diff options
| author | Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org> | 2026-03-04 07:16:46 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org> | 2026-03-06 13:18:04 -0800 |
| commit | 8e235bc43326f47adfd77d926c7d6ad39077569a (patch) | |
| tree | d729220bb3c5ea656d715dfdeb88f2a3ea1296e2 /Documentation/process | |
| parent | 13f0dd7ed1e1ebc8561efe23a3ab11b26fafc1aa (diff) | |
docs: netdev: refine netdevsim testing guidance
The library to create tests for both NIC HW and netdevsim has existed
for almost a year. netdevsim-only tests we get increasingly feel like
a waste, we should try to write tests that work both on netdevsim and
real HW. Refine the guidance accordingly.
Reviewed-by: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260304151647.2770466-1-kuba@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/process')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst | 10 |
1 files changed, 8 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst b/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst index 6bce4507d5d3..3aa13bc2405d 100644 --- a/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst +++ b/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst @@ -479,8 +479,14 @@ netdevsim ``netdevsim`` is a test driver which can be used to exercise driver configuration APIs without requiring capable hardware. -Mock-ups and tests based on ``netdevsim`` are strongly encouraged when -adding new APIs, but ``netdevsim`` in itself is **not** considered +Mock-ups and tests based on ``netdevsim`` are encouraged when +adding new APIs with complex logic in the stack. The tests should +be written so that they can run both against ``netdevsim`` and a real +device (see ``tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/README.rst``). +``netdevsim``-only tests should focus on testing corner cases +and failure paths in the core which are hard to exercise with a real driver. + +``netdevsim`` in itself is **not** considered a use case/user. You must also implement the new APIs in a real driver. We give no guarantees that ``netdevsim`` won't change in the future |