Tasks#

Ontology for generic tasks#

While tasks are unique in theory, we can have different tasks sharing some commonalities. In the Debian context in particular, we have different ways to build Debian packages with different helper programs (sbuild, pbuilder, etc.) and we want those tasks to reuse the same set of parameters so that they can be called interchangeably.

This public interface is materialized by a generic task that can be scheduled by the users and that will run one of the available implementations that can run on one of the available workers.

This section documents those generic tasks and their interface.

Task PackageBuild#

A generic task to represent a package build, i.e. the act of transforming a source package (.dsc) into binary packages (.deb).

The task_data associated to this task can contain the following keys:

  • input (required): a dictionary describing the input data

    • source_artifact_id (required): source_artifact_id pointing to a source package, it is used to retrieve the source package to build.

  • distribution (required): name of the target distribution

  • extra_repositories (optional): a list of extra repositories to enable. Each repository is described by a dictionary with the following possible keys:

    • sources_list: a single-line for an APT’s sources.list file

    • authentication_key (optional): the ascii-armored public key used to authenticate the repository

  • host_architecture (required): the architecture that we want to build for, it defines the architecture of the resulting architecture-specific .deb (if any)

  • build_architecture (optional, defaults to the host architecture): the architecture on which we want to build the package (implies cross-compilation if different from the host architecture). Can be explicitly set to the undefined value (Python’s None or JavaScript’s null) if we want to allow cross-compilation with any build architecture.

  • build_components (optional, defaults to any): list that can contain the following 3 words (cf dpkg-buildpackage --build=any,all,source):

    • any: enables build of architecture-specific .deb

    • all: enables build of architecture-independent .deb

    • source: enables build of the source package (.dsc)

  • build_profiles: list of build profiles to enable during package build (cf dpkg-buildpackage --build-profiles)

  • build_options: value of DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS during build

  • build_path (optional, default unset): forces the build to happen through a path named according to the passed value. When this value is not set, there’s no restriction on the name of the path.

Task SystemBootstrap#

A generic task to represent the bootstrapping of a Debian system out of an APT repository. The end result of such a task is to generate an artifact of category debian:system-tarball.

The task_data associated to this task can contain the following keys:

  • bootstrap_options: a dictionary with a few global options:

    • variant (optional): maps to the --variant command line option of debootstrap

    • extra_packages (optional): list of extra packages to include in the bootstrapped system

    • architecture (required): the native architecture of the built Debian system. The task will be scheduled on a system of that architecture.

  • bootstrap_repositories: a list of repositories used to bootstrap the Debian system. Note that not all implementations might support multiple repositories.

    • types (optional): a list of source types to enable among deb (binary repository) and deb-src (source repository). Defaults to a list with deb only.

    • mirror (required): the base URL of a mirror containing APT repositories in $mirror/dists/$suite

    • suite (required): name of the distribution’s repository to use for the bootstrap

    • components (optional): list of components to use in the APT repository (e.g. main, contrib, non-free, …)

    • check_signature_with (optional, defaults to system): indicates whether we want to check the repository signature with the system-wide keyrings (system), or with the external keyring documented in the in the keyring key (value external), or whether we don’t want to check it at all (value no-check).

    • keyring_package (optional): install an extra keyring package in the bootstrapped system

    • keyring (optional): provide an external keyring for the bootstrap

      • url (required): URL of the external keyring to download

      • sha256sum (optional): SHA256 checksum of the keyring to validate the downloaded file

      • install (boolean, defaults to False): if True, the downloaded keyring is installed and used in the target system.

  • customization_script (optional): a script that is copied in the target chroot, executed from inside the chroot and then removed. It lets you perform arbitrary customizations to the generated system. You can use apt to install extra packages. If you want to use something more elaborated than a shell script, you need to make sure to install the appropriate interpreter during the bootstrap phase with the extra_packages key.

Task SystemImageBuild#

This generic task is an extension of the SystemBootstrap generic task: it should generate a disk image artifact complying with the debian:system-image definition. That disk image contains a Debian-based system matching the description provided by the SystemBootstrap interface.

The following additional keys are supported:

  • disk_image

    • format (required): desired format for the disk image. Supported values are raw and qcow2.

    • filename (optional): filename of the generated disk image

    • kernel_package (optional): name of the kernel package to install, default value is architecture specific.

    • bootloader (optional): name of the bootloader package to use, default value is architecture specific.

    • partitions (required): a list of partitions, each represented by a dictionary with the following keys:

      • size (required): size of the partition in gigabytes

      • filesystem (required): filesystem used in the partition, can be none for no filesystem, swap for a swap partition, or freespace for free space that doesn’t result in any partition (it will thus just offset the position of the following partitions).

