1Contributing to OpenBMC Test Automation
2=======================================
3Guide to working on OpenBMC test automation. This document will always be a
4work-in-progress, feel free to propose changes.
5
6Submitting changes via Gerrit server
7------------------------------------
8-   Reference [OpenBMC CLA signers](https://github.com/openbmc/openbmc-tools/blob/master/emilyshaffer/cla-signers/cla-signers)
9-   Reference [OpenBMC docs](https://github.com/openbmc/docs/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#submitting-changes-via-gerrit-server)
10
11Robot Coding Guidelines
12-----------------------
13-   For this project, we will write Robot keyword definitions in either Robot
14    or Python.  Robot code should be quite simple.  Therefore, if the algorithm
15    in question is the least bit complex, please write it in Python.
16-   Observe a maximum line length of 110 characters.
17-   Avoid trailing space at the end of any line of Robot code.
18-   Avoid the use of tabs.
19-   Robot supports delimiting cells with either two or more spaces or with a
20    pipe symbol (e.g. "\|"). Our team has chosen to use spaces rather than the
21    pipe character. Make sure all space delimiters in Robot code are the
22    **minimum** of two spaces. There may be some exceptions to this rule.
23
24    Exceptions to two-space delimiter rule:
25    - When you wish to line up resource, library or variable values:
26      ```
27      Library         Lib1
28      Resource        Resource1
29      *** Variables ***
30      ${var1}         ${EMPTY}
31      ```
32    - When you wish to line up fields for test templates:
33      ```
34      [Template]  Set System LED State
35      # LED Name  LED State
36      power       On
37      power       Off
38      ```
39    - When you wish to indent if/else or loop bodies for visual effect:
40      ```
41      Run Keyword If  '${this}' == '${that}'
42      ...    Log  Bla, bla...
43      ...  ELSE
44      ...    Run Keywords  Key1  parms
45      ...    AND  Key2  parms
46      ```
47-   Use spaces to make conditions more readable:
48
49    Correct example:
50    ```
51    Run Keyword If  '${var1}' == '${0}'  My Keyword
52    ```
53    Incorrect example:
54    ```
55    Run Keyword If  '${var1}'=='${0}'  My Keyword
56    ```
57-   When you define or call a Robot keyword, Robot pays no attention to spaces,
58    underscores or case.  However, our team will observe the following
59    conventions in both our definitions and our calls:
60    - Separate words with single spaces.
61    - Capitalize the first character of each word.
62    - Capitalize all characters in any word that is an acronym (e.g. JSON, BMC,
63      etc).
64
65    Examples:
66    ```
67    *** Keywords ***
68
69    This Is Correct
70
71        # This keyword name is correct.
72
73    this_is_incorrect
74
75        # This keyword name is incorrect because of 1) the
76        # underscores instead of spaces and 2) the failure to
77        # capitalize each word in the keyword.
78
79    soisthis
80
81        # This keyword name is incorrect because of 1) a failure to
82        # separate words with spaces and 2) a failure to capitalize
83        # each word in the keyword.
84
85    BMC Is An Acronym
86
87        # This keyword name is correct.  Note that "BMC" is an
88        # acronym and as such is entirely uppercase.
89    ```
90-   Documentation strings:
91    -  Each documentation string should be phrased as an **English command**.
92       Punctuate it correctly with the first word capitalized and a period at
93       the end.
94
95       Correct example:
96        ```
97        Boot BMC
98            [Documentation]  Boot the BMC.
99        ```
100        Incorrect example:
101        ```
102        Boot BMC
103            [Documentation]  This keyword boots the BMC.
104
105            # The doc string above is not phrased as a command.
106        ```
107    -   Doc strings should be just one terse, descriptive sentence.
108        Remember that this doc string shows up in the HTML log file.  Put
109        additional commentary below in standard comment lines.
110
111        Correct example:
112        ```
113        Stop SOL Console Logging
114
115            [Documentation]  Stop system console logging and return log output.
116        ```
117        Incorrect example:
118        ```
119        Stop SOL Console Logging
120
121            [Documentation]  Stop system console logging.  If there are multiple
122            ...              system console processes, they will all be
123            ...              stopped.  If there is no existing log file this
124            ...              keyword will return an error message to that
125            ...              effect (and write that message to targ_file_path,
126            ...              if specified).  NOTE: This keyword will not fail
127            ...              if there is no running system console process.
