Re: [PATCH v2 1/5] dts: add ability to send/receive multiple packets

[Luca Vizzarro <Luca.Vizzarro@arm.com>]

On 09/08/2024 16:10, Jeremy Spewock wrote:
> <snip>
>> +    def match_all_packets(
>> +        self, expected_packets: list[Packet], received_packets: list[Packet]
>> +    ) -> None:
> 
> This is a very interesting approach to comparing what you expect to
> what you received. I hadn't seen counters used before but they seem
> useful for this purpose. This method reminds me a lot of the filtering
> process that was discussed in bugzilla ticket 1438
> (https://bugs.dpdk.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1438) where there was some talk
> about how to handle the noise vs what you received. This is different
> in a few ways though of course in that it allows you to specify
> multiple different criteria that are acceptable rather than just
> getting the payload and really only concerns itself with matching
> lists instead of doing any filtering.
> 
> The main reason I mention this is it brought up a question for me: Do
> you think, in the future when the payload filtering method is
> implemented, these two methods will co-exist or it would make more
> sense to just let test suites get their noise-free list of packets and
> then check that what they care about is present? I think a method like
> this might be useful in some more niche cases where you have multiple
> packet structures to look for, so I don't doubt there are some reasons
> to have both, I was just wondering if you had thought about it or had
> an opinion.

I am not actually entirely sure, it sounds as if everything has space 
for their own case. This method is useful to just plainly check that all 
the packets we sent came back, simple and straightforward. Payload 
filtering can be more niche and complex. I think if it can provide the 
same level of functionality as this function, it can be replaced for 
sure. But in that case it sounds like the test developer would be tied 
to a specific payload. In the case of random packet generation I don't 
think it would work, in which case they could both coexist.