From 5694342a8136e85fe474c09e425d0476d9fc4d2b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jan Dabros Date: Tue, 26 May 2020 15:05:00 +0200 Subject: Documentation/tutorial: Add tutorial for writing unit tests Signed-off-by: Jan Dabros Change-Id: I1ebd2786a49ec8bc25e209d67ecc4c94b475442d Reviewed-on: https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/41727 Tested-by: build bot (Jenkins) Reviewed-by: Paul Fagerburg Reviewed-by: Patrick Georgi --- Documentation/tutorial/part3.md | 384 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 384 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/tutorial/part3.md (limited to 'Documentation/tutorial/part3.md') diff --git a/Documentation/tutorial/part3.md b/Documentation/tutorial/part3.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..7ccee87754 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/tutorial/part3.md @@ -0,0 +1,384 @@ +# Writing unit tests for coreboot + +## Introduction +General thoughts about unit testing coreboot can be found in +[Unit testing coreboot](../technotes/2020-03-unit-testing-coreboot.md). + +This document aims to guide developers through the process of adding and writing +unit tests for coreboot modules. + +As an example of unit under test, `src/device/i2c.c` (referred hereafter as UUT +"Unit Under Test") will be used. This is simple module, thus it should be easy +for the reader to focus solely on the testing logic, without the need to spend +too much time on digging deeply into the source code details and flow of +operations. That being said, a good understanding of what the unit under test is +doing is crucial for writing unit tests. + +This tutorial should also be helpful for developers who want to follow +[TDD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development). Even though TDD +has a different work flow of building tests first, followed by the code that +satisfies them, the process of writing tests and adding them to the tree is the +same. + +## Analysis of unit under test +First of all, it is necessary to precisely establish what we want to test in a +particular module. Usually this will be an externally exposed API, which can be +used by other modules. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + In case of our UUT, API consist of two methods: + + .. code-block:: c + + int i2c_read_field(unsigned int bus, uint8_t chip, uint8_t reg, uint8_t *data, + uint8_t mask, uint8_t shift) + int i2c_write_field(unsigned int bus, uint8_t chip, uint8_t reg, uint8_t data, + uint8_t mask, uint8_t shift) + + For sake of simplicity, let's focus on `i2c_read_field` in this document. +``` + +Once the API is defined, the next question is __what__ this API is doing (or +what it will be doing in case of TDD). In other words, what outputs we are +expecting from particular functions, when providing particular input parameters. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + .. code-block:: c + + int i2c_read_field(unsigned int bus, uint8_t chip, uint8_t reg, uint8_t *data, + uint8_t mask, uint8_t shift) + + This is a method which means to read content of register `reg` from i2c device + on i2c `bus` and slave address `chip`, applying bit `mask` and offset `shift` + to it. Returned data should be placed in `data`. +``` + +The next step is to determine all external dependencies of UUT in order to mock +them out. Usually we want to isolate the UUT as much as possible, so that the +test result depends __only__ on the behavior of UUT and not on the other +modules. While some software dependencies may be hard to be mock (for example +due to complicated dependencies) and thus should be simply linked into the test +binaries, all hardware dependencies need to be mocked out, since in the +user-space host environment, targets hardware is not available. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + `i2c_read_field` is calling `i2c_readb`, which eventually invokes + `i2c_transfer`. This method simply calls `platform_i2c_transfer`. The last + function in the chain is a hardware-touching one, and defined separately for + different SOCs. It is responsible for issuing transactions on the i2c bus. + For the purpose of writing unit test, we should mock this function. +``` + +## Adding new tests +In order to keep the tree clean, the `tests/` directory should mimic the `src/` +directory, so that test harness code is placed in a location corresponding to +UUT. Furthermore, the naming convention is to add the suffix `-test` to the UUT +name when creating a new test harness file. