Define a new context dimension for image mode

[psss]

Introduce a new context dimension key *****-mode in order to allow enabling/disabling/adjusting tests and plans based on the distribution mode.

Pull Request Checklist

• update the specification
• include a release note

[psss]

Two versions were proposed/discussed on the stakeholder session let's review, discuss both (or brainstorm more) and vote/select the final candidate here.

[psss]

Vote here for distro-mode.

[phracek]

Thanks for bringing it this. Do we really need to have two variables?

In my understanding distro-mode means installing packages in standard way, like RPM.
What about if user specifies:

distro-mode: true
image-mode: true

or opposite way:

distro-mode: false
image-mode: false

I would prefer to have only one variable like image-mode that would be mean either image or package.

[happz]

I believe that's the case, the question - and voting - is about "which one of these two dimensions?".

[psss]

Vote here for image-mode.

[comps]

What about using an OS installation style instead?

If I understood it correctly, "image mode" is basically just rpm-ostree ( https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-silverblue/technical-information/ ) built in some special way. So for tests (or other software on the system), the difference is not "distro mode" vs "image mode", but the visible filesystem structure the test sees, ie. "FHS / standard" vs "rpm-ostree".

The product name for that ("Atomic", "Silverblue", "image mode", .. ??) might be less relevant.

edit: Note that I'm not super familiar with "image mode", some docs mention it's based on ostree, but not 100% compatible with it.

[psss]

@kkaarreell, as you raised this topic on the stakeholder session, do you have any specific use cases on mind for e.g. enabling / disable tests based on this new dimension? Are they possibly related to the filesystem structure the test sees as @comps mentioned above?

[lukaszachy]

Can the dimension name be mode (or similar) with possible values image|package ?

[kkaarreell]

Can the dimension name be mode (or similar) with possible values image|package ?

Please don't. mode is so vague and overloaded term and maybe some users are already using it (mode=ro|rw|...). Please, make it at least a bit more specific and less prone to collisions. RH docs speaks about it as a deployment method. While deployment_method=package_mode|image_mode is long, it would be very much handy when inspecting logs or RP launch attributes, trying to identify how a test environment look like.

[kkaarreell]

@kkaarreell, as you raised this topic on the stakeholder session, do you have any specific use cases on mind for e.g. enabling / disable tests based on this new dimension? Are they possibly related to the filesystem structure the test sees as @comps mentioned above?

Yes, primarily test case filtering (enabling/disabling plans and tests).