How do you write a system test for your runtime? - blockchain

Hi I am developing a runtime using Substrate-FRAME and I would like to know how can I write a system test for my runtime?
The main purpose of writing a system test is to ensure that the final build is fulfilling all of the required specifications and also to ensure nothing is compromised on a runtime upgrade.
The idea for me is something similar to point no. 2 mentioned in this thread.
Any documentation regarding this type of tests would be greatly helpful.
Update:
I ended up using py-substrate-interface to make test scenarios. Now I can automatically deploy nodes to form a network (thanks to Python) and run my custom system test scenarios. Very useful tool for developing runtimes in Substrate.

There is an overview here on the DevHub
And there are examples throughout substrate that include tests.rs and mock.rs files to use as reference.
If you have not already, checkout the create a pallet tutorial and the recipes all have some tasty examples to look at for these as well.

Related

Go cross-platform tests

Problem description
I've developed a CLI in Go. My dev environment is Linux. I wrote unit-tests and only produce releases of executable files when tests pass. When I test or use my tool in a Linux environment, everything works fine.
My CI/CD pipeline is built around goreleaser to produce multi-platform executables. Since my app doesn't use exotic cross-platform functionalities, I was quite confident that windows executable should work as expected. But it didn't.
Long story short, always normalize paths with filepath.ToSlash(). But this is not my question.
Question
Hence my question is: "since behavior might change on different platforms for such little mistakes, is it possible to run go test for a list of os/architecture ?" I can't imagine rebooting on windows to test every commit manually and I don't think discipline is the answer. If it was, we wouldn't test things at all.
Search attempts
A fast search on Google and Stack Overflow for "golang cross-platform tests" didn't return any results. Am I missing something or is my approach to this problem wrong ?
Fist edit
Most comments pointed out that the only way to test the behavior of an executable on a given platform is... to test it on this platform (in a multi-stage CI/CD for example). This is so obvious that there might not be a way to achieve it otherwise, I know.
But triggering a parallel CI/CD job on every platform for every commit (of partially untested code) doesn't sound satisfying to me. It IS the only way to know for sure that the code behave as expected on every targeted platform but I'm wondering if anyone stumbled on this issue and found a pre-CI/CD solution to this problem.
Though it might be the only way to get conclusive test results, it implies triggering CI/CD with parallel tests on each platform. I was looking for some solution on the developer machine, before committing untested code
You can install a local CICD tool which would, on (local) commit, trigger those tests.
A Local GitLab, for instance, can run test in multiple platforms simultaneously (since GitLab 11.5)
But that implies at least a Docker image in order to test on Windows from your Linux dev environment.
With Go alone however, as mentioned in "Design and unit-test cross-platform application"
It's not possible to run go test for a target system that's different from the current system.
If you are trying to test a different CPU architecture, you should be able to do it with QEMU. This blog post explains how.
If you are trying to test a different OS, you can probably do everything you need to do in Docker containers. You could use a tool like VSCode’s remote development toolkit to easily dev/build/test a project in a specific container, or you could write a custom Makefile that calls the appropriate Docker commands when you run make test (allowing you to run tests in multiple OSes with one command).

Unit testing Modelica component library?

I'm creating a library of components in Modelica, and would appreciate some input on techniques for unit testing the package.
So far I have a test package, consisting of a set of models, one per component. Each test model instantiates a component, and connects it to some very simple helper classes that provide the necessary inputs and outputs.
This works fine when using it interactively in the OMEditor, but I'm looking for a more automated solution with pass/fail criteria etc.
Should I start writing .mos scripts, or is there another/better way ?
Thanks.
I like how Openmodelica testing results look, see
https://test.openmodelica.org/libraries/MSL_3.2.1/BuildModelRecursive.html
click on a red cell: https://test.openmodelica.org/libraries/MSL_3.2.1/files/Modelica.Electrical.Analog.Examples.AD_DA_conversion.diff.html
choose "javascript" for a failing signal: https://test.openmodelica.org/libraries/MSL_3.2.1/files/Modelica.Electrical.Analog.Examples.AD_DA_conversion.diff.resistor.v.html
No idea how they are doing it, though. Obviously some kind of regression testing is done, with previous results stored, but no idea if that is from some testing library or self-made.
In general, I find it kinda sad/suboptimal, that there isn't "the one" testing solution everybody can/should use (cf. e.g. nose or pytest in the python ecosystem), instead everybody seems to cook up their own solutions (or tries to), and all you find is some Modelica conference papers (often without a trace of implementation) or unmaintained library of unknown status.
Off the top of my head, I found/know of (some already linked in other answers here)
OM testing
JModelica testing (seems to only test for compiler errors?)
Xogeny test (Some tests of the library itself fail for me. Also, does not seem to include a test runner)
MoUnit (something by Fraunhofer, and not publically available - maybe in OneWind/OneModelica?)
UnitTesting (apparently some kind of predecessor of XogenyTest. Also, no sources/implementation found)
Optimica Testing Toolkit (apparently a commercial product by Modelon)
SystemModeler VerificationTest
buildingspy Python package, for regression testing among other things. Under the umbrella of the Berkeley Modelica Buildings Library. (Simulation only with Dymola)
Modelica_Requirements library -- define requirements for simulation. (claimed to be open source and implemented, but apparently not available anywhere)
... I'm sure there are more I have forgotten or am not aware of
This seems like a pathological instance of https://xkcd.com/927/. It's kinda impossible for a (non-dev) user to know which of those to choose, which are actually good/usable/available/...
(Not real testing, but also relevant: parsing and semantic analysis using ANTLR: modelica.org/events/Conference2003/papers/h31_parser_Tiller.‌​pdf)
Writing a .mos script would be one way but there is also a small proof-of-concept library by Michael Tiller: XogenyTest which you could use as a basis.
I prefer using the .mos script, it works pretty well when you further integrate your test framework into a continuous integration tool. BuildingPy is a good example of this, though it's not implemented in CI tools, it's still a good tool.
Here's a reference of a good framework design:
UnitTesting: A Library for Modelica Unit Testing
If you have Mathematica and SystemModeler you can run the simulation from Mathematica and use the VerificationTest "function" to test:
VerificationTest[Abs[WSMSimulate["HelloWorld"]["x", .1] - .90] < .01].
Multiple tests can then be simulated in a TestReport[].