128
129            # This doc string is way too long.
130        ```
131-   Tags:
132    -   Create a tag for every test case with a tag name that mirrors the test case
133        name as follows:
134        ```
135        Create Intermediate File
136
137            [Tags]  Create_Intermediate_File
138        ```
139-   Description of argument(s):
140    -   As shown in the following example, if your keyword has any arguments, include
141        a "**Description of argument(s)**" section.  This effectively serves as the
142        help text for anyone wanting to use or understand your keyword.  Include
143        real data examples wherever possible and applicable.  Leave at least 2 spaces
144        between the argument name and the description.  Align all description text as
145        shown in the example below.
146
147        Example:
148        ```
149        Get URL List
150            [Documentation]  Return list of URLs under given URL.
151            [Arguments]  ${openbmc_url}  ${policy}
152
153            # Description of argument(s):
154            # openbmc_url  URL for list operation (e.g.
155            #              "/xyz/openbmc_project/inventory").
156            # policy       Power restore policy (e.g "RESTORE_LAST_STATE",
157            #              ${RESTORE_LAST_STATE}).
158        ```
159-   Variable assignments:
160
161    When assigning a variable as output from a keyword, do not precede the
162    equal sign with a space.
163
164    Correct examples:
165    ```
166    ${var1}=  Set Variable  ${1}
167    ${var1}=  My Keyword
168    ```
169    Incorrect examples:
170
171    ```
172    ${var1} =  Set Variable  ${1}
173    ${var1} =  My Keyword
174    ```
175-   General variable naming conventions:
176    -   Variable names should be lower case with few exceptions:
177        -   Environment variables should be all upper case.
178        -   Variables intended to be set by Robot -v parameters may be all
179            upper case.
180    -   Words within a variable name should be separated by underscores:
181
182        Correct examples:
183        ```
184        ${host_name}
185        ${program_pid}
186        ```
187        Incorrect examples:
188        ```
189        ${HostName}
190        ${ProgramPid}
191        ```
192-   Special variable naming conventions.
193
194    For certain very commonly used kinds of variables, please observe these
195    conventions in order to achieve consistency throughout the code.
196
197    -   hosts
198
199        When a variable is intended to contain **either** an IP address **or**
200        a host name (either long or short), please give it a suffix of "_host".
201
202        Examples:
203        ```
204        openbmc_host
205        os_host
206        pdu_host
207        openbmc_serial_host
208        ```
209    -   host names
210
211        For host names (long or short, e.g. "bmc1" or "bmc1.example.com"), use
212        a suffix of _host_name.
213
214        Examples:
215        ```
216        openbmc_host_name
217        os_host_name
218        pdu_host_name
219        openbmc_serial_host_name
220        ```
221    -   Short host names
222
223        For short host names (e.g. "bmc1"), use a suffix of _host_short_name.
224
225        Examples:
226        ```
227        openbmc_host_short_name
228        os_host_short_name
229        pdu_host_short_name
230        openbmc_serial_host_short_name
231        ```
232    -   IP addresses
233
234        For IP addresses, use a suffix of _ip.
235
236        Example:
237        ```
238        openbmc_ip
239        os_ip
240        pdu_ip
241        openbmc_serial_ip
242        ```
243    -   Files and directories:
244        -   Files:
245            -   If your variable is to contain only the file's name, use a suffix
246                of _file_name.
247
248                Examples:
249                ```
250                ffdc_file_name = "bmc1.170428.120200.ffdc"
251                ```
252            -   If your variable is to contain the path to a file, use a suffix of
253                _file_path.  Bear in mind that a file path can be relative or
254                absolute so that should not be a consideration in whether to use
255                the "_file_path" suffix.
256
257                Examples:
258                ```
259                status_file_path = "bmc1.170428.120200.status"
260                status_file_path = "subdir/bmc1.170428.120200.status"
261                status_file_path = "./bmc1.170428.120200.status"
262                status_file_path = "../bmc1.170428.120200.status"
263                status_file_path = "/home/user1/status/bmc1.170428.120200.status"
264                ```
265                To re-iterate, it doesn't matter whether the contents of the
266                variable are a relative or absolute path (as shown in the
267                examples above).  A file path is simply a value with enough
268                information in it for the program to find the file.
