Add Checkbox remote base tutorial

checkbox-ng/checkbox_ng/urwid_ui.py

@@ -693,7 +693,7 @@ def interrupt_dialog(host):
  choices = [
  _("Nothing, continue testing (ESC)"),
  _("Stop the test case in progress and move on to the next"),
- _("Disconnect but let the test session continue (CTRL+C)"),
+ _("Pause the test session and disconnect from the agent (CTRL+C)"),
  _("Exit and stop the Checkbox service on the testbed at {}".format(host)),
  _("End this test session preserving its data and launch a new one"),
  ]

docs/explanation/remote.rst

@@ -61,20 +61,13 @@ Examples:
 
  ``checkbox-cli control dut8.local --port 10101``
 
+.. _remote_session_control:
+
 Session control
 ===============
 
 While Controller is connected, sending ``SIGINT`` (pressing ``Ctrl-C``) to the
-application invokes the interrupt screen::
-
- What do you want to interrupt?
-
- (X) Nothing, continue testing (ESC)
- ( ) Stop the test case in progress and move on to the next
- ( ) Disconnect but let the test session continue (CTRL+C)
- ( ) Exit and stop the Checkbox service on the agent at 127.0.0.1
- ( ) End this test session preserving its data and launch a new one
-
+application invokes the interrupt screen which provides the following choices:
 
 Nothing, continue testing (ESC)
  As the name implies, it returns to the session. You can press the ``Esc`` key
@@ -83,19 +76,21 @@ Nothing, continue testing (ESC)
 Stop the test case in progress and move on to the next
  Skip current test case and move to the next.
 
-Disconnect but let the test session continue (CTRL+C)
- Leaves the session on the Agent running, but let the Controller exit.
+Pause the test session and disconnect from the agent (CTRL+C)
+ Leave the session on the Agent running but let the Controller exit.
  Pressing ``Ctrl-C`` a second time will have the same effect. It is possible
  to reconnect to the Agent later on and resume the testing session.
 
 Exit and stop the Checkbox service on the agent at 127.0.0.1
- Stops the session on and terminates the Checkbox process on the Agent. In
- addition, stops the Controller.
+ Stop the current test session and terminate the Checkbox Agent. In
+ addition, stop the Controller.
 
 End this test session preserving its data and launch a new one
- Stops the current session on the Agent and mark it so it is not possible to resume
- it, then immediately starts a new one. The Controller will be greeted with
- the test plan selection screen.
+ Stop the current session on the Agent and mark it so it is not possible to
+ resume it, then immediately start a new one. The Controller will be greeted
+ with the test plan selection screen unless a launcher was used to bypass the
+ selection screens, in which case a similar test session is immediately
+ started.
 