Need a recommendation to use a testing platform

We are working on billing system (java based module)for that we would like to have a testing framework. That testing framework should be able to adoptable for any type of billing scenarios(eg: utility bill payments, water/electricity/or any other type billing) Normally the billing entity have common attributes like customer name/usage/ etc..I would like to pick a suitable testing platform to test our billing module.
It can be opensource/licensed software.
Can anybody suggest such a framework/engine?
If you wanna go for open source tool, then I'd recommend Selenium Webdriver with TestNG Framework. You can get lot of documentation and help on web.
You can go for Cucumber for describing various test scenarios (and their dependencies).
These scenarios will be backed by jUnit for gluing the description to executable code. jUnit will typically be used to write low level tests as well (for use by developers).
Cucumber has the benefit of giving you reports and can serve well for discussion with users and their representatives.
I would suggest following based on your given little description about your need :
1 - For functionality testing and to make all your scenarios automate use Selenium WebDriver
2 -Then if you want to priorities your testes , want to run tests through XML , want to run multiple tests then you can use TestNG Framework
Above are totally open source tool and you will get real benefit of those by scripting. They allow you to do scripting using programming languages like Java , Python , ruby and a little more. You will get all details once you visit my given links in above 2 points.
According to your given requirements I think above 2 tools are enough to make everything automate for testing.

ColdFusion, and documenting code as well as tools for multiple developer teams

I am beginning a fairly large new project using ColdFusion. This new project will include several developers and as such documentation of code will be key.
Another issue I am hoping to avoid (either with adequate code documentation or some other tool) is the duplication of code. A tool that would be able to "index" the code for searching or diagramming would likely help here.
What are others out there using either specifically for ColdFusion or language agnostic. We will likely be using ColdBox for the underlying framework if that makes a difference.
Thanks for any any all suggestions.
-c
Well, it's impossible to tell you which framework to use without knowing more about your project, but I can list out some tools that will be useful no matter which framework you use.
Language-agnostic tools:
GitHub.com organization+teams
Jenkins continuous integration
Apache ANT build scripts
Apache Maven for project management
Coldfusion-specific tools:
MXunit unit testing framework
MockBox for unit testing (if you use ColdBox: ColdBox-specific tutorial)
ColdDoc documentation generator
Javascript-specific tools:
JSLint or JSHint for JS code cleanup
Jasmine unit testing
Ideally, your Jenkins build server should:
Do a fresh checkout from source control
Run all unit tests and stop the build if they fail
Generate documentation
Generate a production-ready package of your project
At a minimum, I highly recommend using source control, setting up Jenkins with MXunit tests, and scheduling daily automated builds.
We used the Atlassian suite at my last job. Mostly Jira for tracking and Greenhopper for agile but the other tools may help, fisheye, bamboo, and crucible. If you host it yourself I believe they have a one time $10/product price tag that. Depending on your team's size may or may not work. If money is no subject the suite worked really nicely. It also has built in support for svn and maybe more by now.
http://www.atlassian.com/software
Sounds to me what you need is a methodology, not a tool. If you have a clearly defined set of objects/responsibilities. There should be no crossover in scripting, and if you determine a common API for the objects being coded, I would think you'd be fine.