269
270            -   If the variable **must** contain an absolute path (which should be
271                the rare case), use a suffix _abs_file_path.
272
273        -   Directories:
274            -   Directory variables should follow the same conventions as file
275                variables.
276
277            -   If your variable is to contain only the directory's name, use a
278                suffix of _dir_name.
279
280                Example:
281                ```
282                ffdc_dir_name = "ffdc"
283                ```
284            -   If your variable is to contain the path to a directory, use a
285                suffix of _dir_path.  Bear in mind that a dir path can be
286                relative or absolute so that should not be a consideration in
287                whether to use _dir_path.
288
289                Examples:
290                ```
291                status_dir_path = "status/"
292                status_dir_path = "subdir/status"
293                status_dir_path = "./status/"
294                status_dir_path = "../status/"
295                status_dir_path = "/home/user1/status/"
296                ```
297                To re-iterate, it doesn't matter whether the contents of
298                the variable are a relative or absolute path (as shown in
299                the examples above).  A dir path is simply a value with
300                enough information in it for the program to find the
301                directory.
302
303            -   If the variable **must** contain an absolute path (which
304                should be the rare case), use a suffix _abs_dir_path.
305            -   IMPORTANT:  As a programming convention, do pre-
306                processing on all dir_path variables to ensure that they
307                contain a trailing slash.  If we follow that convention
308                religiously, then when changes are made in other parts of
309                the program, the programmer can count on the value having
310                a trailing slash.  Therefore, they can safely do this kind
311                of thing:
312                ```
313                my_file_path = my_dir_path + my_file_name
314                ```
315    -   Setup/Teardown keywords
316
317        Use standardized names for setup and teardown keywords:
318        - Suite Setup Execution
319        - Suite Teardown Execution
320        - Test Setup Execution
321        - Test Teardown Execution
322-   Traditional comments (i.e. using the hashtag style comments)
323    -   Please leave one space following the hashtag.
324        ```
325        #wrong
326
327        # Right
328        ```
329    -   Please use proper English punctuation:
330        -   Capitalize the first word in the sentence or phrase.
331        -   End sentences (or stand-alone phrases) with a period.
332
333    -   Do not keep commented-out code in your program.  Instead, remove it
334        entirely.
335-   Robot Template Test Cases
336    -   Follow this format for Robot template test cases:
337
338        Note: Documentation, Tags and Template lines are all required and should be coded in the order shown.
339        ```
340        Test Case Name
341            [Documentation]
342            [Tags]
343            [Template]
344            # arg1  arg2  etc.
345            <arg1>  <arg2>
346
347        Example:
348
349        Get Response Codes
350            [Documentation]  REST "Get" response status test.
351            [Tags]  Get_Response_Codes
352            [Template]  Execute Get And Check Response
353
354            # expected_response_code  url_path
355            ${HTTP_OK}                /org/
356            ${HTTP_OK}                /xyz/
357            ${HTTP_OK}                /xyz/openbmc_project/
358            ${HTTP_OK}                /xyz/openbmc_project/state/enumerate
359            ${HTTP_NOT_FOUND}         /xyz/i/dont/exist/
360        ```
361
362        Note: Normally, a template test case would have many rows of data arguments as in the example above.
363              However, contributors frequently define multiple template test cases that each have only
364              one row of data which may seem to defeat the value of using templates in the first place. However,
365              it is done for these reasons:
366              1) Template tests are counted as a single test. The user may wish to have separate results for
367                 each call to the template function.
368              2) If any call to the template function fails, one would like FFDC data collected immediately
369                 and would like one set of FFDC data for EACH such failure.
370
371
372Python Coding Guidelines
373-----------------------
374-   The minimum required Python version is 2.7.x.
375-   Run pycodestyle on all Python files and correct errors to follow the guidelines in
376    https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/.  Note that when python code is checked into gerrit, pycodestyle is run automatically on it.
