Re: Exeter testing, next steps

[David Gibson <david@gibson.dropbear.id.au>]

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On Wed, Aug 13, 2025 at 08:04:23PM +0200, Stefano Brivio wrote:
> On Wed, 6 Aug 2025 11:11:24 +1000
> David Gibson <david@gibson.dropbear.id.au> wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, Aug 05, 2025 at 09:52:41AM +0200, Stefano Brivio wrote:
> > >
> > > > If we can start introducing some exeter tests, the next step would be
> > > > to work on the support library stuff for constructing more complex
> > > > network environments from namespaces.  I have draft series with this
> > > > as well, but I was looking at splitting it into another mini-project
> > > > (tentative name "sinte" - Simulated Inter Network Test Environment).  
> > > 
> > > Neat! That sounds like the juicy part and surely one part we really
> > > miss at this point. I would go as far as proposing PESTO (playground
> > > environment simplifies test orchestration / spurs test opportunities)
> > > but "sinte" sounds good to me as well.  
> > 
> > I kind of love the "pesto" acronym, but the proposed expansions don't
> > quite work for me though: they don't say anything specifically about
> > networking, and it's really not about test orchestration - this is
> > about how to write a single test.
> 
> I couldn't come up with much better (and didn't get to actually review
> the patches) yet, but I just wanted to quickly mention that by
> "orchestration" I was referring to juggling namespaces and virtual
> machines (at some point...?) with virtual links around, within a single
> test.

That makes sense, but I don't think that meaning is obvious within the
name alone.

> And maybe at some point networking could be marginal in the whole thing.

Hm.  Maybe.  At this point handling network environments and
specifically *inter* network environments is really my focus though.

> > The infuriating thing is I'm pretty sure I came up with a much better
> > tentative name months ago, and then forgot it.
> 
> I know you meant it for something else, but I'm wondering if you're
> referring to NUDEL perhaps.

No, I think I had a tentative name specifically for this network
simulation thingy.  *brainstorms*

One idea I had was

"instead" - Inter Network Simulated Test Environment <something
something>.  "with Arbitary Devices" maybe?

That might be the one I'm thinking of, but I think I had one I liked
better.

Had a chat with Gemini and came up with a handful more options:

"mimic" - Multi-host Inter-network Mock Infrastructure Construct

"isthmus" - Inter-network Simulation & Test Harness for Multiple
Underlying Systems

"ross" - "Routing & Orchestration Simulation System"

Or, maybe..

"tunbridge" - <backronym pending>

Tunbridge (like Exeter) is a town in Tasmania, and a bridge of tun
devices would likely be a common construct to build with it (though
not as common as a bridge of veths, admittedly).

-- 
David Gibson (he or they)	| I'll have my music baroque, and my code
david AT gibson.dropbear.id.au	| minimalist, thank you, not the other way
				| around.
http://www.ozlabs.org/~dgibson

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