2021-12-07 19:02:56

by David Gow

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [RFC PATCH v2] Documentation: dev-tools: Add KTAP specification

From: Rae Moar <[email protected]>

It does not make any significant additions or changes other than those
already in use in the kernel: additional features can be added as they
become necessary and used.

[1]: https://testanything.org/tap-version-13-specification.html

Signed-off-by: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
Co-developed-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
---

Changes since RFC v1:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-kselftest/[email protected]/
- Add a "see also" section with some useful links.
- Remove the XPASS directive, which isn't used anywhere.
- Clear up / reorganise the discussion around differences between KTAP
and TAP14.
- Improve the wording around some directives.
- Fix a bunch of typos.

See prior discussion in the following RFC:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-kselftest/CA+GJov6tdjvY9x12JsJT14qn6c7NViJxqaJk+r-K1YJzPggFDQ@mail.gmail.com/.

---

Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst | 1 +
Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst | 298 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 299 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst

diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
index 010a2af1e7d9..4621eac290f4 100644
--- a/Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ Documentation/dev-tools/testing-overview.rst
kgdb
kselftest
kunit/index
+ ktap


.. only:: subproject and html
diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..878530cb9c27
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,298 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+========================================
+The Kernel Test Anything Protocol (KTAP)
+========================================
+
+TAP, or the Test Anything Protocol is a format for specifying test results used
+by a number of projects. It's website and specification are found at this `link
+<https://testanything.org/>`_. The Linux Kernel largely uses TAP output for test
+results. However, Kernel testing frameworks have special needs for test results
+which don't align with the original TAP specification. Thus, a "Kernel TAP"
+(KTAP) format is specified to extend and alter TAP to support these use-cases.
+This specification describes the generally accepted format of KTAP as it is
+currently used in the kernel.
+
+KTAP test results describe a series of tests (which may be nested: i.e., test
+can have subtests), each of which can contain both diagnostic data -- e.g., log
+lines -- and a final result. The test structure and results are
+machine-readable, whereas the diagnostic data is unstructured and is there to
+aid human debugging.
+
+KTAP output is built from four different types of lines:
+- Version lines
+- Plan lines
+- Test case result lines
+- Diagnostic lines
+
+In general, valid KTAP output should also form valid TAP output, but some
+information, in particular nested test results, may be lost. Also note that
+there is a stagnant draft specification for TAP14, KTAP diverges from this in
+a couple of places (notably the "Subtest" header), which are described where
+relevant later in this document.
+
+Version lines
+-------------
+
+All KTAP-formatted results begin with a "version line" which specifies which
+version of the (K)TAP standard the result is compliant with.
+
+For example:
+- "KTAP version 1"
+- "TAP version 13"
+- "TAP version 14"
+
+Note that, in KTAP, subtests also begin with a version line, which denotes the
+start of the nested test results. This differs from TAP14, which uses a
+separate "Subtest" line.
+
+While, going forward, "KTAP version 1" should be used by compliant tests, it
+is expected that most parsers and other tooling will accept the other versions
+listed here for compatibility with existing tests and frameworks.
+
+Plan lines
+----------
+
+A test plan provides the number of tests (or subtests) in the KTAP output.
+
+Plan lines must follow the format of "1..N" where N is the number of tests or subtests.
+Plan lines follow version lines to indicate the number of nested tests.
+
+While there are cases where the number of tests is not known in advance -- in
+which case the test plan may be omitted -- it is strongly recommended one is
+present where possible.
+
+Test case result lines
+----------------------
+
+Test case result lines indicate the final status of a test.
+They are required and must have the format:
+
+.. code-block::
+
+ <result> <number> [<description>][ # [<directive>] [<diagnostic data>]]
+
+The result can be either "ok", which indicates the test case passed,
+or "not ok", which indicates that the test case failed.
+
+<number> represents the number of the test being performed. The first test must
+have the number 1 and the number then must increase by 1 for each additional
+subtest within the same test at the same nesting level.
+
+The description is a description of the test, generally the name of
+the test, and can be any string of words (can't include #). The
+description is optional, but recommended.
+
+The directive and any diagnostic data is optional. If either are present, they
+must follow a hash sign, "#".
+
+A directive is a keyword that indicates a different outcome for a test other
+than passed and failed. The directive is optional, and consists of a single
+keyword preceding the diagnostic data. In the event that a parser encounters
+a directive it doesn't support, it should fall back to the "ok" / "not ok"
+result.
+
+Currently accepted directives are:
+
+- "SKIP", which indicates a test was skipped (note the result of the test case
+ result line can be either "ok" or "not ok" if the SKIP directive is used)
+- "TODO", which indicates that a test is not expected to pass at the moment,
+ e.g. because the feature it is testing is known to be broken. While this
+ directive is inherited from TAP, its use in the kernel is discouraged.
+- "XFAIL", which indicates that a test is expected to fail. This is similar
+ to "TODO", above, and is used by some kselftest tests.
