Buildbot/Talos/Misc

Adding a new test

Adding a new performance test or modifying an existing test is much easier than most people think. I general we need to create a patch for talos which has:

• determine if this is a startup test or a page load test and create the appropriate folder for your test in talos
• add all files and resources for the test (make sure there is no external network accesses) to that folder
• for page load tests make sure you have a manifest file defined and that you either report your own numbers using tpRecordTime, or let talos measure it.
• for startup tests, make sure you have the proper log format of "__start_report<result>__end_report"
• add a definition of your test to test.py in the talos repo
• file a bug in the testing:talos component with your patch

Steps to add a test to production

• [File a bug] to add tests to [talos] [example].

• [File a bug] to add appropriate rows to [graphserver]'s [data.sql] file. Example: [Bug 907876 - add tscrollr to graph server].
  • File an additional IT bug to deploy the sql changes on the production and staging graph servers [example].
  • If this is adding new pages, ensure these sql changes include page definitions.
  • MOBILE ONLY: if we are changing/adding pages which mobile tests use or need, you need to update bm-remote Example: [Bug 883896 - update bm-remote to get tsvgx files]

• add the test to the running [buildbot configs] (as seen on [tbpl])
  • for aurora/central on desktop only - [testing/talos/talos.json] with a revision of the [talos tree]. Example [Bug 903681 - turn on ASAP tests by default]
  • NOTE: one exception is adding an entirely new suite- this requires a [buildbot] patch to add the new scheduled job. Example: [Bug 886288 - deploy new tsvgx and tscrollx talos tests to m-c only]
  • for other branches or mobile - we still need a [buildbot] patch, many times we need to update both buildbot and talos.json

• update talos
  • for aurora/central on desktop only - we update [testing/talos/talos.json] with a revision of the [talos tree]. Example: [example]
  • for other branches or mobile - we still need an updated talos.zip, many times we need to update both [example]

• ensure the test follows the trains
  • if we are dealing with buildbot configs, then we will need bugs for each merge cycle to turn on/off appropriate tests
  • if we are just updating talos.json, this will be automatic

• if this is an update to an existing test that could change the numbers, this needs to be treated as a new test and run side by side for a week to get a new baseline for the numbers.

• file a bug to get TBPL updated with a new letter to track this test [example]

• document the test on Buildbot/Talos and Buildbot/Talos/Tests
  • NOTE: this should be updated every time the branch moves closer to release. Once on release we don't need to update

While that is a laundry list of items to do, if you are developer of a component just talk to the a*team (jhammel or jmaher) and they will handle the majority of the steps above.

What we need to know about tests

When adding a new test, we really need to understand what we are doing. Here are some questions that you should know the answer to before adding a new test:

• What does this test measure?
• Does this test overlap with any existing test?
• What is the unit of measurement that we are recording?
• What would constitute a regression?
• What is the expected range in the results over time?
• Are there variables or conditions which would affect this test?
  • browser configuration (prefs, environment variables)?
  • OS, resources, time of day, etc... ?
• Indepenedent of Observation? Will this test produce the same number regardless of what was run before it?
• What considerations are there for how this test should be run and what tools are required?

Background Information

Other usage of Talos

• https://wiki.mozilla.org/Auto-tools/Projects/JetPerf
• compare-talos : https://bitbucket.org/mconnor/compare-talos deployed at http://perf.snarkfest.net/compare-talos/

Happy Talos testing!

Naming convention

't' is pre-pended to the names to represent 'test'. Thus, ts = 'test startup', tp = 'test pageload', tdhtml = 'test dhtml'.

History of tp Tests

tp

The original tp test created by Mozilla to test browser page load time. Cycled through 40 pages. The pages were copied from the live web during November, 2000. Pages were cycled by loading them within the main browser window from a script that lived in content.

tp2/tp_js

The same tp test but loading the individual pages into a frame instead of the main browser window. Still used the old 40 page, year 2000 web page test set.

tp3

An update to both the page set and the method by which pages are cycled. The page set is now 393 pages from December, 2006. The pageloader is re-built as an extension that is pre-loaded into the browser chrome/components directories.

tp4

Updated web page test set to 100 pages from February 2009.

tp4m

This is a smaller pageset (21 pages) designed for mobile Firefox. This is a blend of regular and mobile friendly pages.

We landed on this on April 18th, 2011 in bug 648307. This runs for Android and Maemo mobile builds only.

tp5

Updated web page test set to 100 pages from April 8th, 2011. Effort was made for the pages to no longer be splash screens/login pages/home pages but to be pages that better reflect the actual content of the site in question.