377
378    Example as run from a Linux command line:
379    ```
380    pycodestyle my_pgm.py
381
382    my_pgm.py:41:1: E302 expected 2 blank lines, found 1
383    my_pgm.py:58:52: W291 trailing whitespace
384    ```
385-   Include doc strings in every function and follow the guidelines in
386    https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0257/.
387
388    Example:
389    ```
390        r"""
391        Return the function name associated with the indicated stack frame.
392
393        Description of argument(s):
394        stack_frame_ix                  The index of the stack frame whose
395                                        function name should be returned.  If
396                                        the caller does not specify a value,
397                                        this function will set the value to 1
398                                        which is the index of the caller's
399                                        stack frame.  If the caller is the
400                                        wrapper function "print_func_name",
401                                        this function will bump it up by 1.
402        """
403    ```
404-   As shown in the prior example, if your function has any arguments, include
405    a "Description of argument(s)" section.  This effectively serves as the
406    help text for anyone wanting to use or understand your function.  Include
407    real data examples wherever possible and applicable.
408-   Function definitions:
409    -   Put each function parameter on its own line:
410        ```
411        def func1(parm1,
412
413                  parm2):
414        ```
415-   Do not keep commented-out code in your program.  Instead, remove it
416    entirely.
417-   When you define a python function, observe the following
418    conventions:
419    - Separate words with single underscores.
420    - Use lower-case letters.
421
422    Examples:
423    ```
424
425    def this_is_correct():
426
427        # This function name is correct.
428
429    def This_Is_Incorrect():
430
431        # This keyword name is incorrect because of the upper case letters used.
432
433    def soisthis():
434
435        # This keyword name is incorrect because of 1) a failure to
436        # separate words with underscores.
437
438    ```
439-   Documentation strings:
440    -  Each documentation string should be phrased as an **English command**.
441       Punctuate it correctly with the first word capitalized and a period at
442       the end.
443
444       Correct example:
445        ```
446        def boot_bmc():
447            r"""
448            Boot the BMC.
449            """
450        ```
451        Incorrect example:
452        ```
453        def boot_bmc():
454            r"""
455            This function boots the BMC.
456            """
457
458            # The doc string above is not phrased as a command.
459        ```
460    -   Doc strings should begin with a summary line which one terse, descriptive sentence.
461        Put additional commentary below.
462
463        Correct example:
464        ```
465        def stop_sol_console_logging():
466            r"""
467            Stop system console logging and return log output.
468
469            Additional comments...
470            """
471        ```
472        Incorrect example:
473        ```
474        def stop_sol_console_logging():
475            r"""
476            Stop system console logging.  If there are multiple system console
477            processes, they will all be stopped.  If there is no existing log file
478            this keyword will return an error message to that effect (and write that
479            message to targ_file_path, if specified).  NOTE: This keyword will not
480            fail if there is no running system console process.
481            """
482
483            # This doc string is way too long.
484        ```
485-   General variable naming conventions:
486    -   Variable names should be lower case with few exceptions:
487        -   Environment variables should be all upper case.
488    -   Words within a variable name should be separated by underscores:
489
490        Correct examples:
491        ```
492        ${host_name}
493        ${program_pid}
494        ```
495        Incorrect examples:
496        ```
497        ${HostName}
498        ${ProgramPid}
499        ```
500-   Special variable naming conventions.
501
502    For certain very commonly used kinds of variables, please observe these
503    conventions in order to achieve consistency throughout the code.
504
505    -   hosts
506
507        When a variable is intended to contain **either** an IP address **or**
508        a host name (either long or short), please give it a suffix of "_host".
509
510        Examples:
511        ```
512        openbmc_host
513        os_host
514        pdu_host
515        openbmc_serial_host
516        ```
517    -   host names
518
519        For host names (long or short, e.g. "bmc1" or "bmc1.example.com"), use
520        a suffix of _host_name.
521
522        Examples:
523        ```
524        openbmc_host_name
525        os_host_name
526        pdu_host_name
527        openbmc_serial_host_name
528        ```
529    -   Short host names
530
531        For short host names (e.g. "bmc1"), use a suffix of _host_short_name.
532
533        Examples:
534        ```
535        openbmc_host_short_name
536        os_host_short_name
537        pdu_host_short_name
538        openbmc_serial_host_short_name
539        ```
540    -   IP addresses
541
542        For IP addresses, use a suffix of _ip.
543
544        Example:
545        ```
546        openbmc_ip
547        os_ip
548        pdu_ip
549        openbmc_serial_ip
550        ```
551-   Files and directories:
552    -   Files:
553        -   If your variable is to contain only the file's name, use a suffix
554            of _file_name.