 Remote session characteristics
 ==============================

docs/tutorial/using-checkbox/basic-remote.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,195 @@
+.. _base_tutorial_remote:
+
+==============
+Remote testing
+==============
+
+So far, you have used Checkbox in local mode. It is, however, possible to
+use Checkbox to test a device from another device. In Checkbox language, the
+device being tested is called an :term:`agent<Checkbox Agent>` and the device
+controlling the execution of the tests is called the :term:`controller<Checkbox
+Controller>`. This is the remote mode. In this section, you will use the
+remote mode to execute a test plan.
+
+Agent and controller
+====================
+
+Run the following command:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ systemctl status snap.checkbox.service.service
+
+You should see something like this:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ ● snap.checkbox.service.service - Service for snap application checkbox.service
+ Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/snap.checkbox.service.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
+ Active: active (running) since Fri 2023-07-21 13:38:48 CST; 1h 29min ago
+ Main PID: 1411 (python3)
+ Tasks: 1 (limit: 19014)
+ Memory: 69.7M
+ CPU: 2.537s
+ CGroup: /system.slice/snap.checkbox.service.service
+ └─1411 python3 /snap/checkbox22/current/bin/checkbox-cli service
+
+ Jul 21 13:38:48 coltrane systemd[1]: Started Service for snap application checkbox.service.
+ (...)
+
+When you install Checkbox on a device, a Systemd service is started to turn
+this device into a Checkbox agent.
+
+For the sake of this tutorial, let's stop this service for the moment:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ sudo systemctl stop snap.checkbox.service.service
+
+Now, open two terminal windows using ``Ctrl+Alt+T``. In the first one,
+start the Checkbox agent:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ sudo checkbox.checkbox-cli agent
+
+In the second one, run Checkbox as a controller to connect to the agent:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ checkbox.checkbox-cli control 127.0.0.1
+
+.. note::
+
+ 127.0.0.1 is the IP address pointing to your own computer!
+
+On the agent terminal, you should see something like ``Using `$USER` user``
+where ``$USER`` is your local user name.
+
+On the controller terminal, you should get the list of test plans available. Go
+ahead and select the *TODO* test plan, keep all the tests selected and start
+the test session by pressing ``T``. All the test cases are being executed,
+then Checkbox generates the usual text summary as well as the submission
+files. Notice how the output is slightly different:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ 1.17MB [00:00, 25.3MB/s, file=/home/pieq/.local/share/checkbox-ng/submission_2023-07-21T07.30.46.784342.html]
+ file:///home/pieq/.local/share/checkbox-ng/submission_2023-07-21T07.30.46.784342.html
+ 32.0kB [00:00, 26.6MB/s, file=/home/pieq/.local/share/checkbox-ng/submission_2023-07-21T07.30.46.784342.junit.xml]
+ file:///home/pieq/.local/share/checkbox-ng/submission_2023-07-21T07.30.46.784342.junit.xml
+ 256kB [00:00, 24.1MB/s, file=/home/pieq/.local/share/checkbox-ng/submission_2023-07-21T07.30.46.784342.tar.xz]
+ file:///home/pieq/.local/share/checkbox-ng/submission_2023-07-21T07.30.46.784342.tar.xz
+
+This is because the submission files are generated on the agent, then
+transferred over the network to the controller, so Checkbox displays the
+size of each file as well as some estimated duration for the transfer. Since
+in our case both the agent and the controller are on the same device, the
+transfer is immediate.
+
+Similar to the local mode, Checkbox also asks by default if you want to
+upload the results to the Certification website. Just type ``n`` and press
+``Enter`` to end the session.
+
+On the agent terminal, you can see a message like:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ Finalizing session that hasn't been submitted anywhere: remote-2023-07-21T07.26.58
+
+This means the test session ``remote-2023-07-21T07.26.58`` has been completed
+and it was not uploaded to the Certification website.
+
+If you have another device running Ubuntu, you can try to install Checkbox on
+it, then connect to it using your own computer with the ``checkbox.checkbox-cli
+remote x.x.x.x`` command, replacing ``x.x.x.x`` by the IP address of the
+other device.
+
+Stop the agent running in the terminal by pressing ``Ctrl+C`` in it, then
+restart the Checkbox agent service with:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ sudo systemctl start snap.checkbox.service.service
+
+Launchers in remote mode
+========================
+
+In remote mode, you can use launchers the same way you did in local mode. If
+you still have the launcher file you created in the Launchers section*TODO*,
+run the following command:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ checkbox.checkbox-cli remote 127.0.0.1 mylauncher
+
+This will start a remote test session with the configuration defined in
+your launcher.
+
+The interrupt screen
+====================
+
+When run in remote mode, Checkbox comes with some additional features. One
+of them is the interrupt screen. Run Checkbox remote:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ checkbox.checkbox-cli remote 127.0.0.1
+
+Select the *TODO* test plan, leave all the jobs selected, and press ``T``
+to start the testing session.
+
+Now, while the tests are being executed by the agent, press ``Ctrl+C``
+on the controller. You should see a screen like this:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ Interruption!
+ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+ │ │
+ │ What do you want to interrupt? │
+ │ │
+ │ (X) Nothing, continue testing (ESC) │
+ │ ( ) Stop the test case in progress and move on to the next │
+ │ ( ) Pause the test session and disconnect from the agent (CTRL+C) │
+ │ ( ) Exit and stop the Checkbox service on the agent at 127.0.0.1 │
+ │ ( ) End this test session preserving its data and launch a new one │
+ │ │
+ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
+ Press <Enter> or <ESC> to continue
+
+
+The different choices are explained in the :ref:`Checkbox remote
+explanation <remote_session_control>`. Let's select the option "Exit and
+stop the Checkbox service on the agent" by highlighting it with the arrows
+and pressing ``Space``, then press ``Enter``. Checkbox exits, and you can
+see the Checkbox agent Systemd service is not running anymore:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ systemctl is-active snap.checkbox.service.service
+ inactive
+
+If you try reconnecting to the agent, the controller will wait 5 minutes
+for the agent to be reactivated, after what it will time out:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ checkbox.checkbox-cli remote 127.0.0.1
+ .....
+ Connection timed out.
+
+Restart the agent by typing:
+
+.. code-block:: none
+
+ sudo systemctl start snap.checkbox.service.service
+
+Wrapping up
+===========
+
+In this section, you played with the remote mode of Checkbox which allows to
+control an agent through the network. You stopped and started the Systemd
+service that turns any device into a Checkbox agent, and you connected to
+the Checkbox agent using a Checkbox controller in order to select the test
+plan and the test cases to run, either by hand or using a launcher.