Re: [Xen-devel] [Notes for xen summit 2018 design session] Process changes: is the 6 monthly release Cadence too short, Security Process, ...

["Jan Beulich" <JBeulich@xxxxxxxx>]

>>> On 03.07.18 at 10:06, <lars.kurth@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> The GitLab discussion was really interesting. Looking at OSSTEST, it 
> basically performs build test and integration tests on Hardware. Whereas all 
> these are needed, build testing and testing of functionality that does not 
> depend on hardware could be done earlier. The ghist of the GitLab discussion 
> was to "move" build testing - and possibly some basic integration testing - 
> to the point of submitting a patch. The basic flow is:
> * Someone posts a patch to the list => this will start the GitLab machinery 
> * The Gitlab machinery will do build tests (and the discussion showed that 
> we should be able to do this via cross compilation or compilation on a real 
> system if a service such as infosifter is used - @Matt: I can't find the 
> company via Google, maybe the spelling in the minutes is wrong)
> * This could eventually include a basic set of smoke tests that are system 
> independent and could run under QEMU - Doug already uses a basic test where a 
> xen host and/or VM is started 
> * If it fails, a mail is sent in reply to the patch submission by a bot - 
> that piece has been developed by Intel for QEMU and Linux and could be 
> re-used
> 
> This would free up time by reviewers and also leads to issues found earlier. 
> In other words, OSSTEST would merely re-test what had been tested earlier and 
> would focus on testing on real hardware. Thus, OSSTEST failures should become 
> less likely. But obviously implementing such a system, even though all the 
> pieces for it exist, will take some time.

But the problem is rarely with actual build issues, and much more
frequently with other hickups. Plus osstest re-testing what had already
been tested elsewhere is not going to help osstest's bandwidth. Yet with
now 6 stable branches regularly needing testing, bandwidth is an issue.

Jan



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