Project Name

Firefox Performance Testing : A Python framework for Windows

Project Description

The goal of this project is to:

get the current framework up and running to help work with others
get the framework running in an automated fashion
help with the creation and execution of new tests
work to upgrade the framework to work with a mozilla graph server
work with the mozilla community and contribute to an open source project

From this project, you will:

learn python
learn about white box testing methodologies
work with an open source community
more generally learn about the functioning of QA in an open source community

This will benefit you in the future when presented with a new program, you'll be able to give an idea of how to approach testing - to give adequate coverage and be able to provide some metric of program stability and functionality

Note: This is NOT the typical mundane black box testing

Project Leader(s)

Liz Chak (elichak)

Project Contributor(s)

Ben Hearsum (bhearsum)

Set up the VM for performance testing
Helped with the debugging process for report.py, run_tests.py and ts.py

Tom Aratyn (mystic)

Introduced Closures in Python

Alice Nodelman

Discussion on the things that need to be fixed to improve and strengthen the framework

Michael Lau (mylau)

Added comments on the documentation for setting up Python framework for Windows

Project Details

Details

This is different from Tinderbox. Two major differences are:

First, it doesn't build, it just runs the performance test given a path to the executable. This is helpful if you're testing the performance of an extension or a build from another server. (You could build on a fast server, and then run performance tests on a machine with low memory).

Second, it measures performance characteristics while it's running the pageload tests--you can track cpu speed, memory, or any of the other counters listed here.

Progress

Task	Details	Priority	Contributors	Status
Performance Testing Setup Configuration Documentation	The current setup configuration documentations are in text files and are very hard to follow. From my experience, I've missed out a few configuration steps because the documents were all over the place and a tad confusing.	High	Liz Chak	Improving the current documentation so that it's easier to follow Making sure that all the configuration documents are in one place This is done along with the code base work I'm doing 40% completed
Study performance testing framework	The framework has to be strengthened and improved. A discussion with Alice Nodelman is planned to discuss about things that could be done to make the framework stronger.	High	Liz Chak Alice Nodelman Discussion on what needs to be done with the framework Ben Hearsum Set up the VM for performance testing Helped with the debugging process for report.py, run_tests.py and ts.py	Tested the framework and went through the coding in the framework. Made a list of the weaknesses of the framework and planned various resolutions. We have established that the following has to be done: ease configuration of python framework too many config files to edit have to know whole framework to configure it not flexible tedious too many directories to create too many extra libraries to load a lot of dependancies! things have to be copied to special directories bad configurations don't cause errors! 100% completed
Configuration checker	The configuration checker will check if all the configuration is done before running the performance testing. The checker is in run_tests.py and it entails: yaml file validator paths.py validator This can only be done when the yaml file validator and paths.py validator are completed.	High	Liz Chak	0% completed
yaml file validator	In run_tests.py: The validator of yaml file is weak. It only checks for certain items in the file and will crash if those items are not there or if those items doesn't have any value. It doesn't check for unexpected values and doesn't give the user a clue that their yaml file has a problem.	High	Liz Chak Tom Aratyn Introduced closures	Changed the validator to check if items exist before storing the value. If one of the items doesn't exist, the program will terminate and it will let the user know that the yaml file has to be fixed. 90% completed
paths.py validator	Currently the run_tests.py file doesn't validate the paths.py file. If the user misses a path or does a bad directory configuration, the program will crash and give this error: Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\proj\mozilla\testing\ performance\win32\run_tests.py", line 129, in ? test_file(sys.argv[i]) File "C:\proj\mozilla\testing\ performance\win32\run_tests.py", line 122, in test_file TP_RESOLUTION) File "C:\proj\mozilla\testing\ performance\win32\report.py", line 152, in GenerateReport mean = mean / len(ts_times[i]) ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero The following has to be done in the run_tests.py file to validate the paths.py file: checks paths for existance notify user if path doesnt exist and ask user if they want it created check if the directories have contents	High	Liz Chak Alice Nodelman Gave pointers	I have fixed the run_tests.py to check if the user's directories exist on their system and it prompts them to make the directories. I'm currently working on checking if the following directories exist: extension_perf_reports The graphs and results will be generated in this folder extension_perf_testing directory and base_profile directory. There are several levels in the directory. Here is the basic outline of the directory structure: extension_perf_testing(dir) \| \| base_profile (dir) \| \|__ bookmarkbackups (dir) \| \| \| \|__ .html files \| \|__ Cache (dir) \| \|__ .bak, .html, .ini, .dat, .txt, .rdf, .mfl files (most important file - perf.js) I haven't went through a thorough discussion with Alice on which files should be validated in the base_profile dir. From what I've gathered from the other discussions we had, the perf.js file will crash the program is it's non-existent. I have fixed the program to check for the existence of the base_profile dir and it also checks if the bookmarkbackups, Cache dirs and perf.js dir exist. 60% completed
Get all the configuration in one place	The framework is currently very confusing and the configuration is all over the place! This has to be fixed, but it's not the main priority: paths.py, config.yml, constants have to run both ts and tp at the same time	Medium	Liz Chak	0% completed
Setup and test out the current Performance Testing framework using the provided documentation (not mine) to discover more flaws in either the framework or documentation. This will facilitate me in using a more user-oriented approach when improving the framework and documentation	More input is welcome on the current Performance Testing framework to help improve it.	Medium	Liz Chak Mike Lau Setup framework and provided comments on the documentation	on-going
Get class to test out the Performance Testing framework	The improved framework has to be tested to get constructive feedback from the users.	Low	Liz Chak	0% completed