+- “TIMEOUT”, which indicates a test has timed out (note the result of the test
+ case result line should be “not ok” if the TIMEOUT directive is used)
+- “ERROR”, which indicates that the execution of a test has failed due to a
+ specific error that is included in the diagnostic data. (note the result of
+ the test case result line should be “not ok” if the ERROR directive is used)
+
+The diagnostic data is a plain-text field which contains any additional details
+about why this result was produced. This is typically an error message for ERROR
+or failed tests, or a description of missing dependencies for a SKIP result.
+
+The diagnostic data field is optional, and results which have neither a
+directive nor any diagnostic data do not need to include the "#" field
+separator.
+
+Example result lines include:
+
+.. code-block::
+
+ ok 1 test_case_name
+
+The test "test_case_name" passed.
+
+.. code-block::
+
+ not ok 1 test_case_name
+
+The test "test_case_name" failed.
+
+.. code-block::
+
+ ok 1 test # SKIP necessary dependency unavailable
+
+The test "test" was SKIPPED with the diagnostic message "necessary dependency
+unavailable".
+
+.. code-block::
+
+ not ok 1 test # TIMEOUT 30 seconds
+
+The test "test" timed out, with diagnostic data "30 seconds".
+
+.. code-block::
+
+ ok 5 check return code # rcode=0
+
+The test "check return code" passed, with additional diagnostic data “rcode=0”
+
+
+Diagnostic lines
+----------------
+
+If tests wish to output any further information, they should do so using
+"diagnostic lines". Diagnostic lines are optional, freeform text, and are
+often used to describe what is being tested and any intermediate results in
+more detail than the final result and diagnostic data line provides.
+
+Diagnostic lines are formatted as "# <diagnostic_description>", where the
+description can be any string. Diagnostic lines can be anywhere in the test
+output. As a rule, diagnostic lines regarding a test are directly before the
+test result line for that test.
+
+Note that most tools will treat unknown lines (see below) as diagnostic lines,
+even if they do not start with a "#": this is to capture any other useful
+kernel output which may help debug the test. It is nevertheless recommended
+that tests always prefix any diagnostic output they have with a "#" character.
+
+Unknown lines
+-------------
+
+There may be lines within KTAP output that do not follow the format of one of
+the four formats for lines described above. This is allowed, however, they will
+not influence the status of the tests.
+
+Nested tests
+------------
+
+In KTAP, tests can be nested. This is done by having a test include within its
+output an entire set of KTAP-formatted results. This can be used to categorize
+and group related tests, or to split out different results from the same test.
+
+The "parent" test's result should consist of all of its subtests' results,
+starting with another KTAP version line and test plan, and end with the overall
+result. If one of the subtests fail, for example, the parent test should also
+fail.
+
+Additionally, all result lines in a subtest should be indented. One level of
+indentation is two spaces: " ". The indentation should begin at the version
+line and should end before the parent test's result line.
+
+An example of a test with two nested subtests:
+
+.. code-block::
+
+ KTAP version 1
+ 1..1
+ KTAP version 1
+ 1..2
+ ok 1 test_1
+ not ok 2 test_2
+ # example failed
+ not ok 1 example
+
+An example format with multiple levels of nested testing:
+
+.. code-block::
+
+ KTAP version 1
+ 1..2
+ KTAP version 1
+ 1..2
+ KTAP version 1
+ 1..2
+ not ok 1 test_1
+ ok 2 test_2
+ not ok 1 test_3
+ ok 2 test_4 # SKIP
+ not ok 1 example_test_1
+ ok 2 example_test_2
+
+
+Major differences between TAP and KTAP
+--------------------------------------
+
+Note the major differences between the TAP and KTAP specification:
+- yaml and json are not recommended in diagnostic messages
+- TODO directive not recognized
+- KTAP allows for an arbitrary number of tests to be nested
+
+The TAP14 specification does permit nested tests, but instead of using another
+nested version line, uses a line of the form
+"Subtest: <name>" where <name> is the name of the parent test.
+
+Example KTAP output
+--------------------
+.. code-block::
+
+ KTAP version 1
+ 1..1
+ KTAP version 1
+ 1..3
+ KTAP version 1
+ 1..1
+ # test_1: initializing test_1
+ ok 1 test_1
+ ok 1 example_test_1
+ KTAP version 1
+ 1..2
+ ok 1 test_1 # SKIP test_1 skipped
+ ok 2 test_2
+ ok 2 example_test_2
+ KTAP version 1
+ 1..3
+ ok 1 test_1
+ # test_2: FAIL
+ not ok 2 test_2
+ ok 3 test_3 # SKIP test_3 skipped
+ not ok 3 example_test_3
+ not ok 1 main_test
+
+This output defines the following hierarchy:
+
+A single test called "main_test", which fails, and has three subtests:
+- "example_test_1", which passes, and has one subtest:
+
+ - "test_1", which passes, and outputs the diagnostic message "test_1: initializing test_1"
+
+- "example_test_2", which passes, and has two subtests:
+
+ - "test_1", which is skipped, with the explanation "test_1 skipped"
+ - "test_2", which passes
+
+- "example_test_3", which fails, and has three subtests
+
+ - "test_1", which passes
+ - "test_2", which outputs the diagnostic line "test_2: FAIL", and fails.
+ - "test_3", which is skipped with the explanation "test_3 skipped"
+
+Note that the individual subtests with the same names do not conflict, as they
+are found in different parent tests. This output also exhibits some sensible
+rules for "bubbling up" test results: a test fails if any of its subtests fail.
+Skipped tests do not affect the result of the parent test (though it often
+makes sense for a test to be marked skipped if _all_ of its subtests have been
+skipped).
+
+See also:
+---------
+
+- The TAP specification:
+ https://testanything.org/tap-version-13-specification.html
+- The (stagnant) TAP version 14 specification:
+ https://github.com/TestAnything/Specification/blob/tap-14-specification/specification.md
+- The kselftest documentation:
+ Documentation/dev-tools/kselftest.rst
+- The KUnit documentation:
+ Documentation/dev-tools/kunit/index.rst
--
2.34.1.400.ga245620fadb-goog



