Contributing to OpenBMC Test Automation

Guide to working on OpenBMC test automation. This document will always be a work-in-progress, feel free to propose changes.

Submitting changes via Gerrit server

Reference OpenBMC docs

Robot Coding Guidelines

For this project, we will write Robot keyword definitions in either Robot or Python. Robot code should be quite simple. Therefore, if the algorithm in question is the least bit complex, please write it in Python.
Observe a maximum line length of 79 characters.
Avoid trailing space at the end of any line of Robot code.
Avoid the use of tabs.
Robot supports delimiting cells with either two or more spaces or with a pipe symbol (e.g. "|"). Our team has chosen to use spaces rather than the pipe character. Make sure all space delimiters in Robot code are the minimum of two spaces. There may be some exceptions to this rule.
Exceptions to two-space delimiter rule:
- When you wish to line up resource, library or variable values:
```
Library         Lib1
Resource        Resource1
*** Variables ***
${var1}         ${EMPTY}
```
- When you wish to line up fields for test templates:
```
[Template]  Set System LED State
# LED Name  LED State
power       On
power       Off
```
- When you wish to indent if/else or loop bodies for visual effect:
```
Run Keyword If  '${this}' == '${that}'
...    Log  Bla, bla...
...  ELSE
...    Run Keywords  Key1  parms
...    AND  Key2  parms
```

When you define or call a Robot keyword, Robot pays no attention to spaces, underscores or case. However, our team will observe the following conventions in both our definitions and our calls:

Separate words with single spaces.
Capitalize the first character of each word.
Capitalize all characters in any word that is an acronym (e.g. JSON, BMC, etc).

Examples:

*** Keywords ***

This Is Correct

    # This keyword name is correct.

this_is_incorrect

    # This keyword name is incorrect because of 1) the
    # underscores instead of spaces and 2) the failure to
    # capitalize each word in the keyword.

soisthis

    # This keyword name is incorrect because of 1) a failure to
    # separate words with spaces and 2) a failure to capitalize
    # each word in the keyword.

BMC Is An Acronym

    # This keyword name is correct.  Note that "BMC" is an
    # acronym and as such is entirely uppercase.

Documentation strings:

Each documentation string should be phrased as an English command. Punctuate it correctly with the first word capitalized and a period at the end.
Correct example:
```
Boot BMC
    [Documentation]  Boot the BMC.
```
Incorrect example:
```
Boot BMC
    [Documentation]  This keyword boots the BMC.

    # The doc string above is not phrased as a command.
```

Doc strings should be just one terse, descriptive sentence. Remember that this doc string shows up in the HTML log file. Put additional commentary below in standard comment lines.

Correct example:

Stop SOL Console Logging

    [Documentation]  Stop system console logging and return log output.

Incorrect example:

Stop SOL Console Logging

    [Documentation]  Stop system console logging.  If there are multiple
    ...              system console processes, they will all be
    ...              stopped.  If there is no existing log file this
    ...              keyword will return an error message to that
    ...              effect (and write that message to targ_file_path,
    ...              if specified).  NOTE: This keyword will not fail
    ...              if there is no running system console process.

