xref: /openbmc/docs/anti-patterns.md (revision eea7decf)

# OpenBMC Anti-patterns

From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-pattern):


"An anti-pattern is a common response to a recurring problem that is usually
ineffective and risks being highly counterproductive."


The developers of OpenBMC do not get 100% of decisions right 100% of the time.
That, combined with the fact that software development is often an exercise in
copying and pasting, results in mistakes happening over and over again.


This page aims to document some of the anti-patterns that exist in OpenBMC to
ease the job of those reviewing code.  If an anti-pattern is spotted, rather
that repeating the same explanations over and over, a link to this document can
be provided.


<!-- begin copy/paste on next line -->

## Anti-pattern template [one line description]

### Identification
(1 paragraph) Describe how to spot the anti-pattern.

### Description
(1 paragraph) Describe the negative effects of the anti-pattern.

### Background
(1 paragraph) Describe why the anti-pattern exists.  If you don't know, try
running git blame and look at who wrote the code originally, and ask them on the
mailing list or in Discord what their original intent was, so it can be documented
here (and you may possibly discover it isn't as much of an anti-pattern as you
thought).  If you are unable to determine why the anti-pattern exists, put:
"Unknown" here.

### Resolution
(1 paragraph) Describe the preferred way to solve the problem solved by the
anti-pattern and the positive effects of solving it in the manner described.

<!-- end copy/paste on previous line -->

## Custom ArgumentParser object

### Identification

The ArgumentParser object is typically present to wrap calls to get options.
It abstracts away the parsing and provides a `[]` operator to access the
parameters.

### Description

Writing a custom ArgumentParser object creates nearly duplicate code in a
repository.  The ArgumentParser itself is the same, however, the options
provided differ.  Writing a custom argument parser re-invents the wheel on
c++ command line argument parsing.

### Background

The ArgumentParser exists because it was in place early and then copied into
each new repository as an easy way to handle argument parsing.

### Resolution

The CLI11 library was designed and implemented specifically to support modern
argument parsing.  It handles the cases seen in OpenBMC daemons and has some
handy built-in validators, and allows easy customizations to validation.

## Explicit AC_MSG_ERROR on PKG_CHECK_MODULES failure

### Identification
```
PKG_CHECK_MODULES(
    [PHOSPHOR_LOGGING],
    [phosphor-logging],
    [],
    [AC_MSG_ERROR([Could not find phosphor-logging...openbmc/phosphor-logging package required])])
```

### Description

The autotools PKG_CHECK_MODULES macro provides the ability to specify an
"if found" and "if not found" behavior.  By default, the "if not found"
behavior will list the package not found.  In many cases, this is sufficient
to a developer to know what package is missing.  In most cases, it's another
OpenBMC package.

If the library sought's name isn't related to the package providing it, then
the failure message should be set to something more useful to the developer.

### Resolution

Use the default macro behavior when it is clear that the missing package is
another OpenBMC package.

```
PKG_CHECK_MODULES([PHOSPHOR_LOGGING], [phosphor-logging])
```

## Explicit listing of shared library packages in RDEPENDS in bitbake metadata

### Identification
```
RDEPENDS_${PN} = "libsystemd"
```

### Description
Out of the box bitbake examines built applications, automatically adds runtime
dependencies and thus ensures any library packages dependencies are
automatically added to images, sdks, etc.  There is no need to list them
explicitly in a recipe.

Dependencies change over time, and listing them explicitly is likely prone to
errors - the net effect being unnecessary shared library packages being
installed into images.

Consult
https://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/latest/mega-manual/mega-manual.html#var-RDEPENDS
for information on when to use explicit runtime dependencies.

### Background
The initial bitbake metadata author for OpenBMC was not aware that bitbake
added these dependencies automatically.  Initial bitbake metadata therefore
listed shared library dependencies explicitly, and was subsequently copy pasted.

### Resolution
Do not list shared library packages in RDEPENDS.  This eliminates the
possibility of installing unnecessary shared library packages due to
unmaintained library dependency lists in bitbake metadata.

## Use of /usr/bin/env in systemd service files

### Identification
In systemd unit files:
```
[Service]

ExecStart=/usr/bin/env some-application
```

### Description
Outside of OpenBMC, most applications that provide systemd unit files don't
launch applications in this way.  So if nothing else, this just looks strange
and violates the [princple of least
astonishment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment).

### Background
This anti-pattern exists because a requirement exists to enable live patching of
applications on read-only filesystems.  Launching applications in this way was
part of the implementation that satisfied the live patch requirement.  For
example:

```
/usr/bin/phosphor-hwmon
```

on a read-only filesystem becomes:

```
/usr/local/bin/phosphor-hwmon`
```

on a writeable /usr/local filesystem.

### Resolution
The /usr/bin/env method only enables live patching of applications.  A method
that supports live patching of any file in the read-only filesystem has emerged.
Assuming a writeable filesystem exists _somewhere_ on the bmc, something like:

```
mkdir -p /var/persist/usr
mkdir -p /var/persist/work/usr
mount -t overlay -o lowerdir=/usr,upperdir=/var/persist/usr,workdir=/var/persist/work/usr overlay /usr
```
can enable live system patching without any additional requirements on how
applications are launched from systemd service files.  This is the preferred
method for enabling live system patching as it allows OpenBMC developers to
write systemd service files in the same way as most other projects.

