zcashd/qa/rpc-tests

Regression tests

test_framework/test_framework.py

Base class for RPC regression tests.

test_framework/util.py

Generally useful functions.

test_framework/mininode.py

Basic code to support p2p connectivity to a bitcoind.

test_framework/comptool.py

Framework for comparison-tool style, p2p tests.

test_framework/script.py

Utilities for manipulating transaction scripts (originally from python-bitcoinlib)

test_framework/blockstore.py

Implements disk-backed block and tx storage.

test_framework/key.py

Wrapper around OpenSSL EC_Key (originally from python-bitcoinlib)

test_framework/bignum.py

Helpers for script.py

test_framework/blocktools.py

Helper functions for creating blocks and transactions.

P2P test design notes

Mininode

• mininode.py contains all the definitions for objects that pass over the network (CBlock, CTransaction, etc, along with the network-level wrappers for them, msg_block, msg_tx, etc).

• P2P tests have two threads. One thread handles all network communication with the bitcoind(s) being tested (using python's asyncore package); the other implements the test logic.

• NodeConn is the class used to connect to a bitcoind. If you implement a callback class that derives from NodeConnCB and pass that to the NodeConn object, your code will receive the appropriate callbacks when events of interest arrive. NOTE: be sure to call self.create_callback_map() in your derived classes' __init__ function, so that the correct mappings are set up between p2p messages and your callback functions.

• You can pass the same handler to multiple NodeConn's if you like, or pass different ones to each -- whatever makes the most sense for your test.

• Call NetworkThread.start() after all NodeConn objects are created to start the networking thread. (Continue with the test logic in your existing thread.)

• RPC calls are available in p2p tests.

• Can be used to write free-form tests, where specific p2p-protocol behavior is tested. Examples: p2p-accept-block.py, maxblocksinflight.py.

Comptool

• Testing framework for writing tests that compare the block/tx acceptance behavior of a bitcoind against 1 or more other bitcoind instances, or against known outcomes, or both.

• Set the num_nodes variable (defined in ComparisonTestFramework) to start up 1 or more nodes. If using 1 node, then --testbinary can be used as a command line option to change the bitcoind binary used by the test. If using 2 or more nodes, then --refbinary can be optionally used to change the bitcoind that will be used on nodes 2 and up.

• Implement a (generator) function called get_tests() which yields TestInstances. Each TestInstance consists of:

  • a list of [object, outcome, hash] entries
    • object is a CBlock, CTransaction, or CBlockHeader. CBlock's and CTransaction's are tested for acceptance. CBlockHeaders can be used so that the test runner can deliver complete headers-chains when requested from the bitcoind, to allow writing tests where blocks can be delivered out of order but still processed by headers-first bitcoind's.
    • outcome is True, False, or None. If True or False, the tip is compared with the expected tip -- either the block passed in, or the hash specified as the optional 3rd entry. If None is specified, then the test will compare all the bitcoind's being tested to see if they all agree on what the best tip is.
    • hash is the block hash of the tip to compare against. Optional to specify; if left out then the hash of the block passed in will be used as the expected tip. This allows for specifying an expected tip while testing the handling of either invalid blocks or blocks delivered out of order, which complete a longer chain.
  • sync_every_block: True/False. If False, then all blocks are inv'ed together, and the test runner waits until the node receives the last one, and tests only the last block for tip acceptance using the outcome and specified tip. If True, then each block is tested in sequence and synced (this is slower when processing many blocks).
  • sync_every_transaction: True/False. Analogous to sync_every_block, except if the outcome on the last tx is "None", then the contents of the entire mempool are compared across all bitcoind connections. If True or False, then only the last tx's acceptance is tested against the given outcome.

• For examples of tests written in this framework, see invalidblockrequest.py and p2p-fullblocktest.py.