Re: [dpdk-dev] [PATCHv2] Remove validate-abi.sh from tree

[Thomas Monjalon <thomas@monjalon.net>]

09/04/2020 16:52, Ray Kinsella:
> On 09/04/2020 11:59, Thomas Monjalon wrote:
> > 09/04/2020 12:45, Ray Kinsella:
> >> On 09/04/2020 11:43, Bruce Richardson wrote:
> >>> On Thu, Apr 09, 2020 at 06:39:54AM -0400, Neil Horman wrote:
> >>>> On Thu, Apr 09, 2020 at 08:57:34AM +0100, Ray Kinsella wrote:
> >>>>> On 08/04/2020 20:56, Neil Horman wrote:
> >>>>>> +The syntax of the ``check-abi.sh`` utility is::
> >>>>>> +
> >>>>>> +   ./devtools/check-abi.sh <refdir> <newdir>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> (from v1 feedback)
> >>>>> Could we simplify this all greatly, by telling people to use the meson/ninja build,
> >>>>> so they get this checking out of the box, without all the headache below?
> >>>>>
> >>>> I think bruce noted that was never merged, correct?
> >>>>
> >>> Yep, correct. :-(
> >>
> >> apologies, was there a reason?
> > 
> > Because build tool job is building, not checking.
> > It would be wrong to make (slow) checks mandatory in all builds.
> > 
> > The need is to enforce checking ABI.
> > The result is already published by Travis in patchwork and in an
> > email to the author I believe.
> > Not checking email and patchwork is not a good excuse.
> > 
> > Patchwork must be a mandatory read for everybody for all checks
> > in general. Let's not give up on general CI workflow.
> > 
> 
> Thomas 
> 
> You are trying to solve two problems at once; CI tooling and ABI.
> Let's try to solve one at a time.

No, you want to mix two problems in a single tool :-)


> 1. The ABI check, will make the build _marginally_ slower.
> You _should_ only need to rebuild the changes between A and B.

Not so marginal.
A re-build takes less than a second. A mandatory check takes 10 secs
on my machine.


> 2. The meson/ninja are an order of magnitude faster than GNU Make. 
> We can afford this check.

I am doing such build 10 times (each target) per patch.
But that's not the main issue.


> 3. If we want to lessen the ABI burden and send the correct message.
> It should be a build blocker, contributors need to hear the message loud and clear.

The developer needs to get or build/save the ABI reference.
Making such ABI reference for each target is not so obvious:
  - all symbols must be enabled (dependencies)
  - some fixes may be needed for some compilers


> Most important people _consuming_ DPDK will never see this message.
> Only people _changing_ the ABI will see it - the people we want to hear the message loud and clear.

No, they will have issue in DPDK compilation if something in the check
goes wrong. We should not bother end users with internal checks.


The message is 
a) run the check by
  1) setting DPDK_ABI_REF_VERSION on command line or in devel.config file
  2) running devtools/test-build.sh or devtools/test-meson-builds.sh
b) check what Travis is reporting in
  - email to you
  - patchwork reports

I think Travis report is convenient to use.
The local check is integrated in build scripts
but cannot be run by default because of the reasons above.