[coreboot] [RFC] Tracking run tested coreboot revisions for boards

[Paul Menzel]

Dear coreboot folks,


on IRC Rudolf mentioned that the A8V SE [1] works with the latest
revision of coreboot and he asked if there is a way to tag that in the
repository.

There are several ways to accomplish that but all seem to have down
sides.

1. Git tags. We could use `git tag <board name> <commit>` and interested
folks could then do `git tag | grep <board name>` to find tested
revisions. Peter wrote, that Git tags could slow down the repository and
that only finitely many tags can be used. Would the last point be a
problem for us?

2. Git notes. Peter suggested also to use Git notes. But Rudolf wrote he
finds it difficult to handle.

3. Wiki. We could use the Wiki by either adding tested revisions to the
corresponding board pages or by creating a new page with a table. The
first solution is not feasible because not all boards have their own
page. Patrick wrote that using the Wiki often it gets out of date pretty
quickly. Although in this case I think that would not be a huge problem
considering that the noted revision actually was tested. Additionally
not a lot of developers are comfortable using the Wiki. OpenEmbedded
once did something like that [2].

4. Provide tested images. In addition to specifying the revision such
tested images could be uploaded somewhere so users would not have to
build it themselves. This would not work though, since the
infrastructure is not in place and we have to be careful with images
containing option roms(?).

5. ROM-o-matic.net [3]. Idwer suggested a service similar to
ROM-o-matic.net where know revisions get build by this server and users
can configure an image to be built. That is an interesting idea although
it is probably the most difficult to realize. Could this be a GSoC
project?

6. File in repository. An other suggestion by Patrick and myself is to
put a file in for example `Documentation/working-revisions.mdtext` and
note the tested revision and board there or to put a file in each board
directory and note tested revisions there. The downside is that people
would have to register with Gerrit to submit changes.

If we would manage our Wiki in our repository [4] options 3 and 6 could
be combined.

7. Messages to the list. Thinking about it the easiest solution would be
to create something like the script `alsa-info.sh`. This script collects
the necessary information – in our case for example revision, boards,
cbfs output, used build tools. Even better would be to run that script
on the tested machine so also something like the tested distribution
could be tested.

Then a mbox or text file with an appropriate name/subject line is
created

        [Tested] ASUS M2V-MX SE works with revision <commit>

which gets send to the list by the user or automatically.

People then can search the archive. The only downside is that a nice
table is missing.

All in all I am quite surprised that no nice solutions seem to exist
especially since I would imagine quality assurance (QA) folks in
companies need to maintain similar data.

Please comment and add your ideas.


Thanks,

Paul


[1] http://www.coreboot.org/Supported_Motherboards
[2] http://www.openembedded.org/wiki/Testing
[3] http://rom-o-matic.net/
[4] http://www.coreboot.org/pipermail/coreboot/2011-June/065706.html
[5] http://alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Help_To_Debug
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