Registration

Register
Login

Content

Call For Papers
Schedule
Presentations
Tutorials
BOFS

Event Info

Venue
Travel
FAQ
Link Us

Additional Info

Sponsors
Special Events Contact Us
Media
Archives
Home

Implementation of a Branch Tracing Tool and Regression Test Framework

We have developed a linux kernel regression test framework ("crackerjack"), and a branch coverage test tool ("btrax"), to capture kernel regression. Crackerjack is a harness program and a set of  test programs. It runs test programs, records the results, and then compares the expected results. Therefore, if a particular system call failed in a release and was then fixed in a later release, crackerjack records this as non-favorable because of incompatibility. The btrax is an integrated component of crackerjack and is a tool to assess test programs' effectiveness. It uses Intel processor's branch trace capability and records how much of code was traced by a test program. Crackerjack is initially designed for Linux kernel system call testing, but care has been taken to allow future expansion to other types of software.

The target audience is kernel developers who are interested in the kernel regression tests.