Avocado Test Framework

Avocado is a set of tools and libraries to help with automated testing.

One can call it a test framework with benefits. Native tests are written in Python and they follow the unittest (https://docs.python.org/3.6/library/unittest.html) pattern, but any executable can serve as a test.

Avocado is composed of:

A test runner that lets you execute tests. Those tests can be either written in your language of choice, or be written in Python and use the available libraries. In both cases, you get facilities such as automated log and system information collection.
Libraries that help you write tests in a concise, yet expressive and powerful way. You can find more information about what libraries are intended for test writers at: http://avocado-framework.readthedocs.io/en/latest/api/utils/avocado.utils.html
Plugins that can extend and add new functionality to the Avocado Framework. More info at: http://avocado-framework.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Plugins.html

Avocado is built on the experience accumulated with Autotest (http://autotest.github.io), while improving on its weaknesses and shortcomings.

Installing Avocado

Avocado is primarily written in Python, so a standard Python installation is possible and often preferable.

Tip

If you are looking for Virtualization specific testing, also consider looking at Avocado-VT installation instructions after finishing the Avocado installation.

Installing with standard Python tools

The simplest installation method is through pip. On most POSIX systems with Python 3.4 (or later) and pip available, installation can be performed with a single command:

pip install --user avocado-framework

This will fetch the Avocado package (and possibly some of its dependecies) from the PyPI repository, and will attempt to install it in the user's home directory (usually under ~/.local).

Tip: If you want to perform a system-wide installation, drop the --user switch.

If you want even more isolation, Avocado can also be installed in a Python virtual environment. with no additional steps besides creating and activating the "venv" itself:

python -m venv /path/to/new/virtual_environment
. /path/to/new/virtual_environment/bin/activate
pip install avocado-framework

Please note that this installs the Avocado core functionality. Many Avocado features are distributed as non-core plugins, also available as additional packages on PyPI. You should be able to find them via pip search avocado-framework-plugin | grep avocado-framework-plugin. Some of them are listed below:

avocado-framework-plugin-glib: Execution of GLib Test Framework tests
avocado-framework-plugin-golang: Execution of Golang tests
avocado-framework-plugin-loader-yaml: Loads tests from YAML files
avocado-framework-plugin-result-html: HTML Report for Jobs
avocado-framework-plugin-result-upload: Propagate Job results to remote host
avocado-framework-plugin-resultsdb: Propagate Job results to Resultsdb
avocado-framework-plugin-robot: Execution of Robot Framework tests
avocado-framework-plugin-runner-docker: Runner for Execution on Docker Containers
avocado-framework-plugin-runner-remote: Runner for Remote Execution
avocado-framework-plugin-runner-vm: Runner for libvirt VM Execution
avocado-framework-plugin-varianter-cit: Varianter with combinatorial capabilities
avocado-framework-plugin-varianter-pict: Varianter with combinatorial capabilities by PICT
avocado-framework-plugin-varianter-yaml-to-mux: Parse YAML file into variants

Installing from Packages

Fedora

Avocado is available in stock Fedora 24 and later. The main package name is python-avocado, and can be installed with:

dnf install python-avocado

Other available packages (depending on the Avocado version) may include:

python-avocado-examples: Avocado Test Framework Example Tests
python2-avocado-plugins-output-html: Avocado HTML report plugin
python2-avocado-plugins-runner-remote: Avocado Runner for Remote Execution
python2-avocado-plugins-runner-vm: Avocado Runner for libvirt VM Execution
python2-avocado-plugins-resultsdb: Avocado plugin to propagate job results to ResultsDB
python2-avocado-plugins-runner-docker: Avocado Runner for Execution on Docker Containers
python2-avocado-plugins-varianter-yaml-to-mux: Avocado plugin to generate variants out of yaml files

Fedora from Avocado's own Repo

The Avocado project also makes the latest release, and the LTS (Long Term Stability) releases available from its own package repository. To use it, first get the package repositories configuration file by running the following command:

sudo curl https://avocado-project.org/data/repos/avocado-fedora.repo -o /etc/yum.repos.d/avocado.repo

Now check if you have the avocado and avocado-lts repositories configured by running:

sudo dnf repolist avocado avocado-lts
...
repo id      repo name                          status
avocado      Avocado                            50
avocado-lts  Avocado LTS (Long Term Stability)  disabled

Regular users of Avocado will want to use the standard avocado repository, which tracks the latest Avocado releases. For more information about the LTS releases, please refer to the Avocado Long Term Stability thread (https://www.redhat.com/archives/avocado-devel/2016-April/msg00038.html) and to your package management docs on how to switch to the avocado-lts repo.