555
556            Examples:
557            ```
558            ffdc_file_name = "bmc1.170428.120200.ffdc"
559            ```
560        -   If your variable is to contain the path to a file, use a suffix of
561            _file_path.  Bear in mind that a file path can be relative or
562            absolute so that should not be a consideration in whether to use
563            the "_file_path" suffix.
564
565            Examples:
566            ```
567            status_file_path = "bmc1.170428.120200.status"
568            status_file_path = "subdir/bmc1.170428.120200.status"
569            status_file_path = "./bmc1.170428.120200.status"
570            status_file_path = "../bmc1.170428.120200.status"
571            status_file_path = "/home/user1/status/bmc1.170428.120200.status"
572            ```
573            To re-iterate, it doesn't matter whether the contents of the
574            variable are a relative or absolute path (as shown in the
575            examples above).  A file path is simply a value with enough
576            information in it for the program to find the file.
577
578        -   If the variable **must** contain an absolute path (which should be
579            the rare case), use a suffix _abs_file_path.
580
581    -   Directories:
582        -   Directory variables should follow the same conventions as file
583            variables.
584
585        -   If your variable is to contain only the directory's name, use a
586            suffix of _dir_name.
587
588            Example:
589            ```
590            ffdc_dir_name = "ffdc"
591            ```
592        -   If your variable is to contain the path to a directory, use a
593            suffix of _dir_path.  Bear in mind that a dir path can be
594            relative or absolute so that should not be a consideration in
595            whether to use _dir_path.
596
597            Examples:
598            ```
599            status_dir_path = "status/"
600            status_dir_path = "subdir/status"
601            status_dir_path = "./status/"
602            status_dir_path = "../status/"
603            status_dir_path = "/home/user1/status/"
604            ```
605            To re-iterate, it doesn't matter whether the contents of
606            the variable are a relative or absolute path (as shown in
607            the examples above).  A dir path is simply a value with
608            enough information in it for the program to find the
609            directory.
610
611        -   If the variable **must** contain an absolute path (which
612            should be the rare case), use a suffix _abs_dir_path.
613        -   IMPORTANT:  As a programming convention, do pre-
614            processing on all dir_path variables to ensure that they
615            contain a trailing slash.  If we follow that convention
616            religiously, that when changes are made in other parts of
617            the program, the programmer can count on the value having
618            a trailing slash.  Therefore they can safely do this kind
619            of thing:
620            ```
621            my_file_path = my_dir_path + my_file_name
622            ```
623-   Traditional comments (i.e. using the hashtag style comments)
624    -   Please leave one space following the hashtag.
625        ```
626        #wrong
627
628        # Right
629        ```
630    -   Please use proper English punction:
631        -   Capitalize the first word in the sentence or phrase.
632        -   End sentences (or stand-alone phrases) with a period.
633
634    -   Do not keep commented-out code in your program.  Instead, remove it
635        entirely.
636
637Template Usage Guidelines
638-------------------------
639We have several templates in the templates/ sub-directory. If there is a
640template that applies to your programming situation (Python, bash, etc.),
641it should be used to create new programs as in the following example
642
643- Example:
644
645    ```
646    $ cd templates
647    $ cp python_pgm_template ../bin/my_new_program.py
648    ```
649
650These templates have much of your preliminary work done for you and will help
651us all follow a similar structure.
652
653- Features:
654    - Help text and arg parsing started for you.
655    - Support for "stock" parameters like "quiet", "debug", "test_mode".
656    - "exit_function" and "signal_handler" defined.
657    - "validate_parms" function pre-created.
658    - "main" function follows conventional startup sequence:
659
660        ```
661            if not gen_get_options(parser, stock_list):
662                return False
663
664            if not validate_parms():
665                return False
666
667            qprint_pgm_header()
668
669            # Your code here.
670        ```
671