ANN: Client/server test harness - Crucible 1.7

[Bryce Harrington]

Hi all,

This is an announcement of a new 1.7 release of the Crucible automated
build and test tool.  Much has changed in this release, most notably
including a new installation system.  Kernel building has also been much
improved.

Download code here:

    http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/crucible/crucible-1.7.tar.gz

Crucible provides a powerful, flexible backend for building automated
testing systems. It allows for conducting tests on multiple machines
(via NFS), including patching, rebuilding, and booting new kernels,
libraries, and services. Configuration and customization can be done
through simple config files and bash scripts. It is suitable for
performing tests of GUI applications, services, libraries, and kernel
patches.

We've been doing some testing of Samba with Crucible, to compare with
NFSv4.  We're hoping to publish the results in the next month or two,
and will post here when they're available.  If anyone else is interested
in this, lemme know.

Changes:  A new installation system is in place, which should make it
straightforward to getting a basic crucible install up and running
quickly.  Lots of documentation has been added.  There is a new
post-installation test 'make installcheck'.  Directory locations have
been abstracted.  Internals have been abstracted and generalized, giving
more flexibility for customization/extension.  Several new subcommands
added to 'sut' script for managing system images, adding new machines,
etc.  A new queue_plan script is added for doing easier one-off
testruns.  Kernel building is more robust and generalized.

Bryce