WHAT: Create a public test repo (ompi-tests-public) to collect
WHY: ompi-tests is private, and difficult/impossible to open up. There is a
demand for a public collection of unit tests. This repo would allow us to
cultivate such a collection of unit tests.
WHERE: open-mpi GitHub project
TIMEOUT: Teleconf, Tue., May 24, 2016
MORE DETAIL:
Over the years we have had periodic public requests for access to our
ompi-tests repo. Opening up ompi-tests to the public is nearly impossible
since, given the age of some of these tests, determining if we can
redistribute these tests has become complicated.
Recently we had two different requests on the MTT users and Open MPI devel
list about access to the ompi-tests repo for testing. This got me thinking
that we could try to cultivate a public set of tests with a clear lineage
and license.
Below are my current thoughts for structure and maintenance of the repo.
Certainly up for discussion.
Similar to the existing ompi-tests repo structure.
- Call the repository "ompi-tests-public"
- The repo will contain at least one test suite ('misc' - see below).
- Each test suite can have its own build system
- Each test suite should contain a README-MTT.md which will contain a
sample Test Build and Test Run section for use in MTT.
All tests contributed will be covered under the Open MPI license agreement
unless a specific test suite has a different, but compatible license. To
contribute a test to the repo a developer must sign the contributor
agreement. Contributions must go through a PR + Review process (similar to
how we maintain ompi-release). This is meant to provide an opportunity to
review the tests for correctness before acceptance into the repo.
We will seed the repo with a 'misc' test suite. This test suite is meant to
collect all of the miscellaneous tests created by Open MPI developers
including those regression tests that emerge as part of Issues or MPI Forum
discussions, for example. It will contain the unit tests currently in the
Open MPI's examples directory - what we have been calling the 'trivial'
test suite. I was thinking about breaking it down into roughly MPI Standard
chapters.
If someone wants to contribute a whole suite of tests they can do so in a
separate directory in the repo with it's own build system. The license must
be compatible with the Open MPI license, and, in particular, allow the code
to be freely distributed.
Let me know what you think. Certainly everything here is open for
discussion, and we will likely need to refine aspects as we go.
-- Josh