2021-12-07 22:02:47

by Kees Cook

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH v2] Documentation: dev-tools: Add KTAP specification

On Tue, Dec 07, 2021 at 11:02:51AM -0800, David Gow wrote:
> From: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
>
> It does not make any significant additions or changes other than those
> already in use in the kernel: additional features can be added as they
> become necessary and used.
>
> [1]: https://testanything.org/tap-version-13-specification.html
>
> Signed-off-by: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
> Co-developed-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
> Signed-off-by: David Gow <[email protected]>

I like it! Thank you so much for suffering through my earlier reviews.
:)

The only concern I have is wonder what'll be needed to kselftest to
deal with indentation changes. As long as this can be implemented
without a subtest knowing it is a subtest, we're good.

Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <[email protected]>

--
Kees Cook

2021-12-07 23:44:18

by Shuah Khan

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH v2] Documentation: dev-tools: Add KTAP specification

On 12/7/21 3:02 PM, Kees Cook wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 07, 2021 at 11:02:51AM -0800, David Gow wrote:
>> From: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
>>
>> It does not make any significant additions or changes other than those
>> already in use in the kernel: additional features can be added as they
>> become necessary and used.
>>
>> [1]: https://testanything.org/tap-version-13-specification.html
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
>> Co-developed-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
>> Signed-off-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
>
> I like it! Thank you so much for suffering through my earlier reviews.
> :)
>
> The only concern I have is wonder what'll be needed to kselftest to
> deal with indentation changes. As long as this can be implemented
> without a subtest knowing it is a subtest, we're good.
>

A lot of this TAP output is in the wrappers - hopefully it will be okay.
Fingers crossed. :)

> Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <[email protected]>
>

Looks good to me as well. Thanks for doing this work.

