1======================
2Linux Kernel Selftests
3======================
4
5The kernel contains a set of "self tests" under the tools/testing/selftests/
6directory. These are intended to be small tests to exercise individual code
7paths in the kernel. Tests are intended to be run after building, installing
8and booting a kernel.
9
10You can find additional information on Kselftest framework, how to
11write new tests using the framework on Kselftest wiki:
12
13https://kselftest.wiki.kernel.org/
14
15On some systems, hot-plug tests could hang forever waiting for cpu and
16memory to be ready to be offlined. A special hot-plug target is created
17to run the full range of hot-plug tests. In default mode, hot-plug tests run
18in safe mode with a limited scope. In limited mode, cpu-hotplug test is
19run on a single cpu as opposed to all hotplug capable cpus, and memory
20hotplug test is run on 2% of hotplug capable memory instead of 10%.
21
22kselftest runs as a userspace process.  Tests that can be written/run in
23userspace may wish to use the `Test Harness`_.  Tests that need to be
24run in kernel space may wish to use a `Test Module`_.
25
26Running the selftests (hotplug tests are run in limited mode)
27=============================================================
28
29To build the tests::
30
31  $ make -C tools/testing/selftests
32
33To run the tests::
34
35  $ make -C tools/testing/selftests run_tests
36
37To build and run the tests with a single command, use::
38
39  $ make kselftest
40
41Note that some tests will require root privileges.
42
43Kselftest supports saving output files in a separate directory and then
44running tests. To locate output files in a separate directory two syntaxes
45are supported. In both cases the working directory must be the root of the
46kernel src. This is applicable to "Running a subset of selftests" section
47below.
48
49To build, save output files in a separate directory with O= ::
50
51  $ make O=/tmp/kselftest kselftest
52
53To build, save output files in a separate directory with KBUILD_OUTPUT ::
54
55  $ export KBUILD_OUTPUT=/tmp/kselftest; make kselftest
56
57The O= assignment takes precedence over the KBUILD_OUTPUT environment
58variable.
59
60The above commands by default run the tests and print full pass/fail report.
61Kselftest supports "summary" option to make it easier to understand the test
62results. Please find the detailed individual test results for each test in
63/tmp/testname file(s) when summary option is specified. This is applicable
64to "Running a subset of selftests" section below.
65
66To run kselftest with summary option enabled ::
67
68  $ make summary=1 kselftest
69
70Running a subset of selftests
71=============================
72
73You can use the "TARGETS" variable on the make command line to specify
74single test to run, or a list of tests to run.
75
76To run only tests targeted for a single subsystem::
77
78  $ make -C tools/testing/selftests TARGETS=ptrace run_tests
79
80You can specify multiple tests to build and run::
81
82  $  make TARGETS="size timers" kselftest
83
84To build, save output files in a separate directory with O= ::
85
86  $ make O=/tmp/kselftest TARGETS="size timers" kselftest
87
88To build, save output files in a separate directory with KBUILD_OUTPUT ::
89
90  $ export KBUILD_OUTPUT=/tmp/kselftest; make TARGETS="size timers" kselftest
91
92Additionally you can use the "SKIP_TARGETS" variable on the make command
93line to specify one or more targets to exclude from the TARGETS list.
94
95To run all tests but a single subsystem::
96
97  $ make -C tools/testing/selftests SKIP_TARGETS=ptrace run_tests
98
99You can specify multiple tests to skip::
100
101  $  make SKIP_TARGETS="size timers" kselftest
102
103You can also specify a restricted list of tests to run together with a
104dedicated skiplist::
105
106  $  make TARGETS="bpf breakpoints size timers" SKIP_TARGETS=bpf kselftest
107
108See the top-level tools/testing/selftests/Makefile for the list of all
109possible targets.
110
111Running the full range hotplug selftests
112========================================
113
114To build the hotplug tests::
115
116  $ make -C tools/testing/selftests hotplug
117
118To run the hotplug tests::
119
120  $ make -C tools/testing/selftests run_hotplug
121
122Note that some tests will require root privileges.
123
124
125Install selftests
126=================
127
128You can use the kselftest_install.sh tool to install selftests in the
129default location, which is tools/testing/selftests/kselftest, or in a
130user specified location.
131
132To install selftests in default location::
133
134   $ cd tools/testing/selftests
135   $ ./kselftest_install.sh
136
137To install selftests in a user specified location::
138
139   $ cd tools/testing/selftests
140   $ ./kselftest_install.sh install_dir
141
142Running installed selftests
143===========================
144
145Kselftest install as well as the Kselftest tarball provide a script
146named "run_kselftest.sh" to run the tests.
147
148You can simply do the following to run the installed Kselftests. Please
149note some tests will require root privileges::
150
151   $ cd kselftest
152   $ ./run_kselftest.sh
153
154Contributing new tests
155======================
156
157In general, the rules for selftests are
158
159 * Do as much as you can if you're not root;
160
161 * Don't take too long;
162
163 * Don't break the build on any architecture, and
164
165 * Don't cause the top-level "make run_tests" to fail if your feature is
166   unconfigured.
