[Bro-Dev] Testing and Docs for Packages

Robin Sommer robin at icir.org
Wed Jan 18 08:28:08 PST 2017


I also think it would be quite useful to test packages before
installing them, that gives a chance to catch problems before changing
anything (including things like: missing/broken/wrong dependencies;
lack of something OS-specific the package needs (say, it's a
Linux-only plugin); generally things that are special about the local
Bro installation)

Robin

On Tue, Jan 17, 2017 at 04:01 +0000, you wrote:

> 
> >> 1) Add `bro-pkg test <package>` command.
> > 
> > Might it also make sense to just run the test on installation, before the
> > package is actually installed, to see if it works on the environment of
> > the user?
> 
> Yes, I like that idea.  (I’d also want a flag or config option to opt-out of that behavior).
> 
> > I actually think it would be neat to do this isolated, especially given
> > that this enables testing before installing.
> 
> Not sure I follow.  Can you explain further?
> 
> From a typical user perspective, I think they would care more that the package’s tests pass in the final, installed state and it plays nice with any other site-specific stuff they have going on.  Aborting an installation on test failure is also still possible — instead of bro-pkg cleaning up an isolated sandbox, it does the standard ‘remove’ operation to delete installed files.
> 
> > It also makes it easier to
> > create something like "smokers" (Bro installations that just tro tu run
> > all testsuites of all available packages with a newer version to see if
> > something went wrong).
> 
> Can you also go into more detail on what you’re thinking there?
> 

> If there's concerns about accidentally corrupting an existing/production bro installation, the alternative I’d suggest would be to set up a separate bro-pkg config file for the smoke tests that would have bro-pkg install stuff in an isolated location.  This allows users to explicitly define the testing sandbox for themselves.
> 
> - Jon
> 
> _______________________________________________
> bro-dev mailing list
> bro-dev at bro.org
> http://mailman.icsi.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/bro-dev
> 


-- 
Robin Sommer * ICSI/LBNL * robin at icir.org * www.icir.org/robin


More information about the bro-dev mailing list