Reviewed-by: Shuah Khan <[email protected]>

thanks,
-- Shuah

2021-12-08 16:17:59

by David Gow

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH v2] Documentation: dev-tools: Add KTAP specification

On Wed, Dec 8, 2021 at 6:02 AM Kees Cook <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Dec 07, 2021 at 11:02:51AM -0800, David Gow wrote:
> > From: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
> >
> > It does not make any significant additions or changes other than those
> > already in use in the kernel: additional features can be added as they
> > become necessary and used.
> >
> > [1]: https://testanything.org/tap-version-13-specification.html
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
> > Co-developed-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
> > Signed-off-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
>
> I like it! Thank you so much for suffering through my earlier reviews.
> :)
>
> The only concern I have is wonder what'll be needed to kselftest to
> deal with indentation changes. As long as this can be implemented
> without a subtest knowing it is a subtest, we're good.

I'd think a minor tweak to the prefix.pl script should handle it for most tests:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/shuah/linux-kselftest.git/tree/tools/testing/selftests/kselftest/prefix.pl

Certainly the indent should be the only difference between a top-level
test result and a subtest now.

And, if the results do use test plans (i.e., state how many tests are
expected beforehand) it's possible to parse the results even without
indentation. It it looks like it would be a problem, we could
explicitly state that indentation is optional if a test plan is
present (or provide some other mechanism for detecting the end of the
subtests: just checking the test number has some corner cases which'd
fail, but doing something akin to the "Subtest:" header TAP14 used
makes this pretty robust). Things like that would overcomplicate it a
bit, though, and might end up verging back on "tests need to know
they're subtests" territory, depending on the exact implementation, so
I think things are probably better as-is.

Cheers,
-- David

2021-12-10 21:05:45

by Jonathan Corbet

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH v2] Documentation: dev-tools: Add KTAP specification

Shuah Khan <[email protected]> writes:

> On 12/7/21 3:02 PM, Kees Cook wrote:
>> On Tue, Dec 07, 2021 at 11:02:51AM -0800, David Gow wrote:
>>> From: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
>>>
>>> It does not make any significant additions or changes other than those
>>> already in use in the kernel: additional features can be added as they
>>> become necessary and used.
>>>
>>> [1]: https://testanything.org/tap-version-13-specification.html
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
>>> Co-developed-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
>>> Signed-off-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
>>
>> I like it! Thank you so much for suffering through my earlier reviews.
>> :)
>>
>> The only concern I have is wonder what'll be needed to kselftest to
>> deal with indentation changes. As long as this can be implemented
>> without a subtest knowing it is a subtest, we're good.
>>
>
> A lot of this TAP output is in the wrappers - hopefully it will be okay.
> Fingers crossed. :)
>
>> Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <[email protected]>
>>
>
> Looks good to me as well. Thanks for doing this work.
>
> Reviewed-by: Shuah Khan <[email protected]>

Would you like me to take this through the docs tree, or do you have
other plans for merging?

Thanks,

jon

2021-12-10 21:11:44

by Shuah Khan

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH v2] Documentation: dev-tools: Add KTAP specification

On 12/10/21 2:05 PM, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
> Shuah Khan <[email protected]> writes:
>
>> On 12/7/21 3:02 PM, Kees Cook wrote:
>>> On Tue, Dec 07, 2021 at 11:02:51AM -0800, David Gow wrote:
>>>> From: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
>>>>
>>>> It does not make any significant additions or changes other than those
>>>> already in use in the kernel: additional features can be added as they
>>>> become necessary and used.
>>>>
>>>> [1]: https://testanything.org/tap-version-13-specification.html
>>>>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
>>>> Co-developed-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
>>>> Signed-off-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
>>>
>>> I like it! Thank you so much for suffering through my earlier reviews.
>>> :)
>>>
>>> The only concern I have is wonder what'll be needed to kselftest to
>>> deal with indentation changes. As long as this can be implemented
>>> without a subtest knowing it is a subtest, we're good.
>>>
>>
>> A lot of this TAP output is in the wrappers - hopefully it will be okay.
>> Fingers crossed. :)
>>
>>> Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <[email protected]>
>>>
>>
>> Looks good to me as well. Thanks for doing this work.
>>
>> Reviewed-by: Shuah Khan <[email protected]>
>
> Would you like me to take this through the docs tree, or do you have
> other plans for merging?
>

Please take this through docs.

thanks,
-- Shuah


2021-12-10 21:39:01

by Jonathan Corbet

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH v2] Documentation: dev-tools: Add KTAP specification

Shuah Khan <[email protected]> writes:

>> Would you like me to take this through the docs tree, or do you have
>> other plans for merging?
>
> Please take this through docs.

