66. Running DPDK Unit Tests with Meson

This section describes how to run test cases with the DPDK meson build system.

Steps to build and install DPDK using meson can be referred in Installing DPDK Using the meson build system

66.1. Grouping of test cases

Test cases have been classified into four different groups.

  • Fast tests.
  • Performance tests.
  • Driver tests.
  • Tests which produce lists of objects as output, and therefore that need manual checking.

These tests can be run using the argument to meson test as --suite project_name:label.

For example:

$ meson test -C <build path> --suite DPDK:fast-tests

If the <build path> is current working directory, the -C <build path> option can be skipped as below:

$ meson test --suite DPDK:fast-tests

The project name is optional so the following is equivalent to the previous command:

$ meson test --suite fast-tests

If desired, additional arguments can be passed to the test run via the meson --test-args option. For example, tests will by default run on as many available cores as is needed for the test, starting with the lowest number core - generally core 0. To run the fast-tests suite using only cores 8 through 16, one can use:

$ meson test --suite fast-tests --test-args="-l 8-16"

The meson command to list all available tests:

$ meson test --list

Test cases are run serially by default for better stability.

Arguments of test() that can be provided in meson.build are as below:

  • is_parallel is used to run test case either in parallel or non-parallel mode.
  • timeout is used to specify the timeout of test case.
  • args is used to specify test specific parameters (see note below).
  • env is used to specify test specific environment parameters.

Note: the content of meson --test-args option and the content of args are appended when invoking the DPDK test binary. Because of this, it is recommended not to set any default coremask or memory configuration in per test args and rather let users select what best fits their environment. If a test can’t run, then it should be skipped, as described below.

66.2. Dealing with skipped test cases

Some unit test cases have a dependency on external libraries, driver modules or config flags, without which the test cases cannot be run. Such test cases will be reported as skipped if they cannot run. To enable those test cases, the user should ensure the required dependencies are met. Below are a few possible causes why tests may be skipped:

  1. Optional external libraries are not found.
  2. Config flags for the dependent library are not enabled.
  3. Dependent driver modules are not installed on the system.
  4. Not enough processing cores. Some tests are skipped on machines with 2 or 4 cores.