PS5_RetroArch/docs/TESTING.md

Testing and evidence

How this project decides that something is true, and what it keeps as proof. AGENTS.md lists the gate commands; this file says what they mean, how to add to them, and what counts as evidence.

The four layers

Layer	Runs	Answers	Must be
Format and static	every save	is it shaped right?	fast, no network
Unit	every commit	is the logic right in isolation?	deterministic, milliseconds
Integration	every commit	do the parts work together?	deterministic, seconds, no console
Target	every step	does it work where it ships?	scripted, repeatable, captured

The first three run on the development machine and are the agent's own feedback loop. The fourth runs on the console and is the only layer that can close a step. A step is never closed by a mock of the console.

What each gate runs

Gate	Command	What it proves
format	tools/verify.sh format	tools/lint-shell.sh parses every script in tools/ (bash -n) and every python tool (ast.parse), rejects CRLF and byte-order marks, and refuses a committed console address or credential; tools/lint-format.sh then runs clang-format --dry-run --Werror over src/, tests/ and tooling/native/ against the repository's .clang-format. Formatters are not installed for shell or python on this machine, so this gate is syntax and policy rather than style.
unit	tools/verify.sh unit	make test-unit runs tests/test_frontend.py. Four kinds of check, none of which needs a console: the built gfx_video_driver.c.o really lists video_ps5 before video_null in video_drivers[] (read from its relocations); the title and the frontend agree on video_driver_t, by compiling RetroArch's header with the frontend's own defines from tools/retroarch-flags.sh and comparing sizeof and the poke_interface offset against the object the title links - the fault that kept the menu off the screen, see docs/FINDINGS.md; the frame-layout function from src/display.cpp is compiled from the source by the host compiler, compared against ../PS5_Vulkan's own addressing over all 2,073,600 pixels, and pinned against a table of values so a change to it cannot be silent; and the built dist/<TITLE_ID>/ is a fake self wrapping a 64-bit x86-64 ELF whose param.json names its own folder.
build	tools/verify.sh build	bash tools/build-title.sh fetches verified core inputs on first use, compiles RetroArch's sources with the cross toolchain, archives them, compiles src/ with the same -D flags the archive was compiled with, links it with the pipeline's CRT, signs the result and records the folder's manifest. It is not bare make app: the things the link needs, and the defines the two sides must share, are set by that script and by nothing else.
integration	tools/verify.sh integration	make test-integration (the same tests as unit, from the other side of the build) followed by tools/check-manifest.sh on the built tree: every recorded file present and unchanged, nothing extra, eboot.bin a fake self, and param.json naming the folder it sits in.
evidence	tools/verify.sh evidence	tools/evidence.py compare evidence/ replays every committed capture against its expectation and exits non-zero on a difference. It never contacts the console.

tools/verify.sh runs them in that order and stops at the first failure. The order is deliberate: a formatting failure is cheaper to fix than a staged artifact that cannot load.

Evidence

Evidence is a committed artifact plus the command that reproduces it. The shape this project uses: capture on the console, replay on the development machine, compare the two.

• Capture. A console run is captured by the target-layer tooling — the run's own stdout through the SDK's stdio, plus the console's kernel log for the window of the run. Raw captures are large and console-specific, so they stay in the git-ignored klog/; the distilled artifact is committed under evidence/<step>/.
• Distil. tools/evidence.py distil turns a raw capture into a small, machine-readable record: the ordered identity and event lines, a frame digest, a present count, and the driver and core names, with timestamps and process ids replaced by placeholders. A distilled record must let a stranger tell pass from fail by reading it.
• Replay. tools/evidence.py compare re-runs the deterministic part on this host — the same argument builders, the same config round-trip, the same digest computation — and compares its output with the committed record.
• Compare. A comparison is exact unless the record declares a tolerance, and a tolerance states its unit, its value and what makes it necessary, in docs/FINDINGS.md. A frame digest is compared exactly; a timing line is compared only when the record says which fields are bounded.

An artifact is only evidence if a stranger can tell pass from fail by reading it. A screenshot, a green check with no input recorded, or a log line that says "ok" is not evidence.

