Containers are lightweight virtualization technology. LXC is a userspace interface for the Linux kernel containment features. Through a powerful API and simple tools, it lets Linux users easily create and manage system or application containers. The container provides a lightweight method to allow custom software to be used on the dispatcher. The container is used to provide transparent access.
LAVA supports LXC containers both as a standalone device type and as dynamic transparent environments in order to interact with external devices. In either case the LXC protocol is used.
LXC is a device type of its own and devices could be added to dispatchers under this device type. A device of LXC device type is created within the dispatcher in which the device is configured, as illustrated in the following figure:
The LXC device type uses the LXC protocol in order to share data elements across different actions within the job.
protocols:
lava-lxc:
name: lxc-device
distribution: fedora
release: '23'
actions:
- deploy:
timeout:
minutes: 5
to: lxc
os: fedora
device_type: lxc
job_name: lxc-pipeline
timeouts:
job:
minutes: 15
action:
minutes: 5
priority: medium
visibility: public
metadata:
source: https://git.linaro.org/lava-team/refactoring.git
path: lxc-fedora.yaml
protocols:
lava-lxc:
name: pipeline-lxc-test
distribution: fedora
release: '23'
arch: amd64
actions:
- deploy:
timeout:
minutes: 30
to: lxc
os: fedora
- boot:
prompts:
- '[root@(.*) /]#'
timeout:
minutes: 5
method: lxc
- test:
timeout:
minutes: 5
definitions:
- repository: git://git.linaro.org/people/senthil.kumaran/test-definitions.git
from: git
path: fedora/echo-pass-fail-error-test.yaml
name: echo-pass-fail-error-test
adb
. This is typically how a
device is configured when first sold to the consumer.adb
. Devices configured this way
will be able to have the image replaced using any machine, just by connecting
a suitable cable, so these images are not typically deployed onto hardware
which will be sold to the customer without having this image replaced with a
production image.Installing tools like adb
and fastboot
on the dispatcher can be
problematic. Some of these issues arise from the need to put many different
types of devices onto a single dispatcher, other issues arise from needing to
use different versions of the build on the devices. Testing an old system may
require downgrading support like openjdk
, new devices or new builds may
require upgrading the same support. Containers isolate this variation so that
each testjob can have a suitable container instead of needing to deal with
changes on the dispatcher:
flock
and similar
methods to distinguish a connection to one device from another.adb
and fastboot
.See also
Deploying LXC devices for more information on the administration of LXC for LAVA.
Using the lava-lxc
protocol, a Lava Test Shell is provided inside the LXC
to support installing and configuring whatever tools, packages and files which
the testjob will need to use. Installing adb
in this test shell removes the
need to have a POSIX type shell on the device. Files can be pushed and pulled
from the device and executed using the Android support in the image.
Namespaces were introduced to handle use-cases specific to LXC, but it can be expanded to other use-cases as and when required. The primary purpose of namespaces is to tie related actions together. In a typical job definition where more than one deploy, boot and test actions are specified there should be a mechanism to relate which deploy is connected with a boot and test action. This is important since an overlay created during a deploy action will be consumed by a test action somewhere down the job definition. A namespace comes into place to connect these actions together.
protocols:
lava-lxc:
name: pipeline-lxc-test
template: debian
distribution: debian
release: sid
mirror: http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/
security_mirror: http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/debian-security/
actions:
- deploy:
namespace: tlxc
timeout:
minutes: 5
to: lxc
packages:
- android-tools-adb
- android-tools-fastboot
- systemd
- systemd-sysv
os: debian
Actions within the LXC can cause the device to emit messages on the serial console. Some devices can have problems maintaining the serial connection if this data is not flushed and the data itself can be useful to test writers to debug issues and failures.
LAVA automatically reads from all other namespaces whilst
processing the test shell in another namespace and outputs this as feedback
data. When viewing a test job log file, feedback can be turned on or off using
the buttons at the top of the log file.
To support feedback, the lava-test-shell
Individual connection overrides is set to 10 seconds by default.
(There are no suitable prompts to match, so reading feedback continues until
the connection timeout is reached, without failing the test shell itself.)
See also
The release specified in the lava-lxc
protocol will determine some of the
packages which will need to be installed in the container. In particular, any
container based on a Debian later than jessie
will need two packages to be
added to the setup of the container before the container can be used:
systemd
and systemd-sysv
. These two packages must be specified in
the deployment list.
In addition, some packages will have been renamed between releases. For example,
android-tools-adb
exists in Debian unstable but it is an old build and will
at some point be replaced by adb
which is also available in unstable but not
in jessie
.
Caution
Always check the availability of the packages needed for particular releases by using a local chroot or VM. Only packages which are included in the specified release can be installed using the deployment list. Packages from other repositories will have to be installed using the test definition.
device_type: hi6220-hikey
job_name: lxc-hi6220-hikey
timeouts:
job:
minutes: 60
action:
minutes: 15
connection:
minutes: 2
priority: medium
visibility: public
metadata:
source: https://git.linaro.org/lava-team/refactoring.git
path: hi6220-hikey.yaml
protocols:
lava-lxc:
name: lxc-hikey-test
template: debian
distribution: debian
release: jessie
mirror: http://mirror.bytemark.co.uk/debian
verbose: true
actions:
- deploy:
namespace: tlxc
timeout:
minutes: 5
to: lxc
packages:
- android-tools-adb
- android-tools-fastboot
os: debian
- boot:
namespace: tlxc
prompts:
- 'root@(.*):'
- 'hikey: '
timeout:
minutes: 5
method: lxc
- deploy:
timeout:
minutes: 15
to: fastboot
namespace: droid
images:
ptable:
url: http://images.validation.linaro.org/builds.96boards.org/snapshots/reference-platform/components/uefi/latest/release/hikey/ptable-aosp-8g.img
reboot: hard-reset
boot:
url: http://images.validation.linaro.org/builds.96boards.org/snapshots/hikey/linaro/aosp-master/357/boot.img.xz
compression: xz
reboot: hard-reset
cache:
url: http://images.validation.linaro.org/builds.96boards.org/snapshots/hikey/linaro/aosp-master/357/cache.img.xz
compression: xz
userdata:
url: http://images.validation.linaro.org/builds.96boards.org/snapshots/hikey/linaro/aosp-master/357/userdata.img.xz
compression: xz
system:
url: http://images.validation.linaro.org/builds.96boards.org/snapshots/hikey/linaro/aosp-master/357/system.img.xz
compression: xz
os: debian
- boot:
namespace: droid
prompts:
- 'root@(.*):/#'
- 'hikey:/'
timeout:
minutes: 15
method: fastboot
- test:
namespace: tlxc
timeout:
minutes: 10
definitions:
- from: inline
repository:
metadata:
format: Lava-Test Test Definition 1.0
name: check-devices
description: "LXC dev list"
run:
steps:
- /sbin/ifconfig
name: lxc-dev-inline
path: inline/lxc-dev.yaml
- repository: git://git.linaro.org/people/senthil.kumaran/test-definitions.git
from: git
path: debian/get-adb-serial.yaml
name: get-adb-serial