Finally, after deciding between regular Avocado releases or LTS, you can install the RPM packages by running the following commands:

dnf install python-avocado

Additionally, other Avocado packages are available for Fedora:

python-avocado-examples: contains example tests and other example files
python2-avocado-plugins-output-html: HTML job report plugin
python2-avocado-plugins-resultsdb: propagate Job results to Resultsdb
python2-avocado-plugins-runner-remote: execution of jobs on a remote machine
python2-avocado-plugins-runner-vm: execution of jobs on a libvirt based VM
python2-avocado-plugins-runner-docker: execution of jobs on a Docker container
python-avocado-plugins-varianter-yaml-to-mux: parse YAML file into variants
python2-avocado-plugins-varianter-pict: varianter with combinatorial capabilities by PICT

Enterprise Linux

Avocado packages for Enterprise Linux are available from the Avocado project RPM repository. Additionally, some packages from the EPEL repo are necessary, so you need to enable it first. For EL7, running the following command should do it:

yum install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm

Then you must use the Avocado project RHEL repo (https://avocado-project.org/data/repos/avocado-el.repo). Running the following command should give you the basic Avocado installation ready:

curl https://avocado-project.org/data/repos/avocado-el.repo -o /etc/yum.repos.d/avocado.repo
yum install python-avocado

Other available packages (depending on the Avocado version) may include:

python-avocado-bash: Avocado Test Framework Bash Utilities
python-avocado-common: Avocado common files
python-avocado-examples: Avocado Test Framework Example Tests
python2-avocado-plugins-glib: Avocado Plugin for Execution of GLib Test Framework tests
python2-avocado-plugins-golang: Avocado Plugin for Execution of golang tests
python2-avocado-plugins-loader-yaml: Avocado Plugin that loads tests from YAML files
python2-avocado-plugins-output-html: Avocado HTML report plugin
python2-avocado-plugins-result-upload: Avocado Plugin to propagate Job results to a remote host
python2-avocado-plugins-resultsdb: Avocado plugin to propagate job results to ResultsDB
python2-avocado-plugins-runner-docker: Avocado Runner for Execution on Docker Containers
python2-avocado-plugins-runner-remote: Avocado Runner for Remote Execution
python2-avocado-plugins-runner-vm: Avocado Runner for libvirt VM Execution
python2-avocado-plugins-varianter-cit: Varianter with Combinatorial Independent Testing capabilities
python2-avocado-plugins-varianter-pict: Varianter with combinatorial capabilities by PICT
python2-avocado-plugins-varianter-yaml-to-mux: Avocado plugin to generate variants out of yaml files

The LTS (Long Term Stability) repositories are also available for Enterprise Linux. For more information about the LTS releases, please refer to http://avocado-framework.readthedocs.io/en/latest/rfcs/LongTermStability.html and to your package management docs on how to switch to the avocado-lts repo.

Latest Development RPM Packages from COPR

Avocado provides a repository of continuously built packages from the GitHub repository's master branch. These packages are currently available for EL7, Fedora 28 and Fedora 29, for both x86_64 and ppc64le.

If you're interested in using the very latest development version of Avocado from RPM packages, you can do so by running:

dnf copr enable @avocado/avocado-latest
dnf install python*-avocado*

The following image shows the status of the Avocado packages building on COPR:

$https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/g/avocado/avocado-latest/package/python-avocado/status_image/last_build.png$

OpenSUSE

The OpenSUSE project packages LTS versions of Avocado (https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/Virtualization:Tests/avocado). You can install packages by running the following commands:

zypper install avocado

Debian

DEB package support is available in the source tree (look at the contrib/packages/debian directory. No actual packages are provided by the Avocado project or the Debian repos.

Setting up a Development Environment

If you want to develop Avocado, or just run it directly from the GIT repository, fetch the source code and run:

make develop

From this point on, running avocado should load everything from your current source code checkout.

Brief Usage Instructions

To list available tests, call the list subcommand. For example:

avocado list

INSTRUMENTED <examples_path>/tests/abort.py:AbortTest.test
INSTRUMENTED <examples_path>/tests/canceltest.py:CancelTest.test
...
SIMPLE       <examples_path>/tests/passtest.sh

To run a test, call the run command:

avocado run <examples_path>/tests/passtest.sh
JOB ID     : <id>
JOB LOG    : <job-results>/job-<date>-<shortid>/job.log
(1/1) <examples_path>/tests/passtest.sh: PASS (0.04 s)
RESULTS    : PASS 1 | ERROR 0 | FAIL 0 | SKIP 0 | WARN 0 | INTERRUPT 0 | CANCEL 0
JOB TIME   : 0.14 s

To continue exploring Avocado, check out the output of avocado --help. When running Avocado out of package-based installs, its man page should also be accessible via man avocado.