Adding a test

• A bug fix lands with the test that fails without the fix. Write the test first, watch it fail, then fix — and say in the commit that it was seen failing.
• A new test goes next to the code it covers, follows the naming of its neighbours, and is added to the gate that runs it.
• A test that needs the console is split: the deterministic part runs in the integration gate, the console part becomes a captured artifact.
• Never weaken, skip or special-case a test to make a gate pass. If the test is wrong, fix the test in its own commit with the reason.

Determinism

Unit and integration tests are deterministic: no wall-clock reads, no sleeps to synchronise, no unseeded randomness, no network, no console, and no dependence on the order tests run in. Time, randomness and I/O enter through an injectable seam so the test can pin them. A test that cannot be made deterministic is a target-layer test, not a unit test.

A capture is the one artifact that comes from an uncontrolled environment, so its distillation removes everything that is not a decision: timestamps, pids, buffer addresses, and the console's own boot noise.

Tolerance and flakiness

• A comparison with a tolerance states the tolerance, its unit, and what makes it necessary.
• A flaky test is a bug in the test or in the code, and it is named in docs/ACTIVE.md under Open findings until it is fixed. It is never dealt with by retrying until green.
• A known-benign console message (a service warning, a busy-device notice) is recorded once in docs/TROUBLESHOOTING.md with its exact text, and every later run may say "known benign" only if the text matches.

Native audio backend

The unit gate compiles the real src/audio_ps5.cpp against an explicitly clocked AudioOut mock (tests/audio_ps5_test.cpp). It checks native arguments, 48 kHz rate negotiation, byte counts, FIFO order across wrap, full/partial nonblocking writes, blocking backpressure, zero-filled tails, pause/resume and output-error wakeup. Condition barriers coordinate the test; timeouts only bound a deadlock failure.

tools/run-title.sh --no-build --audio-test --watch 45 arms a consumed /app0/audio-test.txt file. Before the frontend starts, the same audio_ps5 callbacks play four one-second PCM tones: left 440 Hz, right 660 Hz, repeated, at 12.5% peak with 10 ms boundary ramps. Announce the tones before launch and obtain an audible/channel-order confirmation from the console owner. The test uses 1/255/257/1000-frame writes, drains and pauses/resumes between phases, and then checks that an oversized nonblocking write accepts exactly one queue capacity. It closes its port before RetroArch opens its own normal audio driver.

The runner retrieves audio-test.json into the ignored capture directory and rejects failure, stale build identity, wrong format, lost frames, native errors or queue-count mismatches. Expected: 48 kHz, 256-frame grains, four bytes/frame, 1,536-frame queue, 193,536 accepted and played frames, zero errors, 6,144 bytes accepted from the oversized nonblocking write. The report cannot establish speaker audibility; that confirmation is recorded separately in the evidence. Normal launches remove leftover control files and never generate test tones.

Platform paths and directory browsing

tests/test_platform_paths.py runs the actual native platform setup against an isolated host filesystem, checking first-install config seeding, preservation across a changed seed, startup argument preservation and accessible browser roots. The real SDK directory adapter receives synthetic FreeBSD records to test multiple batches, directory/file names and types, deleted records, EOF, denied opens, valid fd zero, truncated/oversized records and missing string terminators. The mounted-directory fixture rejects small reads; the previous 4 KiB variant fails and the 64 KiB adapter passes. Application-path tests compile the patched upstream function with procfs-related calls replaced by aborts, checking the known executable path and small buffers.

On the console, retain the current build identity, platform directory summaries, configuration load/save logs, GPU API results, and the owner's browser observation. Read back the live config over FTP and verify its selected paths/settings. Launch again without overwriting it to prove parsing/persistence across runs. No core or ROM execution is implied by seeing directory entries. Raw filenames, settings, crash dumps and console information stay in ignored captures; commit sanitized counts, known port paths, crash symbols and acceptance results only.

The platform fixture also creates existing 0755 cores and 0775 content directories and uses umask 0077; every managed directory must become 0777 after initialization. This test fails against the former mkdir-only implementation. After console startup, python3 tools/check-ftp-write.py requires both mode 0777 and successful FTP upload/readback/cleanup in all seven managed directories. Mode listings alone are insufficient evidence that the FTP process can write.

