1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
3 ============================
4 Run Tests without kunit_tool
5 ============================
7 If we do not want to use kunit_tool (For example: we want to integrate
8 with other systems, or run tests on real hardware), we can
9 include KUnit in any kernel, read out results, and parse manually.
11 .. note:: KUnit is not designed for use in a production system. It is
12 possible that tests may reduce the stability or security of
18 KUnit tests can run without kunit_tool. This can be useful, if:
20 - We have an existing kernel configuration to test.
21 - Need to run on real hardware (or using an emulator/VM kunit_tool
23 - Wish to integrate with some existing testing systems.
25 KUnit is configured with the ``CONFIG_KUNIT`` option, and individual
26 tests can also be built by enabling their config options in our
27 ``.config``. KUnit tests usually (but don't always) have config options
28 ending in ``_KUNIT_TEST``. Most tests can either be built as a module,
29 or be built into the kernel.
33 We can enable the ``KUNIT_ALL_TESTS`` config option to
34 automatically enable all tests with satisfied dependencies. This is
35 a good way of quickly testing everything applicable to the current
38 Once we have built our kernel (and/or modules), it is simple to run
39 the tests. If the tests are built-in, they will run automatically on the
40 kernel boot. The results will be written to the kernel log (``dmesg``)
43 If the tests are built as modules, they will run when the module is
48 # modprobe example-test
50 The results will appear in TAP format in ``dmesg``.
55 KUnit can be accessed from userspace via the debugfs filesystem (See more
56 information about debugfs at Documentation/filesystems/debugfs.rst).
58 If ``CONFIG_KUNIT_DEBUGFS`` is enabled, the KUnit debugfs filesystem is
59 mounted at /sys/kernel/debug/kunit. You can use this filesystem to perform
60 the following actions.
65 You can use debugfs to retrieve KUnit test results. The test results are
66 accessible from the debugfs filesystem in the following read-only file:
70 /sys/kernel/debug/kunit/<test_suite>/results
72 The test results are printed in a KTAP document. Note this document is separate
73 to the kernel log and thus, may have different test suite numbering.
75 Run Tests After Kernel Has Booted
76 =================================
78 You can use the debugfs filesystem to trigger built-in tests to run after
79 boot. To run the test suite, you can use the following command to write to
80 the ``/sys/kernel/debug/kunit/<test_suite>/run`` file:
84 echo "any string" > /sys/kernel/debugfs/kunit/<test_suite>/run
86 As a result, the test suite runs and the results are printed to the kernel
89 However, this feature is not available with KUnit suites that use init data,
90 because init data may have been discarded after the kernel boots. KUnit
91 suites that use init data should be defined using the
92 kunit_test_init_section_suites() macro.
94 Also, you cannot use this feature to run tests concurrently. Instead a test
95 will wait to run until other tests have completed or failed.
99 For test authors, to use this feature, tests will need to correctly initialise
100 and/or clean up any data, so the test runs correctly a second time.