Re: [dpdk-dev] [PATCH] test: allow taking test names from commandline

[Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com>]

On Fri, Apr 09, 2021 at 02:41:11PM +0100, Bruce Richardson wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 09, 2021 at 03:27:17PM +0200, David Marchand wrote:
> > On Wed, Jan 27, 2021 at 6:43 PM Bruce Richardson
> > <bruce.richardson@intel.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > While having the ability to run a test based off the DPDK_TEST environment
> > > variable is useful, it's often easier to specify the test name as a
> > > commandline parameter to a test binary. This also allows the test runs to
> > > be saved as part of the shell cmdline history.
> > 
> > I don't get the argument about history:
> > 
> > $ history |grep DPDK_TEST
> > 10615  2021-03-24 10:42:11 ninja-build -C build -j4 &&
> > DPDK_TEST=logs_autotest ./build/app/test/dpdk-test --no-huge -m 512
> > --log-level=lib.eal:debug
> > 10636  2021-03-24 10:51:09 ninja-build -C build -j4 &&
> > DPDK_TEST=logs_autotest ./build/app/test/dpdk-test --no-huge -m 512
> > --log-level=lib.eal:debug
> > 10653  2021-03-24 11:17:01 ninja-build -C build -j4 &&
> > DPDK_TEST=kvargs_autotest ./build/app/test/dpdk-test --no-huge -m 512
> > --log-level=lib.eal:debug
> > 10794  2021-03-25 18:37:48 history |grep DPDK_TEST
> > 
> 
> Sure, if you always specify the test name explicitly for each command,
> rather than running the one test multiple times having set it separately in
> the environment.
> Overall, though I take the point that from a history saving point of view
> it's a minor saving.
> 
> > 
> > >
> > > This patch adds support for checking all parameters after the EAL ones, and
> > > running all valid autotests requested - either from DPDK_TEST or on the
> > > commandline. This also allows multiple tests to be run in a single
> > > automated session, which is useful for working with components which have
> > > multiple test suites.
> > 
> > The same could be achieved splitting DPDK_TEST content with spaces,
> > since test names don't contain one.
> > 
> 
> Yep, that's a useful enhancement too, but I still thing it's better to just
> have the list of tests appended to the test binary command rather than have
> to be worrying about properly quoting a specific environment variable at
> the start of each command.
> 
Ping on this.

Other instances where using cmdline is preferred over environment

* Calling tests using sudo.
* Calling tests as an execute action when doing a git rebase

Yes, again in both cases, other workarounds are generally available (e.g.
sudo -E, and exporting to environemtn before rebase), but also generally
less convenient.

/Bruce