    # This doc string is way too long.

Tags:
- Create a tag for every test case with a tag name that mirrors the test case name as follows:
```
Create Intermediate File

    [Tags]  Create_Intermediate_File
```
General variable naming conventions:
- Variable names should be lower case with few exceptions:
  - Environment variables should be all upper case.
  - Variables intended to be set by Robot -v parameters may be all upper case.
- Words within a variable name should be separated by underscores:
  Correct examples:
```
${host_name}
${program_pid}
```
  Incorrect examples:
```
${HostName}
${ProgramPid}
```
Special variable naming conventions.
For certain very commonly used kinds of variables, please observe these conventions in order to achieve consistency throughout the code.
- hosts
  When a variable is intended to contain either an IP address or a host name (either long or short), please give it a suffix of "_host".
  Examples:
```
openbmc_host
os_host
pdu_host
openbmc_serial_host
```
- host names
  For host names (long or short, e.g. "bmc1" or "bmc1.ibm.com"), use a suffix of _host_name.
  Examples:
```
openbmc_host_name
os_host_name
pdu_host_name
openbmc_serial_host_name
```
- Short host names
  For short host names (e.g. "bmc1"), use a suffix of _host_short_name.
  Examples:
```
openbmc_host_short_name
os_host_short_name
pdu_host_short_name
openbmc_serial_host_short_name
```
- IP addresses
  For IP addresses, use a suffix of _ip.
  Example:
```
openbmc_ip
os_ip
pdu_ip
openbmc_serial_ip
```
Files and directories:
- Files:
  - If your variable is to contain only the file's name, use a suffix of _file_name.
    Examples:
```
ffdc_file_name = "bmc1.170428.120200.ffdc"
```
  - If your variable is to contain the path to a file, use a suffix of _file_path. Bear in mind that a file path can be relative or absolute so that should not be a consideration in whether to use the "_file_path" suffix.
    Examples:
```
status_file_path = "bmc1.170428.120200.status"
status_file_path = "subdir/bmc1.170428.120200.status"
status_file_path = "./bmc1.170428.120200.status"
status_file_path = "../bmc1.170428.120200.status"
status_file_path = "/home/user1/status/bmc1.170428.120200.status"
```
    To re-iterate, it doesn't matter whether the contents of the variable are a relative or absolute path (as shown in the examples above). A file path is simply a value with enough information in it for the program to find the file.
  - If the variable must contain an absolute path (which should be the rare case), use a suffix _abs_file_path.
- Directories:
  - Directory variables should follow the same conventions as file variables.
  - If your variable is to contain only the directory's name, use a suffix of _dir_name.
    Example:
```
ffdc_dir_name = "ffdc"
```
  - If your variable is to contain the path to a directory, use a suffix of _dir_path. Bear in mind that a dir path can be relative or absolute so that should not be a consideration in whether to use _dir_path.
    Examples:
```
status_dir_path = "status/"
status_dir_path = "subdir/status"
status_dir_path = "./status/"
status_dir_path = "../status/"
status_dir_path = "/home/user1/status/"
```
    To re-iterate, it doesn't matter whether the contents of the variable are a relative or absolute path (as shown in the examples above). A dir path is simply a value with enough information in it for the program to find the directory.
  - If the variable must contain an absolute path (which should be the rare case), use a suffix _abs_dir_path.
  - IMPORTANT: As a programming convention, do pre- processing on all dir_path variables to ensure that they contain a trailing slash. If we follow that convention religiously, that when changes are made in other parts of the program, the programmer can count on the value having a trailing slash. Therefore they can safely do this kind of thing:
```
my_file_path = my_dir_path + my_file_name
```
Traditional comments (i.e. using the hashtag style comments)
- Please leave one space following the hashtag.
```
#wrong

# Right
```
- Please use proper English punction:
  - Capitalize the first word in the sentence or phrase.
  - End sentences (or stand-alone phrases) with a period.
- Do not keep commented out code in your program. Instead, remove it entirely.

Python Coding Guidelines

Run pep8 on all Python files and correct errors.

Example as run from a Linux command line:

pep8 my_pgm.py

my_pgm.py:41:1: E302 expected 2 blank lines, found 1
my_pgm.py:58:52: W291 trailing whitespace

Include doc strings in every function and follow the guidelines in https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0257/.

Example:

    r"""
    Return the function name associated with the indicated stack frame.

    Description of argument(s):
    stack_frame_ix                  The index of the stack frame whose
                                    function name should be returned.  If
                                    the caller does not specify a value,
                                    this function will set the value to 1
                                    which is the index of the caller's
                                    stack frame.  If the caller is the
                                    wrapper function "print_func_name",
                                    this function will bump it up by 1.
    """

As shown in the prior example, if your function has any arguments, include a "Description of argument(s)" section. This effectively serves as the help text for anyone wanting to use or understand your function. Include real data examples wherever possible and applicable.
Function definitions:
- Put each function parameter on its own line:
```
def func1(parm1,

          parm2):
```
Do not keep commented out code in your program. Instead, remove it entirely.