Comments on the current Documentation (By Mike Lau)

Getting Started

I was not sure what to do after unzipping the win32.zip file.

Comments on The README.txt File

The README.txt file is hard to read in notepad. There's horizontal scrolling after opening the file.
The file should have output samples to show the user what output to expect and to ensure they are on the right track.
The pre-requisites part of the README file is missing minimum size to be allocated in the computer to complete the install.
Following the procedures for installation was difficult. The document should number the procedures and have sample outputs to ensure the user is going on the right track
Some of the folders which was listed in the Directory Structure was missing in the setup procedures. The Directory Structure should be used as a guide to ensure users have the right folders in place. Also, there should be an image to represent the directory structure. Some of the folders which needed to be created on top of following the procedures provided were: base_profile, extension_perf_testing, extension_perf_reports
The Setup part was hard to follow. Most of the steps were not intuitive.
Step 4 of the procedures was unclear. I was not sure what kind of YAML config file to be created. The document should tell the user expcity what the file name needs to be called as or tell the user they can call it however they wish. It should also show an example filename as well.

Running The Application

After following the setup procedures, I typed the following command:

c:\> run_tests.py config.YAML

And I got the following error message in the command prompt and a popup window ( Liz Chak - [#Solution to problem]):

Project Problems and Solutions

Problem:

Solution:

In paths.py, the paths for INIT_URL, TS_URL and TP_URL have to be in this format (file:///c:/):

"""The path to the file url to load when initializing a new profile"""
INIT_URL = 'file:///c:/project/mozilla/testing/performance/win32/initialize.html'

"""The path to the file url to load for startup test (Ts)"""
TS_URL = 'file:///c:/project/mozilla/testing/performance/win32/startup_test/startup_test.html?begin='

"""The path to the file url to load for page load test (Tp)"""
TP_URL = 'file:///c:/project/mozilla/testing/performance/win32/page_load_test/cycler.html'

Project News

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Performance tests didn't run sucessfully.

There weren't any results generated in the extension_perf_testing\base_profile and extension_perf_reports folders.
Output after the performance tests were run:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\proj\mozilla\testing\performance\win32\run_tests.py", line 129, in ?
    test_file(sys.argv[i])
  File "C:\proj\mozilla\testing\performance\win32\run_tests.py", line 122, in te
st_file
    TP_RESOLUTION)
  File "C:\proj\mozilla\testing\performance\win32\report.py", line 152, in Gener
ateReport
    mean = mean / len(ts_times[i])
ZeroDivisionError: integer division or modulo by zero

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Understand further the approach to testing with the Python framework

Monday, September 25, 2006

elichak will be working on a resolution with alice to get the results generated in the extension_perf_testing\base_profile and extension_perf_reports folders.

