On Sat, 27 Jul 2024 at 03:35, Shuah Khan skhan@linuxfoundation.org wrote:
On 7/15/24 04:09, Muhammad Usama Anjum wrote:
Hi Kees and All,
There are several tests in kselftest subsystem which load modules to tests the internals of the kernel. Most of these test modules are just loaded by the kselftest, their status isn't read and reported to the user logs. Hence they don't provide benefit of executing those tests.
I've found patches from Kees where he has been converting such kselftests to kunit tests [1]. The probable motivation is to move tests output of kselftest subsystem which only triggers tests without correctly reporting the results. On the other hand, kunit is there to test the kernel's internal functions which can't be done by userspace.
Kselftest: Test user facing APIs from userspace Kunit: Test kernel's internal functions from kernelspace
This brings me to conclusion that kselftest which are loading modules to test kernelspace should be converted to kunit tests. I've noted several such kselftests.
This is just my understanding. Please mention if I'm correct above or more reasons to support kselftest test modules transformation into kunit test.
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20221018082824.never.845-kees@kernel.org/
Please make sure you aren't taking away the ability to run these tests during boot. It doesn't make sense to convert every single test especially when it is intended to be run during boot without dependencies - not as a kunit test but a regression test during boot.
Given KUnit tests can run at boot (and, indeed, do by default if enabled), I'd've assumed that this would be a good candidate for such a conversion. It does add the KUnit 'dependency', but I can't think of how that could be a problem. Is there a specific situation where enabling CONFIG_KUNIT would cause problems?
bitmap is one example - pay attention to the config help test - bitmap one clearly states it runs regression testing during boot. Any test that says that isn't a candidate for conversion.
Again, most KUnit tests are effectively regression tests at boot, so I don't really understand what makes bitmap different. If it's just a matter of there being a different interface to it, that's surely something that we'll either be able to adapt to, or to have some wrapper/shim to maintain compatibility. I agree that having needless churn in formats is bad, but KUnit does seem the proper place for these sorts of tests.
If this isn't the case, do we need to modify the testing guide to mention this, as it definitely suggests KUnit for tests of in-kernel functionality like this.
Cheers, -- David