Howdy! Software validation has a long, often divisive history, we should all be aware of. I've seen several Computer Scientists (PH.Dumasses) go to fists over "validation". It seems surreal now, but, it was hilarious at the time as none of the (3) involved in the fists_to_cuff had a clue about fighting. I'm sure other's have their stories.
But, seriously, Gentoo has taken a big hit recently, with the loss of Tinderbox and Diego [1]. I surely do not want to dredge up that dispute. I liked both individuals quite a lot and the outcome is pitiful, to say the least. One was/is known to be a "buss_crack", but I never had issues with him. What I could never figure out is why Tinderbox, did not exist in several different locations; this would allow everyone to test x_64 bit and then focus on different architectures. The code used should be open source and mainlined, as everyone in Opensource and elsewhere has need of robust, automated code validation testing, imho. [2] Now, an old idea of mine (several racks of "gentoo" systems of various types and diverse hardware) has an updated sense of urgency. Automated code testing and development, was the goal, with a twist. I also wanted a method to rapidly change the entire codebase on a piece of hardware; and that was the show stopper until recently. Granted this project "was" to be focused on embedded gentoo, but, I see no reason it could not be expanded to include testing gentoo distro codes for x86 (32 and 64 bit codes) and some other arches too. (OK so far?) So you say, great go build it! OK, I've been working on it. I do need to flesh out some ideas and refine some codes and models I have found; for that I would greatly appreciate constructive criticism, ideas and code contributions. I have the resources to scale up this effort. I would expect "Gentoo" to also encourage others to build up an automated test suite environment, at other locations. Existing resource-codes I expext to leverage: (1) running many of the test systems from USB devices aka likewhoa_usb. This solves changing out platforms for discrete tests, by manually moving platforms around with discrete usb sticks. Sure part of the automated code testing will be all scripts and ethernet, particular for the mainstream arches, but, I also wanto to support testing on standalone boards/system for things such as embedded systems, firewalls, micro-dns servers, etc etc. (2) support for linux containers/vm/emulation for some test platforms (here folks are especially encourage to chim in, as this is not my forte. (3) The state of the art in massive automated testing is Linaro, imho. [3,4] Granted Linaro is focused on the latest arm cores, not limited to 64 bit[5], but what they use works, albeit for rolling out regular binary builds and not built for a rolling release model. [6] Hopefully, with some input, we can address this aspect and come up with something (a model). Maybe some forward looking folks could use "gaming theory" to enhance this automated test environment that quickly links to code repositories where codes are developed and modified. That part of the effort would be experimental, as I see the opportunity maybe working with one or 2 Overlays that are specifically about a single category of code. And, just in case you are wondering, yet the cluster I'm working on is to be use for a myriad of admin tasks and cross compiling to support an automated testing platform. All input is welcome, positive or negative....(obviously, security is a critical component, after the specification/model is established realizing that the spec. will be modified based on continuous security testing and enhancements). James [1] https://blog.flameeyes.eu/tag/tinderbox [2] http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Tinderbox_log_collection_and_analysis [3] https://launchpad.net/lava [4] https://validation.linaro.org/ [5] http://www.linaro.org/projects/test-validation/ [6] http://www.linaro.org/blog/lava-blog/lava-fundamentals/
