Kernel Test Days

Fabrizio Last review: 2019-04-08
A quick guide for Kernel Test Days.

During Kernel Test Days, contributors are asked to run a Kernel Regression Test which will help to detect and troubleshoot any issue with a new kernel version, before wider usage. It consist in running a series of tests provided by the Kernel Test Suite

The main goal of a Kernel Test Day is to test a new kernel on many different machines as possible, so every new Kernel Test Day is announced some days in advance with a fedoramagazine post.

What to do during Kernel Test Days

The first thing to do is to get the right kernel version to test. There are different ways to get the kernel and test it:

Using a test day image

During test days a dedicated wiki page will provide a link to download a test day image which is a live distro of Fedora with the kernel version to test already in it. The test day image also contain the test suite, aka the scripts to test the kernel on your machine. The downloaded .iso file must then be written in a bootable USB stick.

Check this guide for creating a bootable USB stick.

You can then boot the live image and run the tests without worries of messing up with your OS.

Using a Virtual Machine

You can also install the required kernel version on a Virtual Machine running an up to date Fedora release and do the test in the VM. In this case you can just add this Copr repository on the Fedora distro running in your VM.

Once you added the repository,install the kernel to test:

sudo dnf upgrade && sudo dnf install kernel-5.0.0-200.fc29.x86_64

  • In the example above we install kernel-5.0.0-200 on fedora 29 with 64 bit architecture.

  • Reboot and you are ready to test.

Using Koji

During kernel test days, the dedicated wiki page will provide a link to download the newly built kernel version to test, directly from koji builds. This is recommended for secure boot users.

Disclaimer: You could also install and test the new kernel on your Workstation/Server installation, on a bare metal machine, but make sure you have no important data on that installation, things might go wrong — don’t do this on your production machine!

Lets prepare for testing (and earn a new Fedora Badge!)

Before testing, you need to install some packages:

sudo dnf install gcc make git libtirpc python3-fedora keyutils libtirpc-devel policycoreutils-python-utils

  • If you are using the *test day image* you already have the kernel-test suite in the kernel-tests folder; enter the folder with

    cd /home/liveuser/kernel-tests

  • If you are not using the test day image you will need to clone the kernel-tests repo. Use this command in terminal:

    git clone https://pagure.io/kernel-tests.git

this will download the same folder that you find in the test day image, with the testing scripts. When the download is finished, enter the kernel-tests folder:

cd kernel-tests

Once inside the kernel-tests folder, it’s time to edit some configuration files; first we need to copy the content of the config.example file in a new hidden file named .config

cp config.example .config

Now edit the .config file with your favorite editor.

Here we can decide whether or not to upload the results of our tests to Fedora servers. By default, running the tests will not automatically submit results. They will just run and write results on a log file in /kernel-tests/logs/

  • To submit results anonymously: edit the .config file with submit=anonymous

  • To submit results linked to your FAS username: edit the .config file with submit=authenticated and username=<your FAS username>

If you link your submission to your FAS username, you’ll also receive a Fedora badge!

The results of your test will be uploaded here

Running tests

Before running the test, be sure your machine has no workload already, like other cpu intensive processes.You can check using the command: top

Before running tests, we need to allow the testsuite to make their heap memory executable with this command:

sudo semanage boolean -m --on selinuxuser_execheap
When you finish with the tests, remember to turn SELinux boolean selinuxuser_execheap back to default state, by issuing the command: sudo semanage boolean -m --off selinuxuser_execheap

Now let’s start testing!

To run the basic set of tests, use this command:

sudo ./runtests.sh

To run the performance test suites, use this command:

sudo ./runtests.sh -t performance

The expected result is that the tests pass. However, some tests may fail occasionally due to system load. Anyway, add whatever results you got from the tests on the dedicated result page of the Kernel Test day!

During a kernel test day, a dedicated web application page is created for uploading results, there you can fill a form with a description of the results you got. Just Click on the Enter Result button and fill the form. Enter a username in the Username field, in the Profile field enter a description of the machine you tested the kernel on, and choose the result of your test from the dropdown menu (failed or pass). In the Bugs field you can write the number of a bug (or bug numbers divided by semicolons. i.e. '752855;25532') that you opened on Bugzilla, against that particular kernel. If you found a bug in the kernel, please report it via this link. If you don’t have a Bugzilla account,you can still log in with your FAS account.

If a test fails repeatedly, consider helping by reporting the failure on Bugzilla

Finally add any other comments or observations you want in the Comment field and Click the Submit Query button.

*Done!*

Thanks for helping the fedora team in testing the newest kernel on your machine!

If you want to help more: join the Fedora Quality Assurance team and propose new test cases for the kernel that are not already on this page.

Want to help? Learn how to contribute to Fedora Docs ›