RE: [PATCH] service: split tests to perf and autotest to avoid spurious CI failures

["Van Haaren, Harry" <harry.van.haaren@intel.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Marchand <david.marchand@redhat.com>
> Sent: Monday, February 27, 2023 4:09 PM
> To: Van Haaren, Harry <harry.van.haaren@intel.com>
> Cc: dev@dpdk.org; dpdklab@iol.unh.edu; ci@dpdk.org;
> Honnappa.Nagarahalli@arm.com; mattias.ronnblom
> <mattias.ronnblom@ericsson.com>; mb@smartsharesystems.com;
> roretzla@linux.microsoft.com; aconole@redhat.com; Richardson, Bruce
> <bruce.richardson@intel.com>
> Subject: Re: [PATCH] service: split tests to perf and autotest to avoid spurious CI
> failures
> 
> Hello,
> 
> On Fri, Feb 24, 2023 at 7:04 PM Harry van Haaren
> <harry.van.haaren@intel.com> wrote:
> >
> > On some CI runs, some service-cores tests spuriously fail as the
> > service lcore thread is not actually scheduled by the OS in the
> > given amount of time.
> >
> > Increasing timeouts has not resolved the issue in the CI, so the
> > solution in this patch is to move them to a separate perf test
> > suite.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Harry van Haaren <harry.van.haaren@intel.com>
> >
> > ---
> >
> > See DPDK ML discussion in this thread:
> > http://mails.dpdk.org/archives/dev/2023-February/263523.html
> > ---
> >  app/test/meson.build          |  1 +
> >  app/test/test_service_cores.c | 32 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
> >  2 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/app/test/meson.build b/app/test/meson.build
> > index f34d19e3c3..2db5ccf4ff 100644
> > --- a/app/test/meson.build
> > +++ b/app/test/meson.build
> > @@ -287,6 +287,7 @@ perf_test_names = [
> >          'pie_perf',
> >          'distributor_perf_autotest',
> >          'pmd_perf_autotest',
> > +        'service_perf_autotest',
> >          'stack_perf_autotest',
> >          'stack_lf_perf_autotest',
> >          'rand_perf_autotest',
> > diff --git a/app/test/test_service_cores.c b/app/test/test_service_cores.c
> > index 637fcd7cf9..06653dfdef 100644
> > --- a/app/test/test_service_cores.c
> > +++ b/app/test/test_service_cores.c
> > @@ -1022,17 +1022,12 @@ static struct unit_test_suite service_tests  = {
> >                 TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_name),
> >                 TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_get_by_name),
> >                 TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_dump),
> > -               TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_attr_get),
> > -               TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_lcore_attr_get),
> >                 TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_probe_capability),
> >                 TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_start_stop),
> >                 TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_lcore_add_del),
> > -               TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_lcore_start_stop),
> >                 TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_lcore_en_dis_able),
> >                 TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_mt_unsafe_poll),
> >                 TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_mt_safe_poll),
> > -               TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_app_lcore_mt_safe),
> > -               TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_app_lcore_mt_unsafe),
> >                 TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_may_be_active),
> >                 TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_active_two_cores),
> >                 TEST_CASES_END() /**< NULL terminate unit test array */
> > @@ -1046,3 +1041,30 @@ test_service_common(void)
> >  }
> >
> >  REGISTER_TEST_COMMAND(service_autotest, test_service_common);
> > +
> > +
> > +/* The tests below have been split from the auto-test suite, as the
> 
> What is the auto-test suite?
> Plus "as the when" reads strange.
> 
> In the end, I don't think it helps much to have this comment in the code.
> The commitlog is supposed to tell the story, so I would simply remove
> this comment.

OK, will remove comment.

> > + * when they are run in a cloud CI environment they can give false-positive
> > + * errors, due to the service-cores not being scheduled by the OS.
> > + */
> > +static struct unit_test_suite service_perf_tests  = {
> > +       .suite_name = "service core test suite",
> 
> Maybe add "performance" in the name, so we have a uniquely named
> testsuite object.

Ack.


> > +       .setup = testsuite_setup,
> > +       .teardown = testsuite_teardown,
> > +       .unit_test_cases = {
> > +               TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_attr_get),
> > +               TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_lcore_attr_get),
> > +               TEST_CASE_ST(dummy_register, NULL, service_lcore_start_stop),
> 
> Looking at service_lcore_running_check(), don't you think
> service_may_be_active() and service_active_two_cores() are also
> subject to race?

Perhaps, but those haven't *actually* been failing in any of the reports.
I'd prefer leave tests running if they're not causing issues in the CI.

<snip>

V2 patch on the way.