[LSF/MM/BPF ATTEND][LSF/MM/BPF TOPIC] : blktests: status, an expansion plan for the storage stack test framework

[Shinichiro Kawasaki]

CC+: Mike, dm-devel,

Hi Chaitanya, thanks for bringing this up! I definitely want to join and learn
from the discussions. Here I note my comments about them.

On Jan 18, 2023 / 23:52, Chaitanya Kulkarni wrote:
[...]
> For storage track, I would like to propose a session dedicated to
> blktests. It is a great opportunity for the storage developers to gather
> and have a discussion about:-
> 
> 1. Current status of the blktests framework.

In the session, I can talk shortly about recent blktests improvements and
failure cases.

> 2. Any new/missing features that we want to add in the blktests.

A feature I wish is to mark dangerous test cases which cause system crash, in
similar way as fstests does. I think they should be skipped by default not to
confuse new blktests users.

I remember that dmesg logging was discussed at the last LSFMMBPF, but it is not
yet implemented. It may worth revisit.

> 3. Any new kernel features that could be used to make testing easier?
> 4. DM/MD Testcases.

I took a liberty to add Mike and dm-devel to CC. Recently, a patch was posted to
add 'dm' test category [1]. I hope it will help DM/MD developers to add more
tests in the category. I would like to discuss if it is a good start, or if
anything is missing in blktests to support DM/MD testing.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20221230065424.19998-1-yukuai1@huaweicloud.com/#t

> 
> E.g. Implementing new features in the null_blk.c in order to have device
> independent complete test coverage. (e.g. adding discard command for
> null_blk or any other specific REQ_OP). Discussion about having any new
> tracepoint events in the block layer.
> 
> 4. Any new test cases/categories which are lacking in the blktests
> framework.

One thing in my mind is character device. From recent discussions [2][3], it
looks worth adding some basic test cases for NVME character devices and SG
devices.

[2] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20221221103441.3216600-1-mcgrof@kernel.org/
[3] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-scsi/Y77J%2Fw0gf2nIDMd%2F@x1-carbon/

-- 
Shin'ichiro Kawasaki