Bug#982598: incomplete logs for autopkg tests
Package: release.debian.org
Severity: important
Tags: sid bullseye
As seen with glibc autopkg tests [1], the Debian CI infrastructure doesn't store
complete build logs, cutting these to 20MB (uncompressed), resulting in ~450k
compressed logs. This might not be important for successful tests, but it
doesn't provide any information for failed tests, as the summary at the end is
always cut. Looking at the Ubuntu CI testers, you see that the glibc log for a
successful test can reach 150MB, compressed 3.5GB [2]. With a glibc patch to
not stop on test failures with the first pass [3], logs for failed tests can
also reach that size.
The outcome of tests is used by the release team to make decisions about the
upcoming release [4]. Pointing out to a failed log which doesn't provide useful
information is not helpful, and does cost volunteer time to analyze. In this
case it turned out to be the flaky test infrastructure, and retries resulted in
a successful test. Good luck with that for a real regression ...
As pointed out in another context, "machine time is cheap, volunteer time is
not" [5], as well as machine storage is cheap compared to volunteer time, so
please stop cutting the autopkg test logs.
Matthias
[1] https://ci.debian.net/packages/g/glibc/unstable/amd64/
[2] https://autopkgtest.ubuntu.com/packages/g/glibc/hirsute/amd64
[3] https://bugs.debian.org/982360
[4] https://lists.debian.org/debian-release/2021/02/msg00006.html
[5] https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2021/02/msg00175.html
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