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Simon Glassc3730d72021-07-21 21:35:49 -06001.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
2
3Introduction to testing
4=======================
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -06005
6U-Boot has a large amount of code. This file describes how this code is
7tested and what tests you should write when adding a new feature.
8
9
Simon Glass8ab6cc32016-07-03 09:40:34 -060010Running tests
11-------------
12
Simon Glasscb605d22021-03-07 17:34:38 -070013To run most tests on sandbox, type this::
Simon Glass8ab6cc32016-07-03 09:40:34 -060014
Simon Glass3fcb8282018-11-18 08:14:29 -070015 make check
Simon Glass8ab6cc32016-07-03 09:40:34 -060016
17in the U-Boot directory. Note that only the pytest suite is run using this
Simon Glassdc3ab7e2016-07-31 17:35:02 -060018command.
Simon Glass8ab6cc32016-07-03 09:40:34 -060019
Simon Glass3602c552021-03-07 17:34:39 -070020Some tests take ages to run and are marked with @pytest.mark.slow. To run just
21the quick ones, type this::
Simon Glass3fcb8282018-11-18 08:14:29 -070022
23 make qcheck
24
Simon Glass3602c552021-03-07 17:34:39 -070025It is also possible to run just the tests for tools (patman, binman, etc.).
26Such tests are included with those tools, i.e. no actual U-Boot unit tests are
27run. Type this::
28
29 make tcheck
30
31All of the above use the test/run script with a paremeter to select which tests
32are run.
33
Simon Glass8ab6cc32016-07-03 09:40:34 -060034
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -060035Sandbox
36-------
37U-Boot can be built as a user-space application (e.g. for Linux). This
38allows test to be executed without needing target hardware. The 'sandbox'
39target provides this feature and it is widely used in tests.
40
Simon Glass9e78ad62021-03-07 17:34:42 -070041See :doc:`tests_sandbox` for more information.
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -060042
43Pytest Suite
44------------
45
46Many tests are available using the pytest suite, in test/py. This can run
47either on sandbox or on real hardware. It relies on the U-Boot console to
48inject test commands and check the result. It is slower to run than C code,
Simon Glassdc3ab7e2016-07-31 17:35:02 -060049but provides the ability to unify lots of tests and summarise their results.
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -060050
Simon Glasscb605d22021-03-07 17:34:38 -070051You can run the tests on sandbox with::
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -060052
Simon Glasscb605d22021-03-07 17:34:38 -070053 ./test/py/test.py --bd sandbox --build
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -060054
55This will produce HTML output in build-sandbox/test-log.html
56
Simon Glass9e78ad62021-03-07 17:34:42 -070057Some tests run with other versions of sandbox. For example sandbox_flattree
58runs the tests with livetree (the hierachical devicetree) disabled. You can
59also select particular tests with -k::
60
61 ./test/py/test.py --bd sandbox_flattree --build -k hello
62
Simon Glasseaf21962021-03-07 17:34:43 -070063There are some special tests that run in SPL. For this you need the sandbox_spl
64build::
65
66 ./test/py/test.py --bd sandbox_spl --build -k test_spl
67
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -060068See test/py/README.md for more information about the pytest suite.
69
Simon Glass9e78ad62021-03-07 17:34:42 -070070See :doc:`tests_sandbox` for how to run tests directly (not through pytest).
71
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -060072
73tbot
74----
75
76Tbot provides a way to execute tests on target hardware. It is intended for
77trying out both U-Boot and Linux (and potentially other software) on a
78number of boards automatically. It can be used to create a continuous test
Heiko Schocherd551b842017-06-09 06:13:34 +020079environment. See http://www.tbot.tools for more information.
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -060080
81
82Ad-hoc tests
83------------
84
85There are several ad-hoc tests which run outside the pytest environment:
86
Simon Glasscb605d22021-03-07 17:34:38 -070087test/fs
88 File system test (shell script)
89test/image
90 FIT and legacy image tests (shell script and Python)
91test/stdint
92 A test that stdint.h can be used in U-Boot (shell script)
93trace
94 Test for the tracing feature (shell script)
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -060095
Simon Glassdc3ab7e2016-07-31 17:35:02 -060096TODO: Move these into pytest.
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -060097
98
99When to write tests
100-------------------
101
102If you add code to U-Boot without a test you are taking a risk. Even if you
103perform thorough manual testing at the time of submission, it may break when
104future changes are made to U-Boot. It may even break when applied to mainline,
105if other changes interact with it. A good mindset is that untested code
106probably doesn't work and should be deleted.
107
108You can assume that the Pytest suite will be run before patches are accepted
109to mainline, so this provides protection against future breakage.
110
111On the other hand there is quite a bit of code that is not covered with tests,
112or is covered sparingly. So here are some suggestions:
113
114- If you are adding a new uclass, add a sandbox driver and a test that uses it
115- If you are modifying code covered by an existing test, add a new test case
116 to cover your changes
117- If the code you are modifying has not tests, consider writing one. Even a
118 very basic test is useful, and may be picked up and enhanced by others. It
119 is much easier to add onto a test - writing a new large test can seem
120 daunting to most contributors.
121
Simon Glass25404102021-03-07 17:35:17 -0700122See doc:`tests_writing` for how to write tests.
123
Simon Glassd8e36352016-07-03 09:40:33 -0600124
125Future work
126-----------
127
128Converting existing shell scripts into pytest tests.