      • mountpoint (optional, defaults to none): mountpoint of the partition in the target system, can be none for a partition that doesn’t get a mountpoint.

Specifications of tasks#

This section lists all the available tasks, with the input that they are accepting, the description of what they are doing, including the artifacts that they are generating.

The tasks listed in this section are those that you can use to submit work requests.

Autopkgtest task#

The task_data associated to this task can contain the following keys:

  • input (required): a dictionary describing the input data:

    • source_arfifact_id (required): the ID of the artifact representing the source package to be tested with autopkgtest

    • binary_artifacts_ids (required): a list of debian:binary-packages artifact IDs representing the binary packages to be tested with autopkgtest (they are expected to be part of the same source package as the one identified with source_artifact_id)

    • context_artifacts_ids (optional): a list of debian:binary-packages artifact IDs representing a special context for the tests. This is used to trigger autopkgtests of reverse dependencies, where context_artifacts_ids is set to the artifacts of the updated package whose reverse dependencies are tested, and source/binary artifact IDs are one of the reverse dependency whose autopkgtests will be executed.

  • architecture (required): the Debian architecture that will be used in the chroot or VM where tests are going to be run. The packages submitted in input:binary_artifacts_ids usually have a matching architecture (but need not in the case of cross-architecture package testing, eg. testing i386 packages in an amd64 system).

  • environment_id (required): Artifact ID of the debian:system-tarball or debian:system-image (as appropriate for the selected backend) that will be used to run the tests.

  • backend (optional): the virtualization backend to use, defaults to auto where the task is free to use the most suitable backend. Other valid options are schroot, lxc, qemu, podman, unshare.

Note

We are not supporting all backends as there’s a cost in supporting the required infrastructure setup to make use of all the backends. For schroot, we already have that due to the sbuild task. For podman, unshare, and qemu we can do all the setup without root rights. For lxc it’s the reference used by Debian and we want to support it too.

  • include_tests (optional): a list of the tests that will be executed. If not provided (or empty), defaults to all tests being executed. Translates into --test-name=TEST command line options.

  • exclude_tests (optional): a list of tests that will skipped. If not provided (or empty), then no tests are skipped. Translates into the --skip-test=TEST command line options.

  • debug_level (optional, defaults to 0): a debug level between 0 and 3. Translates into -d up to -ddd command line options.

  • extra_apt_sources (optional): a list of APT sources. Each APT source is described by a single line (deb http://MIRROR CODENAME COMPONENT) that is copied to a file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d. Translates into --add-apt-source command line options.

  • use_packages_from_base_repository (optional, defaults to False): if True, then we pass --apt-default-release=$DISTRIBUTION with the name of the base distribution given in the distribution key.

  • environment (optional): a dictionary listing environment variables to inject in the build and test environment. Translates into (multiple) --env=VAR=VALUE command line options.

  • needs_internet (optional, defaults to “run”): Translates directly into the --needs-internet command line option. Allowed values are “run”, “try” and “skip”.

  • fail_on (optional): indicates whether the work request must be marked as failed in different scenario identified by the following sub-keys:

    • failed_test (optional, defaults to true): at least one test has failed (and the test was not marked as flaky).

    • flaky_test (optional, defaults to false): at least one flaky test has failed.

    • skipped_test (optional, defaults to false): at least one test has been skipped.

  • timeout (optional): a dictionary where each key/value pair maps to the corresponding --timeout-KEY=VALUE command line option with the exception of the global key that maps to --timeout=VALUE. Supported keys are global, factor, short, install, test, copy and build.

Note

At this point, we have voluntarily not added any key for the --pin-packages option because that option is not explicit enough: differences between the mirror used to schedule jobs and the mirror used by the jobs result in tests that are not testing the version that we want. At this point, we believe it’s better to submit all modified packages explicitly via input:context_artifacts_ids so that we are sure of the .deb that we are submitting and testing with. That way we can even test reverse dependencies before the modified package is available in any repository.

This assumes that we can submit arbitrary .deb on the command line and that they are effectively used as part of the package setup.

autopkgtest is always run with the options --apt-upgrade --output-dir=ARTIFACT-DIR --summary=ARTIFACT-DIR/summary --no-built-binaries. An artifact of category debian:autopkgtest is generated and its content is a copy of what’s available in the ARTIFACT-DIR (except for files in binaries/, they are excluded to save space). The artifact has “relates to” relationships for the artifacts used as input that are part of the source package being tested.

