING, LAUNCHED or REMOTEHOSTSTART and correct or notify
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fix: refresh of gui sometimes fails on last item (race condition?)
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_ww35">ww35</h3>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
refdb: Add export of csv, json and sexp
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Convert to using call-with-environment-variables where possible. Should allow handling of parallel runs in same process.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Re-work text interface wizards. Several bugs on record. Possibly convert to gui based.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Add to testconfig requirements section; launchlimiter scriptname, calls scriptname to check if ok to launch test
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Refactor Run Summary view, currently very clumsy
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Add option to show steps in Run Summary view
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_ww36">ww36</h3>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
Refactor guis for resizeablity
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Add filters to Run Summary view and Run Control view
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Add to megatest.config or testconfig; rerunok STATE/STATUS,STATE/STATUS&#8230;
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_bin_list">Bin List</h3>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
Quality improvements
</p>
<div class="olist loweralpha"><ol class="loweralpha">
<li>
<p>
Server stutters occasionally
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Large number of items or tests still has some issues.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Code refactoring
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Replace remote process with true API using json (supports Web app also)
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Streamline the gui
</p>
<div class="olist loweralpha"><ol class="loweralpha">
<li>
<p>
Everything resizable
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Less clutter
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Tool tips
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Filters on Run Summary, Summary and Run Control panel
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Built in log viewer (partially implemented)
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Refactor the test control panel
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Help and documentation
</p>
<div class="olist loweralpha"><ol class="loweralpha">
<li>
<p>
Complete the user manual (I’ve been working on this lately).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Online help in the gui
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Streamlined install
</p>
<div class="olist loweralpha"><ol class="loweralpha">
<li>
<p>
Deployed version (download a location independent ready to run binary bundle)
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Install Makefile (in progress, needed for Mike to install on VMs)
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Added option to compile IUP (needed for VMs)
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Server side run launching
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Support for re-running, cleaning etc. of individual steps (ezsteps makes this very easy to implement).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Launch process needs built in daemonizing (easy to do, just need to test it thoroughly).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Wizards for creating tests, regression areas (current ones are text only and limited).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fully functional built in web service (currently you can browse runs but it is very simplistic).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Wildcards in runconfigs: e.g. [p1271/9/%/%]
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Gui panels for editing megatest.config and runconfigs.config
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Fully isolated tests (no use of NFS to see regression area files)
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Windows version
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
</div>
<h1 id="_getting_started">Getting Started</h1>
<div class="openblock">
<div class="title">Getting started with Megatest</div>
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>How to install Megatest and set it up for running your regressions and continuous integration process.</p></div>
</div></div>

<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_the_second_chapter">The Second Chapter</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>An example link to anchor at start of the <a href="#X1">first sub-section</a>.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>An example link to a bibliography entry <a href="#taoup">[taoup]</a>.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<h1 id="_writing_tests">Writing Tests</h1>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_the_first_chapter_of_the_second_part">The First Chapter of the Second Part</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>Chapters grouped into book parts are at level 1 and can contain
sub-sections.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<h1 id="_reference">Reference</h1>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_the_first_chapter_of_the_second_part_2">The First Chapter of the Second Part</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>Chapters grouped into book parts are at level 1 and can contain
sub-sections.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_the_testconfig_file">The testconfig File</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_setup_section">Setup section</h3>
<div class="sect3">

</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="footnotes"><hr /></div>
<div id="footer">
<div id="footer-text">
Version 1.0<br />
Last updated 2013-07-30 09:23:34 MST
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

This book is organised as three sub-books; getting started, writing tests and reference.

Why Megatest?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Megatest project was started for two reasons, the first was an
immediate and pressing need for a generalized tool to manage a suite
of regression tests and the second was the fact that the author had
written or maintained several such tools at different companies over
the years and it seemed a good thing to have a single open source
tool, flexible enough to meet the needs of any team doing continuous
integrating and or running a complex suite of tests for release
qualification.

Megatest Design Philosophy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Megatest is intended to provide the minimum needed resources to make
writing a suite of tests and tasks for implementing continuous build
for software, design engineering or process control (via owlfs for
example) without being specialized for any specific problem
space. Megatest in of itself does not know what constitutes a PASS or
FAIL of a test. In most cases megatest is best used in conjunction
with logpro or a similar tool to parse, analyze and decide on the test
outcome.

Megatest Architecture
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All data to specify the tests and configure the system is stored in
plain text files. All system state is stored in an sqlite3
database. Tests are launched using the launching system available for
the distributed compute platform in use. A template script is provided
which can launch jobs on local and remote Linux hosts. Currently
megatest uses the network filesystem to call home to your master
sqlite3 database.

include::../plan.txt[]
include::getting_started.txt[]
include::writing_tests.txt[]
include::reference.txt[]

[appendix]
Example Appendix
================
One or more optional appendixes go here at section level zero.

Road Map
========

Note: This road-map is tentative and subject to change without notice.

ww32
~~~~

. Rerun step and or subsequent steps from gui
. Refresh test area files from gui
. Clean and re-run button
. Clean up STATE and STATUS handling.
.. Dashboard and Test control panel are reverse order - choose and fix
.. Move seldom used states and status to drop down selector
. Access test control panel when clicking on Run Summary tests
. Feature: -generate-index-tree
. Change specifing of state and status to use STATE1/STATUS1,STATE2/STATUS2

ww33
~~~~

. http api available for use with Perl, Ruby etc. scripts
. megatest.config setup entries for:
.. run launching (e.g. /bin/sh %CMD% > /dev/null)
.. browser "konqueror %FNAME%

ww34
~~~~

. Mark dependent tests for clean/rerun -rerun-downstream
. On run start check for defunct tests in RUNNING, LAUNCHED or REMOTEHOSTSTART and correct or notify
. Fix: refresh of gui sometimes fails on last item (race condition?)

ww35
~~~~

. refdb: Add export of csv, json and sexp
. Convert to using call-with-environment-variables where possible. Should allow handling of parallel runs in same process.
. Re-work text interface wizards. Several bugs on record. Possibly convert to gui based.
. Add to testconfig requirements section; launchlimiter scriptname, calls scriptname to check if ok to launch test
. Refactor Run Summary view, currently very clumsy
. Add option to show steps in Run Summary view

ww36
~~~~

. Refactor guis for resizeablity
. Add filters to Run Summary view and Run Control view
. Add to megatest.config or testconfig; rerunok STATE/STATUS,STATE/STATUS...
. Launch gates for diskspace; /path/one>1G,/path/two>200M,/tmp>5G

Bin List
~~~~~~~~

.	Quality improvements
..	Server stutters occasionally
..	Large number of items or tests still has some issues.
..	Code refactoring
..	Replace remote process with true API using json (supports Web app also)
.	Streamline the gui

.	Wizards for creating tests, regression areas (current ones are text only and limited).
.	Fully functional built in web service (currently you can browse runs but it is very simplistic).
.	Wildcards in runconfigs: e.g. [p1271/9/%/%]
.	Gui panels for editing megatest.config and runconfigs.config
.	Fully isolated tests (no use of NFS to see regression area files)
.	Windows version