[Nix-dev] Re: New ISO image expression and automated testing.

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi Michael,

This all sounds great!

One question regarding testing:

Michael Raskin <7c6f434c at mail.ru> writes:

> 	3) It is done in my recent commit. The structure is as follows:
> 		a) user runs install-test.sh, say, in tmp.
> 		b) it builds qemu and socat in store and creates corresponding
> symlinks. Also it builds the DVD itself. It is a well suitable for
> normal installation DVD, except that root has a known (on the original
> system) private key and there i a special effort to connect to 10.0.2.2
> (Qemu host connection address for guest) and to tunnel SSH through that
> connection. Note: Qemu allows an easier way, but I prefered a bit more
> generic way.
> 		c) using the SSH tunnel established by socat, the script uploads
> installation commands to Qemu and launches them. The installation script
> reboots Qemu when finished. Qemu is launched with -no-reboot, so it
> terminates.
> 		d) Qemu is booted without DVD, just with installed HDD. The
> installation is a basic system (even with sshd), but it connects to
> 10.0.2.2 and reports successful installed. It also asks if the Qemu
> should be rebooted (gets answer "reboot" and shuts it down thanks to
> -no-reboot). The fact of its report is recorded.
>
> 	That way, if the test script terminates without error, it means that
> installation process works. If not, it may hang, but I see no way to
> exclude that. It will not do much in that case, though, so a timeout can
> be with some safety margin.

What kind of errors are we trying to catch?  Things like missing files
or broken scripts?

Do such errors result in non-termination (e.g., a broken script fails,
but then the system doesn't reboot/halt)?

Thanks!

Ludovic.