[LTP] [PATCH v5] Remove TODO

Tue Oct 14 11:12:26 CEST 2025

Hi Andrea and Petr,

On Tue, Oct 14, 2025 at 4:56 PM Andrea Cervesato <andrea.cervesato@suse.de>
wrote:

> From: Andrea Cervesato <andrea.cervesato@suse.com>
>
> TODO file is not updated and it talks about goals we already reached via
> new LTP documentation. In general, it contains generic and random topics
> which none is updating anymore, so it's better to remove it in order to
> create less confusion for newcomers.
>
> Instead, we create a todo list in the new documentation, providing a
> more clear intention of what are the current LTP goals.
>
> Acked-by: Petr Vorel <pvorel@suse.cz>
> Signed-off-by: Andrea Cervesato <andrea.cervesato@suse.com>
> ---
> Changes in v5:
> - ref to tst_test
> - ref to runltp
> - better explanation of shell loader
> - Link to v4:
> https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251014-remove_todo-v4-1-168fcfa74221@suse.com

To me, v5 looks pretty good, and honestly, I rarely see anyone take
to-do list so seriously :-).

Because I usually think the final achievement may be a big difference from
the beginning idea due to many code iterations, so a rough TODO to describe
simple picture should be good enough.

Please accept my respect for the writing:
Reviewed-by: Li Wang <liwang@redhat.com>

>
>
> Changes in v4:
> - fix commit message
> - point to tst_run_shell.c
> - moved to developers
> - fix git grep command
> - Link to v3:
> https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251013-remove_todo-v3-1-533e47439a94@suse.com
>
> Changes in v3:
> - fix typo
> - update command to generate test with old API
> - add kirk link in TODO
> - shell loader reference
> - Link to v2:
> https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251013-remove_todo-v2-1-d0a46ad14e34@suse.com
>
> Changes in v2:
> - add doc/users/todo.rst section
> - Link to v1:
> https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251006-remove_todo-v1-1-5bab5f6f77f5@suse.com
> ---
>  TODO                    | 39 -------------------------
>  doc/developers/todo.rst | 75
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  doc/index.rst           |  4 +++
>  3 files changed, 79 insertions(+), 39 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
> deleted file mode 100644
> index fe0a3ab9b..000000000
> --- a/TODO
> +++ /dev/null
> @@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
> -LTP TODO
> ---------
> -
> -
> -Write more syscall tests
> -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> -
> -Syscalls and new syscall flags are added to Linux kernel each development
> cycle
> -and LTP still falls behind. Unfortunately there is no single place that
> would
> -store comprehensive list of syscalls, but there are a few places to look
> at:
> -
> -One of the options would be looking at changes in man-pages git[1] in
> man2/
> -directory to find out newly documented functionality.
> -
> -Another good source of information are kernel pages in LWN[2] weekly
> -editions.
> -
> -Then there is linux-api mailing list[3] where changes in kernel userspace
> API
> -should be discussed.
> -
> -[1] http://git.kernel.org/cgit/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git
> -[2] http://lwn.net
> -[3] http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.api
> -
> -
> -Rewrite old and add new controller testcases
> -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> -
> -We already started working on this with rewriting cgroup_fj testcases and
> -newly added pids testcases. Have a look at testcases/kernel/controllers/.
> -
> -
> -Shell tests cleanups
> -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> -
> -There are numerous testcases written in shell that does not follow single
> style
> -and use the broken-by-design binaries from tools/apicmds. These should be
> -cleaned up and fixed to use the test.sh test library. These include most
> of
> -tests in testcases/commands/ for example.
> diff --git a/doc/developers/todo.rst b/doc/developers/todo.rst
> new file mode 100644
> index 000000000..7daac7322
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/doc/developers/todo.rst
> @@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
> +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
> +
> +List of ongoing tasks
> +=====================
> +
> +This is a comprehensive list of tasks where LTP maintainers are currently
> +working on. Priorities might change over time, but these are the most
> important
> +points which are currently being achieved.
> +
> +Fade out old tests runner
> +-------------------------
> +
> +:master:`runltp` script is old and unmaintaned. We are slowly shifting to
> +`kirk <https://github.com/linux-test-project/kirk>`_, that will be our
> official
> +tests runner in the next future.
> +
> +kirk provides support for remote testing via Qemu, SSH, LTX, parallel
> +execution and much more.
> +
> +Test new syscalls
> +-----------------
> +
> +Syscalls and new syscalls flags are added to Linux kernel each development
> +cycle and LTP still falls behind. Unfortunately there is no single place
> that
> +would store comprehensive list of syscalls, but there are a few places to
> look
> +at:
> +
> +- `man-pages repository <
> http://git.kernel.org/cgit/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git>`_
> +  or the ``man2`` directory, where it's possible to find newly documented
> +  functionalities.
> +- `LWN <http://lwn.net>`_ weekly editions.
> +- `linux-api mailing list <https://lore.kernel.org/linux-api/>`_ where
> +  changes in kernel userspace API are discussed.
> +- `LTP Github issues <https://github.com/linux-test-project/ltp/issues>`_
> +
> +Rewrite old API tests
> +---------------------
> +
> +LTP has a long story and, at certain point of its development, new API
> were
> +introduced to make kernel testing easier and more efficient. This
> happened when
> +lots of tests were still using old, messy API.
> +
> +Some of these tests have been converted to the new API, but this process
> is
> +still ongoing for many others. To have an overview of the tests using old
> API,
> +please run the following command inside the LTP root folder:
> +
> +.. code-block:: bash
> +
> +        git --no-pager grep -l 'include "test\.h"' testcases/
> +
> +Fade out shell scripts
> +----------------------
> +
> +LTP was initially thought as a generic framework for running tests with
> both
> +shell and plain-C languages. Even if writing tests in shell script might
> seem
> +easy, the reality is that debugging and maintaining certain test cases is
> +difficult and slow down the whole validation process. This is particularly
> +visible for cgroup tests, since shell doesn't add enough control over race
> +conditions.
> +
> +LTP maintainers are working on converting shell scripts to plain-C tests,
> in
> +order to reduce the impact that shell scripts might have on the overall
> kernel
> +testing.
> +
> +For a complete list of shell tests, please run the following command
> inside the
> +LTP root folder:
> +
> +.. code-block:: bash
> +
> +        git --no-pager grep -l -e '^\. .*_lib\.sh' -e '^\. .*test.sh'
> +
> +LTP also provides a shell loader implementation for plain-C tests inside
> +:master:`testcases/lib/tst_run_shell.c` and it permits to run shell tests
> +into plain-C LTP API, featuring :ref:`struct tst_test` initializations
> and a
> +direct access to kernel syscalls.
> diff --git a/doc/index.rst b/doc/index.rst
> index acd16cdbf..06b75616f 100644
> --- a/doc/index.rst
> +++ b/doc/index.rst
> @@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
>     developers/build_system
>     developers/debugging
>     developers/documentation
> +   developers/todo
>
>  .. toctree::
>     :maxdepth: 3
> @@ -97,6 +98,9 @@ For developers
>  :doc:`developers/documentation`
>     How to use and develop LTP documentation
>
> +:doc:`developers/todo`
> +   List of tasks maintainers are working on
> +
>  For maintainers
>  ---------------
>
>
> ---
> base-commit: cc420865c291c04c902957a6f3375c8017239e52
> change-id: 20251006-remove_todo-c29a585e8b01
>
> Best regards,
> --
> Andrea Cervesato <andrea.cervesato@suse.com>
>
>
> --
> Mailing list info: https://lists.linux.it/listinfo/ltp
>
>

-- 
Regards,
Li Wang