Pele Regression Testing suite

The regression tests are managed using the regression testing tools that are distributed as part of the AMReX Codes. The tools are a custom set of python scripts that orchestrate repository "pull" operations of AMReX and the application codes built on top of it. For each defined test, an executable is built according to compile-time parameters/defines, and is run in serial or parallel; the results of the runs (in the form of plotfiles) are compared with "benchmark" reference solutions. The results of the tests are assembled, formatted in html. If any of the tests fail, an email is (optionally) generated and sent to a specified list of recipients.

This repository contains configuration files for use with the AMReX regression test suite that have been customized to the Pele project. These regression tests are also set up to be run on designated "runner" machines, triggered on git merge requests, pushes, or other relevant events.

In order to run the tests (either manually/locally or on an automated runner), a scratch area on the runner machine is designated for each cloned repository needed to build the tests, and the regression test results (including the benchmark results). A key design feature of the regression suite is that the reference solutions can be updated manually at any time. This is necessary when, for example, a bug is discovered or an algorithm change results in improved solutions or modified error metrics. For this reason, the initial set of benchmarks need to be created manually before the first test is executed.

Setting up the test runner with an AMReX application

The following example commands will clone the required repositories into a scratch area, build the benchmarks and run the tests. The tests require a clone of the AMReX regression test suite, the AMReX library, and the relevant Pele codes to test. In this example, we are testing PeleC, and so need PelePhysics and, of course, PeleC. We assume that the following environment variables are set for these steps

• PELE_REGTEST_HOME: Location where this repository has been cloned
• AMREX_HOME: Location of scratch repository for AMReX
• AMREX_REGTEST_HOME: Location containing AMReX regression testing (cloned from github.com:AMReX-Codes/regression_testing)
• PELEC_HOME: Location of scratch PeleC repository to be tested
• PELE_PHYSICS_HOME: Location of scratch PelePhysics repository needed to support PeleC

1. Move to the root of this repository and create the folder to contain the test results

   cd ${PELE_REGTEST_HOME}; mkdir -p TestData/PeleC
   

2. Create a clone of AMReX, the AMReX regression_testing suite, PeleC and PelePhysics. Note that the testing suite may optionally checkout specific branches or SHA1 commits of the needed repositories, but will always restore the repository to it's original state afterward. Nevertheless, it is suggested to make a clone locally for the exclusive use of the regression test runners.

   git clone git@github.com:AMReX-Codes/amrex.git ${AMREX_HOME}
   git clone git@github.com:AMReX-Codes/regression_testing.git ${AMREX_REGTEST_HOME}
   git clone git@github.com:AMReX-Combustion/PeleC.git ${PELEC_HOME}
   git clone git@github.com:AMReX-Combustion/PelePhysics.git ${PELE_PHYSICS_HOME}
   

3. Generate the initial benchmark solution. Rerunning this at any time will overwrite the previous versions of the benchmarks

   ${AMREX_REGTEST_HOME}/regtest.py --make_benchmarks "Benchmarks 20161012" ${PELE_REGTEST_HOME}/Scripts/PeleC-tests.ini
   

Note that the file at the end of this line is typically taken from the app repo (usually in Testing/Regression/XXX-tests.ini), and written in this location after customizing for your folder setup. There are scripts in this repo in the Scripts folder that show how you might do this on-the-fly.

4. Upon some trigger event, re-run the tests and format the results in html. In this case, the results will appear as TestData/PeleC/www/index.html

   ${AMREX_REGTEST_HOME}/regtest.py ${PELE_REGTEST_HOME}/Scripts/PeleC-tests.ini