Friday, September 29, 2006

elichak re-configured the environment of the machine to run the tests again. Cleaned up old files to do a clean test. Reinstalled Cygwin (replaced Make 3.80 with Make 3.81) and updated the testing files through CVS.

Sunday, October 1, 2006

Alice has successfully run the tests. The Zero Division error didn't occur again after she updated her test files. There were results generated in the extension_perf_testing\base_profile and extension_perf_reports folders. elichak attempted to run the test with the alice's code but the Zero Divsion Error still occured on her machine.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

Elichak consulted Robcee about the Zero Division Error and he suggested a few things, like debugging the script. Elichak found out that the value of ts_time in the report.py file is empty but couldn't find out why the value of ts_time isn't assigned. According to alice, she didn't debug the scripts and only had to update the files to make them work.

Friday, October 6, 2006

Ben set up the VM for elichak to run her performance testing in that environment.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

elichak configured the environment in the VM for her testing. The tests still gave the same results as before:

Zero Division Error at lines 122 and 129 in run_tests.py and line 153 in report.py
2 files in the extension_perf_reports dir are generated but there are no graphs

elichak also changed the TS_NUM_RUNS, TP_NUM_CYCLES, TP_RESOLUTION values to 1 in run_tests.py to shorten the cycles of the performance testing for the purpose of debugging the scripts.
The error occurs in report.py because ts_time is empty, therefore, this fails:

for ts_time in ts_times[i]:
  mean += float(ts_time)
mean = mean / len(ts_times[i])

Ben assisted elichak with the debugging process. elichak and Ben hacked deeper down into the scripts.

We speculate that the thing that is affecting the value of ts_time being generated is in ffprocess.py: RunProcessAndWaitForOutput always returns None in line 232
```
return (None, True)
```

Further debugging by elichak is in process

Thusday, October 12, 2006

Work completed

The Zero Division Error is solved. Turns out that it was just a configuration problem. The documentation to set up the environment was rather subtle and needs a re-work.

Solution

Contents in the C:\proj\mozilla\testing\performance\win32\base_profile should also be in C:\extension_perf_testing\base_profile dir.

All work for this project is done on the VM, hera.senecac.on.ca

Work in progress

elichak

Trying out a few things in the framework to find out which direction I would like to do to the framework, either building new tests, improving on existing ones, strengthening the framework itself or porting it to other OS's
Revise the Firefox Performance Testing documentation

Friday, 20 Oct 2006

Last week, elichak has established to work on automating the setup of the environment and performance testing. The performance testing and environment setup is currently all over the place and is tedious for the developer to set it up.

The automation will entail:

Generating directories, dropping files in directories, installation of libraries, options to configure the performance testings etc.

Tuesday, 31 Oct 2006

Alice and Liz had a meeting and have established the key things that need to be done. What needs to be done:

ease configuration of python framework
- too many config files to edit
  - have to know whole framework to configure it
  - not flexible
- tedious
- too many directories to create
- too many extra libraries to load
  - a lot of dependancies!
- things have to be copied to special directories
- bad configurations don't cause errors!

How do we fix this?

configuration checker
- yaml file validator
- paths.py validator
  - checking the paths for existance
  - notify user if path doesnt exist and ask user if they want it created
  - checking if the directories have contents
next steps
- get all the configuration in one place!
  - paths.py, config.yml, constants
  - have to run both ts and tp at the same time

Tuesday, 21 Nov 2006

Refer to progress chart. Performance Testing Framework progress chart

Project References

I recommend this site to learn about python:
- Python Cookbook

Project Events

Bon Echo Community Test Day

Friday, October 06, 2006, from 7am - 5pm PDT

Mozilla QA Community:BonEcho 2.0RC1 prerelease Community Test Day

Firefox Performance Testing : A Python framework for Windows

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