167
168Contributing new tests (details)
169================================
170
171 * Use TEST_GEN_XXX if such binaries or files are generated during
172   compiling.
173
174   TEST_PROGS, TEST_GEN_PROGS mean it is the executable tested by
175   default.
176
177   TEST_CUSTOM_PROGS should be used by tests that require custom build
178   rules and prevent common build rule use.
179
180   TEST_PROGS are for test shell scripts. Please ensure shell script has
181   its exec bit set. Otherwise, lib.mk run_tests will generate a warning.
182
183   TEST_CUSTOM_PROGS and TEST_PROGS will be run by common run_tests.
184
185   TEST_PROGS_EXTENDED, TEST_GEN_PROGS_EXTENDED mean it is the
186   executable which is not tested by default.
187   TEST_FILES, TEST_GEN_FILES mean it is the file which is used by
188   test.
189
190 * First use the headers inside the kernel source and/or git repo, and then the
191   system headers.  Headers for the kernel release as opposed to headers
192   installed by the distro on the system should be the primary focus to be able
193   to find regressions.
194
195 * If a test needs specific kernel config options enabled, add a config file in
196   the test directory to enable them.
197
198   e.g: tools/testing/selftests/android/config
199
200Test Module
201===========
202
203Kselftest tests the kernel from userspace.  Sometimes things need
204testing from within the kernel, one method of doing this is to create a
205test module.  We can tie the module into the kselftest framework by
206using a shell script test runner.  ``kselftest_module.sh`` is designed
207to facilitate this process.  There is also a header file provided to
208assist writing kernel modules that are for use with kselftest:
209
210- ``tools/testing/kselftest/kselftest_module.h``
211- ``tools/testing/kselftest/kselftest_module.sh``
212
213How to use
214----------
215
216Here we show the typical steps to create a test module and tie it into
217kselftest.  We use kselftests for lib/ as an example.
218
2191. Create the test module
220
2212. Create the test script that will run (load/unload) the module
222   e.g. ``tools/testing/selftests/lib/printf.sh``
223
2243. Add line to config file e.g. ``tools/testing/selftests/lib/config``
225
2264. Add test script to makefile  e.g. ``tools/testing/selftests/lib/Makefile``
227
2285. Verify it works:
229
230.. code-block:: sh
231
232   # Assumes you have booted a fresh build of this kernel tree
233   cd /path/to/linux/tree
234   make kselftest-merge
235   make modules
236   sudo make modules_install
237   make TARGETS=lib kselftest
238
239Example Module
240--------------
241
242A bare bones test module might look like this:
243
244.. code-block:: c
245
246   // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
247
248   #define pr_fmt(fmt) KBUILD_MODNAME ": " fmt
249
250   #include "../tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_module.h"
251
252   KSTM_MODULE_GLOBALS();
253
254   /*
255    * Kernel module for testing the foobinator
256    */
257
258   static int __init test_function()
259   {
260           ...
261   }
262
263   static void __init selftest(void)
264   {
265           KSTM_CHECK_ZERO(do_test_case("", 0));
266   }
267
268   KSTM_MODULE_LOADERS(test_foo);
269   MODULE_AUTHOR("John Developer <jd@fooman.org>");
270   MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
271
272Example test script
273-------------------
274
275.. code-block:: sh
276
277    #!/bin/bash
278    # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
279    $(dirname $0)/../kselftest_module.sh "foo" test_foo
280
281
282Test Harness
283============
284
285The kselftest_harness.h file contains useful helpers to build tests.  The
286test harness is for userspace testing, for kernel space testing see `Test
287Module`_ above.
288
289The tests from tools/testing/selftests/seccomp/seccomp_bpf.c can be used as
290example.
291
292Example
293-------
294
295.. kernel-doc:: tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_harness.h
296    :doc: example
297
298
299Helpers
300-------
301
302.. kernel-doc:: tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_harness.h
303    :functions: TH_LOG TEST TEST_SIGNAL FIXTURE FIXTURE_DATA FIXTURE_SETUP
304                FIXTURE_TEARDOWN TEST_F TEST_HARNESS_MAIN
305
306Operators
307---------
308
309.. kernel-doc:: tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_harness.h
310    :doc: operators
311
312.. kernel-doc:: tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_harness.h
313    :functions: ASSERT_EQ ASSERT_NE ASSERT_LT ASSERT_LE ASSERT_GT ASSERT_GE
314                ASSERT_NULL ASSERT_TRUE ASSERT_NULL ASSERT_TRUE ASSERT_FALSE
315                ASSERT_STREQ ASSERT_STRNE EXPECT_EQ EXPECT_NE EXPECT_LT
316                EXPECT_LE EXPECT_GT EXPECT_GE EXPECT_NULL EXPECT_TRUE
317                EXPECT_FALSE EXPECT_STREQ EXPECT_STRNE
318