buildbot vs hudson/jenkins for C++ continuous integration

I'm currently using jenkins/hudson for continuous integration a large mostly C++ project. We have separate projects for trunk and every branch. Also, there are some related projects for the Java code, but the setup for those are fairly basic right now (we may do more later though). The C++ projects do the following:
Builds everything with options for whether to reconfigure, do a clean build, or use a fresh checkout
Optionally builds and runs all tests
Optionally runs all tests using Valgrind's memcheck
Runs cppcheck
Generates doxygen documentation
Publishes reports: unit tests, valgrind, cppcheck, compiler warnings, SLOC, open tasks, and code coverage (using gcov, gcovr, and the cobertura plugin)
Deploys code nightly or on demand to a test environment and a package repository
Everything is configurable for automatic builds and optional for on demand builds. Underneath, there's a bash script that controls much of this, which farther depends on our build system, which uses automake and autoconf along with custom bash scripts.
We started using Hudson (at the time) because that's what the Java guys were using and we just wanted nightly builds. Since then, we've added a lot more and continue to add more. In some ways Hudson is great, but certainly isn't ideal.
I've looked at other solutions and the only one that looks like it could be a replacement is buildbot. Would buildbot be better for this situation? Is the investment worth it since we're already using Hudson? Why?
EDIT: Someone asked why I haven't found Hudson/Jenkins to be ideal. The short answer is that everything can be improved. I'm simply wondering if Jenkins is the best current solution for my use case or whether there is something better (buildbot?) that would be easier to maintain in the long run even as new requirements come up.
Both are open source projects, but you do not need to change buildbot code to "extend" it, it is actually quite easy to import your own packages in its configuration in which you can sub-class most of the features with your own additions. Examples: your own compilation or test code, some parsing of outputs/errors to be given to the next steps, your own formating of alert emails etc. there are lots of possibilities.
Generally I would say that buildbot is the most "general purpose" automatic builds tools. Jenkins however might be the best related to running tests, especially for parsing and presenting results in nice ways (results, details, charts.. some clicks away), things that buildbot does not do "out-of-the-box". I'm actually thinking of using both to have sexier test result pages.. :-)
Also as a rule of thumb it should not be difficult to create a new tool's config: if the specification of what to do (configs, builds, tests) is too hard to switch from one tool to another, it is a (bad) sign that not enough configuration scripts are moved to the sources. Buildbot (or Jenkins) should only call simple commands. If it is simple to run tests, then developers will do it as well and this will improve the success rate, whereas if only the continuous integration system runs the tests, you will be running after it to fix the new code failures, and will loose its non-regression value, just my 0.02€ :-)
Hope it'll help.
The 'result integration' is also in jenkins/hudson, and you can relatively easily capture build products without having to 'copy them elsewhere'.
For our instance, the coverage reports and unit test metrics and javadoc for the java code is all integrated. For our C++ code, the plugins are a little lacking, but you can still get most of it.
we ran buildbot since pre 0.7, and are now running 0.8 and are only now seeing any real reason to switch, as buildbot 0.8 forgot about windows slaves for an extended period of time and the support was pretty poor.
There are many other solutions out there, besides Jenkins/Hudson/BuildBot:
TeamCity by Jetbrains
Bamboo by Atlassian
Go by Thoughtworks
Cruise Control
OpenMake Meister
The specifics about what you are doing are not so important, in fact, as long as the agents (aka nodes) that you are doing them on support those tasks.
The beauty of a CI server is noticing when the build changes to trigger a new build (and test), publish the artifacts, and publish test results.
When you compare CI tools like those we mentioned, consider features like the usability of its interface, how easy is branching (and features it might offer like automatic merging), notifications (like XMPP/jabber), or an information-radiator (like hooking up a monitor to always show status). Product support is another thing to consider - Jenkins' support is only as good as who is responding to community questions at the time you have questions.
My personal favorite is Bamboo, but it comes with a license fee.
I'm a long-time Jenkins user in the middle of evaluating Buildbot and would like to offer a few items for folks considering using Buildbot for multi-module solutions:
*) Buildbot doesn't have any out-of-the-box concept of file artifacts related to each build. It's not in the UI and it's not in any of the builtin "steps" modules as far as I can see:
http://docs.buildbot.net/current/manual/configuration/buildsteps.html
...and I see no third party plugin:
https://github.com/buildbot/buildbot/wiki/PluginList#steps
Buildbot does collect all the console output from a given build, but critically, you can't collect files related to it.
*) Given that artifacts are not supported, it's not easy to create "collector" projects that bring multiple modules into say, a single installer. Jenkins has a great feature that lets you parameterize a build with builds from other modules (the parameter type is a run).
*) Establishing dependencies between modules is trickier in Buildbot. Say you have a library that three binaries depend on, and you want those binaries to rebuild each time the library changes. Jenkins has triggers built into the UI. If you want to do triggers in Buildbot you have to script them using schedulers.Dependent, and it causes a lot of item congestion in the Schedulers UI.
*) When you're working in Buildbot, it seems that pretty much all of the configuration is done in master.cfg in code. This is awesome and frustrating.
*) Buildbot forces you to create a worker in addition to a master server. This is annoying for beginners and systems for which a single build server is sufficient.
My impression after two days of Buildbot evaluation is that we'll stick with Jenkins, primarily due to it having artifacts. Buildbot is a tool we'd only use if we had more extensive customization needs, and the time to do it.
On the subject of buildbot and artifacts -- I don't have enough user score to make a comment -- you can get artifacts from buildbot 2.x series pretty easy with built-in file/directory upload actions. However you rarely want to just move files. Typically you make a triggered buildstep that does deployment directly off the worker for best results. eg push to cloud storage, containers, thirdparty (steam uploads), etc.
This way you can get metrics on the uploads and conditionally control them better (or even mix and match artifacts across worker machines).