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + Considering that UUT is `src/device/i2c.c`, test file should be named + `tests/device/i2c-test.c`. When adding a new test file, it needs to be + registered with the coreboot unit testing infrastructure. +``` + +Every directory under `tests/` should contain a Makefile.inc, similar to what +can be seen under the `src/`. Register a new test in Makefile.inc, by +__appending__ test name to the `tests-y` variable. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + .. code-block:: c + + tests-y += i2c-test +``` + +Next step is to list all source files, which should be linked together in order +to create test binary. Usually a tests requires only two files - UUT and test +harness code, but sometimes more is needed to provide the test environment. +Source files are registered in `-srcs` variable. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + .. code-block:: c + + i2c-test-srcs += tests/device/i2c-test.c + i2c-test-srcs += src/device/i2c.c +``` + +Above minimal configuration is a basis for further work. One can try to build +and run test binary either by invoking `make tests//` or by +running all unit tests (whole suite) for coreboot `make unit-tests`. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + .. code-block:: c + + make tests/device/i2c-test + + or + + .. code-block:: c + + make unit-tests +``` + +When trying to build test binary, one can often see linker complains about +`undefined reference` to couple of symbols. This is one of solutions to +determine all external dependencies of UUT - iteratively build test and resolve +errors one by one. At this step, developer should decide either it's better to +add an extra module to provide necessary definitions or rather mock such +dependency. Quick guide through adding mocks is provided later in this doc. + +## Writing new tests +In coreboot, [Cmocka](https://cmocka.org/) is used as unit test framework. The +project has exhaustive [API documentation](https://api.cmocka.org/). Let's see +how we may incorporate it when writing tests. + +### Assertions +Testing the UUT consists of calling the functions in the UUT and comparing the +returned values to the expected values. Cmocka implements +[a set of assert macros](https://api.cmocka.org/group__cmocka__asserts.html) to +compare a value with an expected value. If the two values do not match, the test +fails with an error message. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + In our example, the simplest test is to call UUT for reading our fake devices + registers and do all calculation in the test harness itself. At the end, let's + compare integers with `assert_int_equal`. + + .. code-block:: c + + #define MASK 0x3 + #define SHIFT 0x1 + + static void i2c_read_field_test(void **state) + { + int bus, slave, reg; + int i, j; + uint8_t buf; + + mock_expect_params_platform_i2c_transfer(); + + /* Read particular bits in all registers in all devices, then compare + with expected value. */ + for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(i2c_ex_devs); i++) + for (j = 0; j < ARRAY_SIZE(i2c_ex_devs[0].regs); j++) { + i2c_read_field(i2c_ex_devs[i].bus, + i2c_ex_devs[i].slave, + i2c_ex_devs[i].regs[j].reg, + &buf, MASK, SHIFT); + assert_int_equal((i2c_ex_devs[i].regs[j].data & + (MASK << SHIFT)) >> SHIFT, buf); + }; + } +``` + +### Mocks + +#### Overview +Many coreboot modules are low level software that touch hardware directly. +Because of this, one of the most important and challenging part of +writing tests is to design and implement mocks. A mock is a software component +which implements the API of another component so that the test can verify that +certain functions are called (or not called), verify the parameters passed to +those functions, and specify the return values from those functions. Mocks are +especially useful when the API to be implemented is one that accesses hardware +components. + +When writing a mock, the developer implements the same API as the module being +mocked. Such a mock may, for example, register a set of driver methods. Behind +this API, there is usually a simulation of real hardware. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + For purpose of our i2c test, we may introduce two i2c devices with set of + registers, which simply are structs in memory. + + .. code-block:: c + + /* Simulate two i2c devices, both on bus 0, each with three uint8_t regs + implemented. */ + typedef struct { + uint8_t reg; + uint8_t data; + } i2c_ex_regs_t; + + typedef struct { + unsigned int bus; + uint8_t slave; + i2c_ex_regs_t regs[3]; + } i2c_ex_devs_t; + + i2c_ex_devs_t i2c_ex_devs[] = { + {.bus = 0, .slave = 0xA, .regs = { + {.reg = 0x0, .data = 0xB}, + {.reg = 0x1, .data = 0x6}, + {.reg = 0x2, .data = 0xF}, + } }, + {.bus = 0, .slave = 0x3, .regs = { + {.reg = 0x0, .data = 0xDE}, + {.reg = 0x1, .data = 0xAD}, + {.reg = 0x2, .data = 0xBE}, + } }, + }; + + These fake devices will be accessed instead of hardware ones: + + .. code-block:: c + + reg = tmp->buf[0]; + + /* Find object for requested device */ + for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(i2c_ex_devs); i++, i2c_dev++) + if (i2c_ex_devs[i].slave == tmp->slave) { + i2c_dev = &i2c_ex_devs[i]; + break; + } + + if (i2c_dev == NULL) + return -1; + + /* Write commands */ + if (tmp->len > 1) { + i2c_dev->regs[reg].data = tmp->buf[1]; + }; + + /* Read commands */ + for (i = 0; i < count; i++, tmp++) + if (tmp->flags & I2C_M_RD) { + *(tmp->buf) = i2c_dev->regs[reg].data; + }; +``` + +Cmocka uses a feature that gcc provides for breaking dependencies at the link +time. It is possible to override implementation of some function, with the +method from test harness. This allows test harness to take control of execution +from binary (during the execution of test), and stimulate UUT as required +without changing the source code. + +coreboot unit test infrastructure supports overriding of functions at link time. +This is as simple as adding a `name_of_function` to be mocked into +-mocks variable in Makefile.inc. The result is that every time the +function is called, `wrap_name_of_function` will be called instead. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + .. code-block:: c + + i2c-test-mocks += platform_i2c_transfer + + Now, dev can write own implementation of `platform_i2c_transfer` and define it + as `wrap_platform_i2c_transfer`. This implementation instead of accessing real + i2c bus, will write/read from fake structs. + + .. code-block:: c + + int __wrap_platform_i2c_transfer(unsigned int bus, struct i2c_msg *segments, + int count) + { + } +``` + +#### Checking mock's arguments +A test can verify the parameters provided by the UUT to the mock function. The +developer may also verify that number of calls to mock is correct and the order +of calls to particular mocks is as expected (See +[this](https://api.cmocka.org/group__cmocka__call__order.html)). The Cmocka +macros for checking parameters are described +[here](https://api.cmocka.org/group__cmocka__param.html). In general, in mock +function, one makes a call to `check_expected()` and in the +corresponding test function, `expect*()` macro, with description which parameter +in which mock should have particular value, or be inside a described range. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + In our example, we may want to check that `platform_i2c_transfer` is fed with + number of segments bigger than 0, each segment has flags which are in + supported range and each segment has buf which is non-NULL. We are expecting + such values for _every_ call, thus the last parameter in `expect*` macros is + -1. + + .. code-block:: c + + static void mock_expect_params_platform_i2c_transfer(void) + { + unsigned long int expected_flags[] = {0, I2C_M_RD, I2C_M_TEN, + I2C_M_RECV_LEN, I2C_M_NOSTART}; + + /* Flags should always be only within supported range */ + expect_in_set_count(__wrap_platform_i2c_transfer, segments->flags, + expected_flags, -1); + + expect_not_value_count(__wrap_platform_i2c_transfer, segments->buf, + NULL, -1); + + expect_in_range_count(__wrap_platform_i2c_transfer, count, 1, INT_MAX, + -1); + } + + And the checks below should be added to our mock + + .. code-block:: c + + check_expected(count); + + for (i = 0; i < count; i++, segments++) { + check_expected_ptr(segments->buf); + check_expected(segments->flags); + } +``` + +#### Instrument mocks +It is possible for the test function to instrument what the mock will return to +the UUT. This can be done by using the `will_return*()` and `mock()` macros. +These are described in +[the Mock Object section](https://api.cmocka.org/group__cmocka__mock.html) of +the Cmocka API documentation. + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: Example + + There is an non-coreboot example for using Cmocka available + `here `_. +``` + +### Test runner +Finally, the developer needs to implement the test `main()` function. All tests +should be registered there and cmocka test runner invoked. All methods for +invoking Cmocka test are described +[here](https://api.cmocka.org/group__cmocka__exec.html). + +```eval_rst +.. admonition:: i2c-test example + + We don't need any extra setup and teardown functions for i2c-test, so let's + simply register test for `i2c_read_field` and return from main value which is + output of Cmocka's runner (it returns number of tests that failed). + + .. code-block:: c + + int main(void) + { + const struct CMUnitTest tests[] = { + cmocka_unit_test(i2c_read_field_test), + }; + + return cmocka_run_group_tests(tests, NULL, NULL); + } +``` -- cgit v1.2.3