The data field of the artifact has the following structure:

  • results: a dictionary with details about the tests that have been run. Each key is the name of the test (as shown in the summary file) and the value is another dictionary with the following keys:

    • status: one of PASS, FAIL, FLAKY or SKIPPED

    • details: more details when available

  • cmdline: the complete command line that has been used for the run

  • source_package: a dictionary with some information about the source package hosting the tests that have been run. It has the following sub-keys:

    • name:the name of the source package

    • version: the version of the source package

    • url: the URL of the source package

  • architecture: the architecture of the system where tests have been run

  • distribution: the distribution of the system where tests have been run (formatted as VENDOR:CODENAME)

Debootstrap task (NOT IMPLEMENTED YET)#

The debootstrap task implements the SystemBootstrap interface except that it only supports a single repository in the bootstrap_repositories key.

On top of the keys defined in that interface, it also supports the following additional keys in task_data:

  • bootstrap_options

    • script: last parameter on debootstrap’s command line

The various keys in the first entry of bootstrap_repositories are mapped to the corresponding command line options and parameters:

  • mirror, suite and script map to positional command line parameters

  • components maps to --components

  • check_signature maps to --check-gpg or --no-check-gpg

  • keyring_package maps to an extra package name in --include

  • keyring maps to --keyring

The following keys from bootstrap_options are also mapped: * variant maps to --variant * extra_packages maps to --include

Mmdebstrap task#

The mmdebstrap task fully implements the SystemBootstrap interface.

On top of the keys defined in that interface, it also supports the following additional keys in task_data:

  • bootstrap_options

    • use_signed_by (defaults to True): if set to False, then we do not pass the keyrings to APT via the Signed-By sources.list option, instead we rely on the --keyring command line parameter.

The keys from bootstrap_options are mapped to command line options:

  • variant maps to --variant (and it supports more values than debootstrap, see its manual page)

  • extra_packages maps to --include

The keys from bootstrap_repositories are used to build a sources.list file that is then fed to mmdebstrap as input.

SimpleSystemImageBuild task (NOT IMPLEMENTED YET)#

The simplesystemimagebuild task implements the SystemImageBuild interface except that it expects a single entry in the list of partitions: the entry for the root filesystem (thus with a mountpoint of /).

In terms of compliance with the SystemBootstrap interface, the bootstrap phase only uses a single repository but the remaining repositories are enabled after the bootstrap.

This task is implemented with the help of the debos tool.

Lintian task#

The task_data associated to this task can contain the following keys:

  • input (required): a dictionary of values describing the input data, one of the sub-keys is required but both can be given at the same time too.

    • source_arfifact_id (optional): the ID of the artifact representing the source package to be tested with lintian

    • binary_artifacts_ids (optional): a list of debian:binary-packages artifact IDs representing the binary packages to be tested with lintian (they are expected to be part of the same source package as the one identified with source_artifact_id)

Note

While it’s possible to submit only a source or only a single binary artifact, you should aim to always submit source + arch-all + arch-any related artifacts to have the best test coverage as some tags can only be emitted when lintian has access to all of them at the same time.

  • output (optional): a dictionary of values controlling some aspects of the generated artifacts

    • source_analysis (optional, defaults to True): indicates whether we want to generate the debian:lintian artifact for the source package

    • binary_all_analysis (optional, defaults to True): same as source_analysis but for the debian:lintian artifact related to Architecture: all packages

    • binary_any_analysis (optional, defaults to True): same as source_analysis but for the debian:lintian artifact related to Architecture: any packages

  • target_distribution (optional): the fully qualified name of the distribution that will provide the lintian software to analyze the packages. Defaults to debian:unstable.

  • min_lintian_version (optional): request that the analysis be performed with a lintian version that is higher or equal to the version submitted. If a satisfying version is not pre-installed and cannot be installed with apt-get install lintian, then the work request is aborted.

  • include_tags (optional): a list of the lintian tags that are allowed to be reported. If not provided (or empty), defaults to all. Translates into the --tags or --tags-from file command line option.

  • exclude_tags (optional): a list of the lintian tags that are not allowed to be reported. If not provided (or empty), then no tags are hidden. Translates into the --suppress-tags or --suppress-tags-from file command line option.

  • fail_on_severity (optional, defaults to none): if the analysis emits tags of that severity or higher, then the task will return a “failure” instead of a “success”. Valid values are (in decreasing severity) “error”, “warning”, “info”, “pedantic”, “experimental”, “overridden”. “none” is a special value indicating that we should never fail.

The lintian runs will always use the options --display-level ">=classification" (>=pedantic in jessie) --no-cfg --display-experimental --info --show-overrides to collect the full set of data that lintian can provide.

