[Automated-testing] [board-farm] Some questions (mailinglist, SD MUX and WiFI SD)

[Andrew Murray]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for taking the initiative so far in turning the BoF into
action. I'm hoping that in a years time at the next conference we will
have some collaborative progress to report :).

Regarding the mailing list, I'm happy to follow Tim's suggestion on
the YP automated-testing list - it's obviously not related to the
Yocto Project but it does exist right now and we can begin using it
without further discussion. We can always change it in the future if
we build traction within this project. But thanks everyone else for
the offers.

I'd suggest anyone interested in this topic also subscribe to the list
- I'll wait a few days before posting to ensure no-one misses
anything.

Regarding leadership, I have some ideas on scope and what we can
tangibly achieve, i'll share these on the mailing list (e.g. a terms
of reference). But lets see if any natural leaders emerge.

Thanks,

Andrew Murray

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bird, Timothy
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Mirza Krak on  Monday, October 30, 2017 12:13 AM
> >
> > I collected your email from the Board Farm wiki page on elinux [1],
> > since there is no mailing list (not that I know of at least).
> >
> > My first question would be, who is in charge of setting up a mailing
> > list? That person can consider him poked :).
>
> A few ideas about the mail list made the rounds during the session.
>
> Jan-Simon Möller (of the LF Automotive Grade Linux group) offered to have
> the Linux Foundation create an e-mail list.
>
> However, I believe there's an existing list which is a good fit for this and
> related
> discussions.  It is here:
> https://lists.yoctoproject.org/listinfo/automated-testing
>
> This list was created in 2014 to discuss some harmonization of automated test
> systems.  The traffic has since died down, and it's not being used for anything
> at the moment.  I intended to ask someone official from the Yocto Project
> if they minded if we "homesteaded" the list for board farm stuff, but didn't
> get around to it at ELCE.  I'm copying Jeff Osier-Mixon and Richard Purdie on
> this e-mail
> to give them an opportunity to object to our use of that list for this purpose,
> if they want.
>
> Here are the pros and cons:
> == pros
>  - it already exists
>  - it's managed by someone neutral in the DUT controller and board farm
> market
>    (or at least, I don't think that the Yocto Project has a horse in this race)
>  - it's archived
>  - I think board farm and board test automation fits the topic of the list well
>
> == cons
>  1) maybe YP doesn't want random people using their list
>  2) maybe having it be a YP-run list would dissuade participation
> from people using other build systems (e.g. buildroot)
>
> I think that, with respect to 1, YP would likely be happy to have this
> list used to help advance the state of the industry in board automation
> for testing.  But they can tell us if not. With respect to 2, I don't think
> buildroot devs or other build system devs would think it was a big issue.
> But they can also speak up if they have an issue.
> For good measure, I'm copying that list on this message as well.
>
> So, my proposal is to request everyone on the board farm page to
> subscribe to the above list.  I'll add the list to that page, and we can promote
> it as the place to discuss board farm, test automation, DUT controllers,
> DUT control software, DUT control standards, and related topics.
> Once the list is off the ground, we can remove e-mail addresses from
> the wiki page (as that is something problematic).  I would, however, like
> to maintain a list of developers and projects on the wiki, as a resource.
>
> Please respond if this is OK with you, and we can shift the discussions
> to that list.  If I get more than 50% of the people on this thread agreeing,
> I'll consider that consensus enough to move forward.
>
> I think the next step after getting notice to those people from the BOF
> would be to extend the circle to people known to be in this space, but
> who I'm not sure were there.  For example were Anna-Maria Gleixner or
> Manuel Traut at the BOF? They presented an interesting approach to DUT
> control in their session at ELCE.
> I think it would be good to invite as many people as possible to join the
> list, before we get too deep into discussions.
>  -- Tim Bird
>
> P.S. One problem with this whole discussion is that there doesn't appear to
> be any single "owner" of this space (or a good definition of exactly
> what the boundaries of the "space" are).  I'm happy to step up and
> initiate some discussions on the e-mail list, but I'd be happy to let
> someone else lead, if they want to instead.  Believe me, I'm not trying
> to build my own empire here. :-) Possible leaders, IMHO, are:
>  - Andrew - since he initiated the BOF and identified some issues which IMHO
> are worth collaborating on
>  - Jan - who also had an ELCE presentation and maintains labgrid
>  - Geert - who had a session at last year's ELCE and has shown interest in the
> topic
>  - Kevin Hilman - the founder of KernelCI with an obvious interest in this topic
>   (He and Patrick Titiano presented their "lab-in-a-box" concept at ELCE)
>  - Tim - maintainer of Fuego, and ttc (DUT controller software that Sony uses
> and published
>  as Open Source a number of years ago)
>
> If I haven't mentioned you, please don't take it as a slight.  And if I have
> mentioned
> you, please don't take it as a slight. ;-)

On 30 October 2017 at 09:39, Mirza Krak <mirza.krak at endian.se> wrote:
> 2017-10-30 10:35 GMT+01:00 Geert Uytterhoeven <geert at linux-m68k.org>:
>> On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 12:12 AM, Mirza Krak <mirza.krak at endian.se> wrote:
>>> My first question would be, who is in charge of setting up a mailing
>>> list? That person can consider him poked :).
>>
>> IIRC, the plan was to host the list at the Linux Foundation.
>
> Yeah, I recall this being mentioned as well in Prague. But do know not
> know who said it so that I can poke him :).
>
> --
> Med Vänliga Hälsningar / Best Regards
>
> Mirza Krak
> Senior Embedded Engineer
>
> Endian Technologies AB
> Flöjelbergsgatan 11
> SE-431 37 Mölndal, Sweden
> mobile: +46 730 28 06 22
> email: mirza.krak at endian.se
> www.endian.se



-- 

Andrew Murray
Managing Director, Witekio UK