Running autopkgtest on porter boxes: dd-autopkgtest

[Michael Banck <mbanck@debian.org>]

Hi,

it's possible for DDs to build/test packages on porter boxes via
dd-schroot-cmd, see https://dsa.debian.org/doc/schroot/.

However, e.g. arm64 autopkgtest failures are RC bugs and so far, it was
difficult to reproduce and debug those on the porter boxes, at least I
was not aware of an easy way to run autopkgtest on those.

During the Online MiniDebConf today I hacked a bit around, and (with
some help from Antonio Terceiro) came up with the following
proof-of-concept script:
https://salsa.debian.org/mbanck/dd-autopkgtest/-/blob/master/dd-autopkgtest

You can run this with a source package name on one of the porter boxes,
like: 

./dd-autopkgtest foo

It will then (i) create a working directory with the name of the source
package, (ii) bootstrap a schroot, (iii) install autopkgtest, the test
dependencies and the binaries in the schroot and (iv) run autopkgtest.
It will drop you in a shell if autopkgtest fails.

The primary limitation is that you can only test binary packages that
are in unstable already, because dd-schroot-cmd does not allow to
install local packages. I have not extended the script for other
distributions than unstable, but that should be possible.

Bugs, merge requests, suggestions and comments welcome!


Michael