Note

Current lintian can generate “masked” tags (with M: prefix) when you use --show-overrides. For the purpose of debusine, we entirely ignore those tags on the basis that it’s lintian’s decision to hide them (and not the maintainer’s decision) and as such, they don’t bring any useful information. Lintian is full of exceptions to not emit some tags and the fact that some tags rely on a modular exception mechanism that can be diverted to generate masked tags is not useful to package maintainers.

For those reasons, we suggested to lintian’s maintainers to entirely stop emitting those tags in https://bugs.debian.org/1053892

Between 1 to 3 artifacts of category debian:lintian will be generated (one for each source/binary package artifact submitted) and they will have a “relates to” relationship with the corresponding artifact that has been analyzed. These artifacts contain a lintian.txt file with the raw (unfiltered) lintian output and an analysis.json file with the details about all the tags discovered (in a top-level tags key), some statistics/summary (in a top-level summary key) and a version key with the value 1.0 if the content follows the (initial) JSON structure described below.

The summary key is also duplicated in the data field of the artifact. It is a dictionary with the following keys:

  • tags_count_by_severity: a dictionary with a sub-key for each of the possible severities documenting the number of tags of the corresponding severity that have been emitted by lintian

  • package_filename: a dictionary mapping the name of the binary or source package to its associated filename (will be a single key dictionary for the case of a source package lintian analysis, and a multiple keys one for the case of an analysis of binary packages)

  • tags_found: the list of non-overridden tags that have been found during the analysis

  • overridden_tags_found: the list of overridden tags that have been found during the analysis

  • lintian_version: the lintian version used for the analysis

  • distribution: the distribution in which lintian has been run

The tags key in analysis.json is a sorted list of tags where each tag is represented with a dictionary. The list is sorted by the following criteria:

  • binary package name in alphabetical order (if relevant)

  • severity (from highest to lowest)

  • tag name (alphabetical order)

  • tag details (alphabetical order)

Each tag is represented with the following fields:

  • tag: the name of the tag

  • severity: one of the possible severities (see below for full list)

  • package: the name of the binary or source package (there is no risk of confusion between a source and a binary of the same name as the artifact with the analysis is dedicated either to a source packages or to a set of binary packages, but not to both at the same time)

  • note: the details associated to the tag (those are printed after the tag name in the lintian output)

  • pointer: the optional part shown between angle brackets that gives a specific location for the issue (often a filename and a line number)

  • explanation: the long description shown after a tag with --info, aka the lines prefixed with N: (they always start and end with an empty line)

  • comment: the maintainer’s comment shown on lines prefixed with N: just before a given overridden tag (those lines can be identified by the lack of an empty line between them and the tag)

Note

Here’s the ordered list of all the possible severities (from highest to lowest):

  • error

  • warning

  • info

  • pedantic

  • experimental

  • overridden

  • classification

Note that experimental and overridden are not true tag severities, but lintian’s output replaces the usual severity field for those tags with X or O and it is thus not easily possible to capture the original severity.

And while classification is implemented like a low-severity issue, those tags do not represent real issues, they are just a convenient way to export data generated while doing the analysis.

Sbuild task#

Regarding inputs, the sbuild task is compatible with the ontology defined for Task PackageBuild even though it implements only a subset of the possible options at this time.

Currently unsupported PackageBuild task keys:

  • extra_repositories

  • build_architecture / build_profiles

  • build_options

  • build_path

Specific options:

  • sbuild_options: command-line options to pass to sbuild. Note: this is a temporary feature; to avoid arbitrary command execution on the worker, we will prevent that in the long term.

Output artifacts and relationships:

  1. debian:package-build-log: sbuild output

    • relates-to: source_artifact_id

    • relates-to: b

  2. debian:binary-packages: the binary packages (*.deb) built from the source package

    • relates-to: source_artifact_id

  3. debian:upload: b plus the right administrative files (.changes, .buildinfo) necessary for its binary upload

    • extends: b

    • relates-to: b

  4. debusine:work-request-debug-logs: debusine-specific worker logs

    • relates-to: source_artifact_id

Piuparts task#

A specific task to represent a binary package check using the piuparts utility.

The task_data associated to this task can contain the following keys:

  • input (required): a dictionary describing the input data

    • binary_artifacts_ids (required): a list of debian:binary-packages artifact IDs representing the binary packages to be tested. Multiple Artifacts can be provided so as to support e.g. testing binary packages from split indep/arch builds.

  • distribution (required): name of the target distribution.

  • host_architecture (required): the architecture that we want to test on.

The piuparts output will be provided as a new artifact.