To undo existing instances of this anti-pattern remove /usr/bin/env from systemd
service files and replace with the fully qualified path to the application being
launched.  For example, given an application in /usr/bin:

```
sed -i s,/usr/bin/env ,/usr/bin/, foo.service
```

## Placement of applications in /sbin or /usr/sbin

### Identification
OpenBMC applications that are installed in /usr/sbin.  $sbindir in bitbake
metadata, makefiles or configure scripts.

### Description
Installing OpenBMC applications in /usr/sbin violates the [principle of least
astonishment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment) and
more importantly violates the
[FHS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard).

### Background
The sbin anti-pattern exists because the FHS was misinterpreted at an early point
in OpenBMC project history, and has proliferated ever since.

From the hier(7) man page:

```
/usr/bin This is the primary directory for executable programs.  Most programs
executed by normal users which are not needed for booting or for repairing the
system and which are not installed locally should be placed in this directory.

/usr/sbin This directory contains program binaries for system administration
which are not essential for the boot process, for mounting /usr, or for system
repair.
```
The FHS description for /usr/sbin refers to "system administration" but the
de-facto interpretation of the system being administered refers to the OS
installation and not a system in the OpenBMC sense of managed system.  As such
OpenBMC applications should be installed in /usr/bin.

### Resolution
Install OpenBMC applications in /usr/bin/.

## Handling unexpected error codes and exceptions

### Identification
The anti-pattern is for an application to continue processing after it
encounters unexpected conditions in the form of error codes and exceptions and
not capturing the data needed to resolve the problem.

Example C++ code:
```
using InternalFailure = sdbusplus::xyz::openbmc_project::Common::Error::InternalFailure;
try
{
  ... use d-Bus APIs...
}
catch (InternalFailure& e)
{
    phosphor::logging::commit<InternalFailure>();
}
```

### Description
Suppressing unexpected errors can lead an application to incorrect or erratic
behavior which can affect the service it provides and the overall system.

Writing a log entry instead of a core dump may not give enough information to
debug a truly unexpected problem, so developers do not get a chance to
investigate problems and the system's reliability does not improve over time.

### Background
Programmers want their application to continue processing when it encounters
conditions it can recover from.  Sometimes they try too hard and continue when
it is not appropriate.

Programmers also want to log what is happening in the application, so they
write log entries that give debug data when something goes wrong, typically
targeted for their use.  They don't consider how the log entry is consumed
by the BMC administrator or automated service tools.

The `InternalFailure` in the [Phosphor logging README][] is overused.

[Phosphor logging README]: https://github.com/openbmc/phosphor-logging/blob/master/README.md

### Resolution

Several items are needed:
1. Check all places where a return code or errno value is given.  Strongly
   consider that a default error handler should throw an exception, for
   example `std::system_error`.
2. Have a good reason to handle specific error codes.  See below.
3. Have a good reason to handle specific exceptions.  Allow other exceptions
   to propagate.
4. Document (in terms of impacts to other services) what happens when this
   service fails, stops, or is restarted.  Use that to inform the recovery
   strategy.

In the error handler:

1. Consider what data (if any) should be logged.  Determine who will consume
   the log entry: BMC developers, administrator, or an analysis tool.  Usually
   the answer is more than one of these.

   The following example log entries use an IPMI request to set network access
   on, but the user input is invalid.

    - BMC Developer: Reference internal applications, services, pids, etc.
      the developer would be familiar with.

      Example: `ipmid service successfully processed a network setting packet,
      however the user input of USB0 is not a valid network interface to
      configure.`

    - Administrator: Reference the external interfaces of the BMC such as the
      REST API.  They can respond to feedback about invalid input, or a need
      to restart the BMC.

      Example: `The network interface of USB0 is not a valid option. Retry the
      IPMI command with a valid interface.`

    - Analyzer tool: Consider breaking the log down and including several
      properties which an analyzer can leverage.  For instance, tagging the
      log with 'Internal' is not helpful.  However, breaking that down into
      something like [UserInput][IPMI][Network] tells at a quick glance that
      the input received for configuring the network via an IPMI command was
      invalid.  Categorization and system impact are key things to focus on
      when creating logs for an analysis application.

      Example: `[UserInput][IPMI][Network][Config][Warning] Interface USB0 not
      valid.`

2. Determine if the application can fully recover from the condition.  If not,
   don't continue.  Allow the system to determine if it writes a core dump or
   restarts the service.  If there are severe impacts when the service fails,
   consider using a better error recovery mechanism.

## Non-standard debug application options and logging

### Identification
An application uses non-standard methods on startup to indicate verbose
logging and/or does not utilize standard systemd-journald debug levels for
logging.

### Description
When debugging issues within OpenBMC that cross multiple applications, it's
very difficult to enable the appropriate debug when different applications
have different mechanisms for enabling debug. For example, different OpenBMC
applications take the following as command line parameters to enable extra
debug:
- 0xff, --vv, -vv, -v, --verbose, <and more>

Along these same lines, some applications then have their own internal methods
of writing debug data. They use std::cout, printf, fprintf, ...
Doing this causes other issues when trying to compare debug data across
different applications that may be having their buffers flushed at different
times (and picked up by journald).

### Background
Everyone has their own ways to debug. There was no real standard within
OpenBMC on how to do it so everyone came up with whatever they were familiar
with.

### Resolution
If an OpenBMC application is to support enhanced debug via a command line then
it will support the standard "-v,--verbose" option.

In general, OpenBMC developers should utilize the "debug" journald level for
debug messages. This can be enabled/disabled globally and would apply to
all applications. If a developer believes this would cause too much debug
data in certain cases then they can protect these journald debug calls around
a --verbose command line option.