Merge pull request #8 from jernst/main

Add earliest-access howto blog post

content/_index.md

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ for the rest of the site.
 
 ### Most recent posts
 
+* {{% pageref "/blog/2024-04-09-earliest-access.md" %}}
 * {{% pageref "/blog/2024-03-29-early-feedback.md" %}}
 * {{% pageref "/blog/2024-02-28-early-show-and-tell-and-feedback.md" %}}
 

content/blog/2024-04-09-earliest-access.md

@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+---
+title: "Early(est) access to work in progress on FediTest and the Fediverse test suite"
+date: 2024-04-09
+author: Johannes Ernst
+authorurl: https://j12t.org/
+---
+
+If you are interested in running basically the same thing that was shown in
+the recent [FediTest show and tell](https://fedidevs.org/notes/2024-03-07/), here is how you
+do that.
+
+There are many disclaimers, as this is early work.
+
+* It doesn't really test much. The focus of this early(est) release is to let you play
+  with the approach we are taking, so we can get feedback as early as possible and
+  build something that might actually be useful :-)
+
+* For now, you have to run it exactly in the configuration documented below.
+
+* Reach out with problems at [@feditest@mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/@feditest)
+  or file [isses against the FediTest framework](https://github.com/fediverse-devnet/feditest/issues/)
+  or [issues against the tests themselves](https://github.com/fediverse-devnet/feditest-tests-fediverse/issues/).
+
+So here is what you do. It probably sounds fairly complicated, but it isn't as bad as
+it sounds.
+
+* For this early access, you need to run FediTest in a Linux container that runs
+  [UBOS](https://ubos.net/).
+
+  The easiest way to do this is to run a UBOS development virtual machine, because the
+  container setup is automated there. Which virtual machine to run depends on which operating
+  system and CPU architecture you are on (e.g. VirtualBox or not).
+
+  Go to the [UBOS Developer setup](https://ubos.net/docs/development/setup/), pick
+  one of the options, and follow the instructions. Ignore what it says about UBOS Mesh.
+
+* Come back here once you have your development virtual machine running, and the Linux
+  container in it.
+
+* Now, in the non-root shell you started in your container with `machinectl shell ...`,
+  create a suitable working directory and check out both the FediTest framework code
+  and what wants to become the test suite:
+
+  ```
+  % git clone https://github.com/fediverse-devnet/feditest.git
+  % git clone https://github.com/fediverse-devnet/feditest-tests-fediverse.git
+  ```
+
+* Build and install the FediTest framework in a virtual Python environment:
+
+  ```
+  % cd feditest
+  % python -mvenv venv
+  % venv/bin/pip install .
+  ```
+
+* Now change directories into the repo that contain the test and run `feditest` from
+  there:
+
+  ```
+  % cd ../feditest-tests-fediverse
+  % ../feditest/venv/bin/feditest
+  ```
+
+  (You may want to create an alias to make the invocation simpler, e.g.
+  `alias feditest=../feditest/venv/bin/feditest` and then simply say `feditest`
+  instead of the full path.)
+
+And now you can try it out:
+
+* See the sub-commands and flags defined so far:
+
+  ```
+  % ../feditest/venv/bin/feditest --help
+  ```
+
+* List the tests that have been defined so far:
+
+  ```
+  % ../feditest/venv/bin/feditest list-tests
+  ```
+
+* Find out more information about a particular test:
+
+  ```
+  % ../feditest/venv/bin/feditest info --test sandbox.test_1
+  ```
+
+* Tests are grouped into test sets, so they are more easily manageable. To find out
+  what test sets there are:
+
+  ```
+  % ../feditest/venv/bin/feditest list-testsets
+  ```
+
+* FediTest interacts with applications-under-test by means of an abstraction called
+  a `NodeDriver`. We'll probably end up with various `NodeDrivers` for applications
+  that are installed/provisioned in various ways. To see what `NodeDrivers` are
+  currently available:
+
+  ```
+  % ../feditest/venv/bin/feditest list-nodedrivers
+  ```
+
+and finally, the thing you have been waiting for:
+
+* To run the default test plan at `feditest-default.json` with verbose mode turned on:
+
+  ```
+  % ../feditest/venv/bin/feditest -v run
+  ```
+
+  During the test run with this test plan, both Mastodon and WordPress with the ActivityPub
+  plugin arespun up
+  and torn down after the test by way of `ubos-admin deploy` and `ubos-admin undeploy`
+  (see https://ubos.net/docs/operation/ubos-admin/#ubos-admin-deploy ... the Site JSON
+  file referenced there is in directory `ubos-sites` in case you are curious).
+
+* To run a non-default test plan:
+
+  ```
+  % ../feditest/venv/bin/feditest -v run --testplan example-testplans/testplan-sandbox.json
+  ```
+
+For feedback, one more time: Reach out with problems at [@feditest@mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/@feditest)
+or file [isses against the FediTest framework](https://github.com/fediverse-devnet/feditest/issues/)
+or [issues against the tests themselves](https://github.com/fediverse-devnet/feditest-tests-fediverse/issues/).