1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
2
3==========================
4Frequently Asked Questions
5==========================
6
7How is this different from Autotest, kselftest, etc?
8====================================================
9KUnit is a unit testing framework. Autotest, kselftest (and some others) are
10not.
11
12A `unit test <https://martinfowler.com/bliki/UnitTest.html>`_ is supposed to
13test a single unit of code in isolation, hence the name. A unit test should be
14the finest granularity of testing and as such should allow all possible code
15paths to be tested in the code under test; this is only possible if the code
16under test is very small and does not have any external dependencies outside of
17the test's control like hardware.
18
19There are no testing frameworks currently available for the kernel that do not
20require installing the kernel on a test machine or in a VM and all require
21tests to be written in userspace and run on the kernel under test; this is true
22for Autotest, kselftest, and some others, disqualifying any of them from being
23considered unit testing frameworks.
24
25Does KUnit support running on architectures other than UML?
26===========================================================
27
28Yes, well, mostly.
29
30For the most part, the KUnit core framework (what you use to write the tests)
31can compile to any architecture; it compiles like just another part of the
32kernel and runs when the kernel boots, or when built as a module, when the
33module is loaded.  However, there is some infrastructure,
34like the KUnit Wrapper (``tools/testing/kunit/kunit.py``) that does not support
35other architectures.
36
37In short, this means that, yes, you can run KUnit on other architectures, but
38it might require more work than using KUnit on UML.
39
40For more information, see :ref:`kunit-on-non-uml`.
41
42What is the difference between a unit test and these other kinds of tests?
43==========================================================================
44Most existing tests for the Linux kernel would be categorized as an integration
45test, or an end-to-end test.
46
47- A unit test is supposed to test a single unit of code in isolation, hence the
48  name. A unit test should be the finest granularity of testing and as such
49  should allow all possible code paths to be tested in the code under test; this
50  is only possible if the code under test is very small and does not have any
51  external dependencies outside of the test's control like hardware.
52- An integration test tests the interaction between a minimal set of components,
53  usually just two or three. For example, someone might write an integration
54  test to test the interaction between a driver and a piece of hardware, or to
55  test the interaction between the userspace libraries the kernel provides and
56  the kernel itself; however, one of these tests would probably not test the
57  entire kernel along with hardware interactions and interactions with the
58  userspace.
59- An end-to-end test usually tests the entire system from the perspective of the
60  code under test. For example, someone might write an end-to-end test for the
61  kernel by installing a production configuration of the kernel on production
62  hardware with a production userspace and then trying to exercise some behavior
63  that depends on interactions between the hardware, the kernel, and userspace.
64
65KUnit isn't working, what should I do?
66======================================
67
68Unfortunately, there are a number of things which can break, but here are some
69things to try.
70
711. Try running ``./tools/testing/kunit/kunit.py run`` with the ``--raw_output``
72   parameter. This might show details or error messages hidden by the kunit_tool
73   parser.
742. Instead of running ``kunit.py run``, try running ``kunit.py config``,
75   ``kunit.py build``, and ``kunit.py exec`` independently. This can help track
76   down where an issue is occurring. (If you think the parser is at fault, you
77   can run it manually against stdin or a file with ``kunit.py parse``.)
783. Running the UML kernel directly can often reveal issues or error messages
79   kunit_tool ignores. This should be as simple as running ``./vmlinux`` after
80   building the UML kernel (e.g., by using ``kunit.py build``). Note that UML
81   has some unusual requirements (such as the host having a tmpfs filesystem
82   mounted), and has had issues in the past when built statically and the host
83   has KASLR enabled. (On older host kernels, you may need to run ``setarch
84   `uname -m` -R ./vmlinux`` to disable KASLR.)
854. Make sure the kernel .config has ``CONFIG_KUNIT=y`` and at least one test
86   (e.g. ``CONFIG_KUNIT_EXAMPLE_TEST=y``). kunit_tool will keep its .config
87   around, so you can see what config was used after running ``kunit.py run``.
88   It also preserves any config changes you might make, so you can
89   enable/disable things with ``make ARCH=um menuconfig`` or similar, and then
90   re-run kunit_tool.
915. Try to run ``make ARCH=um defconfig`` before running ``kunit.py run``. This
92   may help clean up any residual config items which could be causing problems.
936. Finally, try running KUnit outside UML. KUnit and KUnit tests can be
94   built into any kernel, or can be built as a module and loaded at runtime.
95   Doing so should allow you to determine if UML is causing the issue you're
96   seeing. When tests are built-in, they will execute when the kernel boots, and
97   modules will automatically execute associated tests when loaded. Test results
98   can be collected from ``/sys/kernel/debug/kunit/<test suite>/results``, and
99   can be parsed with ``kunit.py parse``. For more details, see "KUnit on
100   non-UML architectures" in Documentation/dev-tools/kunit/usage.rst.
101
102If none of the above tricks help, you are always welcome to email any issues to
103kunit-dev@googlegroups.com.
104