[ovs-dev] [PATCH] CONTRIBUTING: Strengthen testing guidelines

[Kavanagh, Mark B]

>
>On Mon, Jan 25, 2016 at 03:15:23PM +0000, Mark Kavanagh wrote:
>> Current testing guidelines do not take account of two distinct
>> OVS builds:
>>    a) 'standard' OVS
>>    b) OVS with DPDK integration
>>
>> It is critical that all patches are tested against both builds; if not,
>> there is a strong possibility that code which adversely affects one
>> of the builds may be upstreamed, leading to issues such as broken build,
>> e.g. http://openvswitch.org/pipermail/dev/2016-January/064328.html
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Mark Kavanagh <mark.b.kavanagh at intel.com>
>> ---
>>  CONTRIBUTING.md | 3 +++
>>  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
>>
>> diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
>> index 086b6e8..fe9400a 100644
>> --- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
>> +++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
>> @@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ Testing is also important:
>>    - A patch that adds or deletes files should also be tested with
>>      `make distcheck` before submission.
>>
>> +  - The above tests should be performed with OVS compiled as 'normal',
>> +    and also compiled with DPDK support.
>
>It's something of a pain to do that when DPDK is so hardware dependent.
>

Fair point. 

>I think the example that you show is actually a pretty good example of
>how quickly we catch problems.

Sure. At the same time though, this is a reactive approach, rather than a proactive one, which inevitably results in more work for everyone (think fixing broken builds, failed CI builds, root-causing issues, etc, etc.). 

If the validation can't be performed by patch authors, would you perhaps consider setting up an automated build environment on Nicera's end? This could be as simple as a git hook that would automatically build and test patches that have been approved by maintainers, when they are pushed to the upstream repo. If a test or build fails, the patch is rejected. It may be a little bit of work upfront, but could reduce the effort involved in fixing 'erroneous' patches, ultimately saving time for everyone.

Thanks in advance,
Mark