Done.

Thanks,

jon

2021-12-18 06:15:44

by Randy Dunlap

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH v2] Documentation: dev-tools: Add KTAP specification

Hi,


On 12/7/21 11:02, David Gow wrote:
> From: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
>
> It does not make any significant additions or changes other than those
> already in use in the kernel: additional features can be added as they
> become necessary and used.
>
> [1]: https://testanything.org/tap-version-13-specification.html
>
> Signed-off-by: Rae Moar <[email protected]>
> Co-developed-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
> Signed-off-by: David Gow <[email protected]>
> ---
>
> Changes since RFC v1:
> https://lore.kernel.org/linux-kselftest/[email protected]/
> - Add a "see also" section with some useful links.
> - Remove the XPASS directive, which isn't used anywhere.
> - Clear up / reorganise the discussion around differences between KTAP
> and TAP14.
> - Improve the wording around some directives.
> - Fix a bunch of typos.
>
> See prior discussion in the following RFC:
> https://lore.kernel.org/linux-kselftest/CA+GJov6tdjvY9x12JsJT14qn6c7NViJxqaJk+r-K1YJzPggFDQ@mail.gmail.com/.
>
> ---
>
> Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst | 1 +
> Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst | 298 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 2 files changed, 299 insertions(+)
> create mode 100644 Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst

I suppose that someone tested this. Maybe my version of Sphinx tools
is older than other people's -- I dunno. Anyway, I get this:



/work/lnx/next/linux-next-20211217/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst:71: WARNING: Error in "code-block" directive:
1 argument(s) required, 0 supplied.

.. code-block::

<result> <number> [<description>][ # [<directive>] [<diagnostic data>]]
/work/lnx/next/linux-next-20211217/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst:120: WARNING: Error in "code-block" directive:
1 argument(s) required, 0 supplied.

.. code-block::

ok 1 test_case_name
/work/lnx/next/linux-next-20211217/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst:126: WARNING: Error in "code-block" directive:
1 argument(s) required, 0 supplied.

.. code-block::

not ok 1 test_case_name
/work/lnx/next/linux-next-20211217/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst:132: WARNING: Error in "code-block" directive:
1 argument(s) required, 0 supplied.

.. code-block::

ok 1 test # SKIP necessary dependency unavailable
/work/lnx/next/linux-next-20211217/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst:139: WARNING: Error in "code-block" directive:
1 argument(s) required, 0 supplied.

.. code-block::

not ok 1 test # TIMEOUT 30 seconds
/work/lnx/next/linux-next-20211217/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst:145: WARNING: Error in "code-block" directive:
1 argument(s) required, 0 supplied.

.. code-block::

ok 5 check return code # rcode=0
/work/lnx/next/linux-next-20211217/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst:195: WARNING: Error in "code-block" directive:
1 argument(s) required, 0 supplied.

.. code-block::

KTAP version 1
1..1
KTAP version 1
1..2
ok 1 test_1
not ok 2 test_2
# example failed
not ok 1 example
/work/lnx/next/linux-next-20211217/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst:208: WARNING: Error in "code-block" directive:
1 argument(s) required, 0 supplied.

.. code-block::

KTAP version 1
1..2
KTAP version 1
1..2
KTAP version 1
1..2
not ok 1 test_1
ok 2 test_2
not ok 1 test_3
ok 2 test_4 # SKIP
not ok 1 example_test_1
ok 2 example_test_2
/work/lnx/next/linux-next-20211217/Documentation/dev-tools/ktap.rst:238: WARNING: Error in "code-block" directive:
1 argument(s) required, 0 supplied.

.. code-block::

KTAP version 1
1..1
KTAP version 1
1..3
KTAP version 1
1..1
# test_1: initializing test_1
ok 1 test_1
ok 1 example_test_1
KTAP version 1
1..2
ok 1 test_1 # SKIP test_1 skipped
ok 2 test_2
ok 2 example_test_2
KTAP version 1
1..3
ok 1 test_1
# test_2: FAIL
not ok 2 test_2
ok 3 test_3 # SKIP test_3 skipped
not ok 3 example_test_3
not ok 1 main_test


thanks.
--
~Randy