Re: [Xen-devel] [OSSTEST PATCH] README.hardware-acquisition

[Lars Kurth <lars.kurth@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 01/11/2018, 11:30, "George Dunlap" <dunlapg@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

    On Wed, Oct 31, 2018 at 6:46 PM Stefano Stabellini
    <sstabellini@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
    > > > ---
    > > > + Baremetal boot from Debian stable or stable-backports:
    > > >
    > > > In order to avoid cross-compilation, Osstest must be able to install a
    > > > bare-metal system on the host itself in order to build Linux and Xen
    > > > test binaries for that host. At the moment osstest uses Debian for
    > > > this, and there is no facility in osstest for building custom kernels
    > > > for this purpose.  As such, a suitable Linux kernel binary which can
    > > > boot baremetal on the proposed hardware must be available from Debian
    > > > (at least `stable', or, if that is not possible, `stable-backports').
    > > > Osstest cannot install using a patched version of Linux, or one built
    > > > from a particular git branch, or some such.  If the required kernel is
    > > > not available in Debian, the vendor should ideally work with the
    > > > Debian project to ensure and validate that Debian stable-backports
    > > > kernel binaries boot on the proposed hardware.  Alternately, the
    > > > vendor can work with the community to implement the necessary
    > > > functionality within osstest to enable it to build custom kernels for
    > > > build installs, or use alternate distributions which have better
    > > > baremetal support for the hardware.
    >
    > If we want to grow Xen on ARM testing in OSSTest for embedded boards, I
    > think that requiring Debian kernel support is unrealistic,
    
    You keep using the word "requirement" as though it's an active choice
    that is being made.  This is a checklist for what kind of hardware can
    currently be integrated into the XenProject test lab; it is not a
    policy document or a design document.  As such, it should reflect the
    situation as it exists at the moment, not how we would like it to be,
    or how we think it may be at some point in the future.  At the moment,
    only kind of hardware which can actually be integrated is one on which
    Debian will boot; so this is listed as a criterion.  There's no point
    buying hardware which only boots on the XenProject Linux tree until
    osstest can actually boot such hardware.
    
    It also includes pointers for how to change the situation.  If and
    when the situation changes, we can change the document.
    
I agree with George and Ian. The document describes what is possible now. Part 
of the rationale for this document, is to enable Ian to off-load more 
responsibility related to adding machines to OSSTEST to Credativ (from 
procurement to putting machines into service). This will free up some of Ian's 
time to focus on development work. The project pays for the service by Credativ 
by the hour: to manage costs we need to ensure that we don't blow the allocated 
hours budget (which already happened once this year). Anything which does not 
work with OSSTEST out-of-the box or cannot work because there is no OSSTEST 
support will very quickly burn through the project's support budget. Thus, we 
need to define boundaries to avoid running up costs for tickets in the order of 
several thousands of USD.

If we want to increase Arm testing, the necessary functionality has to be 
implemented in OSSTEST. I don’t think you can expect Ian to implement such 
functionality in OSSTEST, given all the other work which is already on his 
plate: although I believe Ian stated several times that he would help someone 
else to do this.

Best Regards
Lars




   

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