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author | willcl-ark <will8clark@gmail.com> | 2022-03-29 13:06:53 +0100 |
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committer | willcl-ark <will8clark@gmail.com> | 2022-03-29 22:40:32 +0100 |
commit | 17648493df478fa9316cc9ed66fe6bc1c2c820a4 (patch) | |
tree | 898a63dd6e7432358a9d824ebbc2a1b56269a6e4 | |
parent | 9e32adbb5c543885b2c01a984bf1e4b80e8cec16 (diff) | |
download | bitcoin-17648493df478fa9316cc9ed66fe6bc1c2c820a4.tar.xz |
doc: Speed up functional test runs using ramdisk
Using a ramdisk for the functional tests can give worthwhile speed-ups
for developers and reviewers.
Add notes to test/README.md on how to setup, use and erase a ramdisk on
Linux.
-rw-r--r-- | test/README.md | 28 |
1 files changed, 28 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/test/README.md b/test/README.md index 8fffde888d..87a3acb768 100644 --- a/test/README.md +++ b/test/README.md @@ -107,6 +107,34 @@ how many jobs to run, append `--jobs=n` The individual tests and the test_runner harness have many command-line options. Run `test/functional/test_runner.py -h` to see them all. +#### Speed up test runs with a ramdisk + +If you have available RAM on your system you can create a ramdisk to use as the `cache` and `tmp` directories for the functional tests in order to speed them up. +Speed-up amount varies on each system (and according to your ram speed and other variables), but a 2-3x speed-up is not uncommon. + +To create a 4GB ramdisk on Linux at `/mnt/tmp/`: + +```bash +sudo mkdir -p /mnt/tmp +sudo mount -t tmpfs -o size=4g tmpfs /mnt/tmp/ +``` + +Configure the size of the ramdisk using the `size=` option. +The size of the ramdisk needed is relative to the number of concurrent jobs the test suite runs. +For example running the test suite with `--jobs=100` might need a 4GB ramdisk, but running with `--jobs=32` will only need a 2.5GB ramdisk. + +To use, run the test suite specifying the ramdisk as the `cachedir` and `tmpdir`: + +```bash +test/functional/test_runner.py --cachedir=/mnt/tmp/cache --tmpdir=/mnt/tmp +``` + +Once finished with the tests and the disk, and to free the ram, simply unmount the disk: + +```bash +sudo umount /mnt/tmp +``` + #### Troubleshooting and debugging test failures ##### Resource contention |