The native input fixture compiles src/input_ps5.cpp against mocked pad services and the actual upstream input_state_wrap and analog helpers. It checks raw button capture, all stick directions, trigger scaling, invalid ports/axes/buttons, user binding priority without the old direct mapping, menu deadzone behavior, zero-sample repeat polling, interception/disconnect and driver teardown/reinit. ELF relocations verify joypad registration and the built-in profile in the shipped frontend. On console, confirm left-stick menu navigation, button/axis capture in Settings > Input > RetroPad Binds > Port 1 Controls, and saved bindings after a restart. Preserve the owner's live configuration when deploying.

Libretro core artifacts

tools/check-core.py <core.so> --report <report.json> requires an ELF64 x86-64 FreeBSD/PS5 shared object, 16 KiB-compatible load segments, native runtime imports including libkernel_web.sprx, and all 25 libretro callbacks in the dynamic symbol table. It rejects Linux ELF ABI, payload kernel imports and absent callbacks. The report deliberately keeps console_loading_verified false: ELF structure cannot establish runtime loading. The title manifest check also checks the staged FCEUmm artifact and requires identical .info metadata in info/ and cores/, covering both explicit and legacy empty core-info paths.

tests/test_core_abi.py builds real host fixture ELFs, marking only test fixtures with the PS5 OSABI. Positive and negative cases exercise the parser through readelf: missing callback, wrong runtime library, wrong ABI, 4 KiB segments and truncated header. These fixtures are never staged or run on the console.

For the target test, upload a verified build, open RetroArch normally, and let the owner select FCEUmm under Load Core and then a game under Load Content. Collect retroarch.log, trace and kernel log with the build identity. Record core load, content initialization and presented frames separately; a visible core entry or .info name is not proof of loaded executable code. Owner game paths remain in ignored logs. Keep normal XMB, Vulkan and audio startup working when no core is selected.

Native core loader diagnostics

tests/test_core_loader.py compiles and executes the real loader against a small host ELF fixture. It tests relocation/import execution, reference counts, reloads, once-per-mapping initializers, invalid initializer tables/callbacks, missing imports, malformed header/table bounds, forbidden segment flags, TLS, and invalid relocation targets/types. The fixture's OSABI byte is adjusted only for this host test; shipped cores must pass the actual cross-build checker. tests/test_core_recovery.py runs the upstream core-selection function before and after the patch and checks rejection without marking the core as selected.

tools/run-title.sh --no-build --core-test --watch 30 arms an opt-in no-game console diagnostic. It executes eight FCEUmm load/symbol/API/identity/unload cycles, rejects a missing core/export, and loads the core again with the frontend resident. It then attempts missing-core selection/content startup through the actual task functions and checks that the initialized menu context survives. The runner collects core-loader-test.json and core-recovery-test.json, checks their build identity and pass status, captures logs, and closes the title. Normal runs clear the control file; diagnostics never run without the flag.

These diagnostics do not establish gameplay. The owner selects the core and content manually in a separate captured run and confirms video, audio, controls and return to XMB. Keep user content paths in ignored captures, not evidence.

tests/test_core_frame.py executes the actual XRGB8888 upload conversion with red/green/blue and mixed colours, checks opaque alpha, distinct input/output row pitches, untouched padding and in-place conversion. Real-core acceptance also requires a trace with no Vulkan refusals or failed command buffers, rather than inferring correctness from the core's successful initialization.

For mGBA use tools/run-title.sh --no-build --core-test=mgba --watch 180. --core-test without a value retains the FCEUmm diagnostic. Reports contain the selected core name, checked along with build identity and pass status. Only these two names are accepted. The owner selects content manually after startup.

tests/test_core_imports.py checks union/deduplication across two cores, object and untyped imports, directory/time adapters, and conflicting or TLS import rejection. The directory adapter fixture also checks rewind after EOF, rewind of a partially consumed batch and failed seek without discarding state. The loader constructor test was observed failing before support was added, then passing; it also rejects callbacks into writable data without executing them.

Record GB, GBC and GBA gameplay separately when tested. Core compilation and metadata support for a system do not substitute for console gameplay. RTC, optional BIOS files, saves/states, sensors, rumble and sustained performance require their own acceptance; do not infer them from one successful game.

The native memory test covers 16/32 MiB allocation, zeroing, preserved data on resize, overflow/failure keeping the original buffer, mapped-to-small resize, foreign libc ownership and concurrent allocation/free. Target acceptance must also load a GBA archive larger than the native heap could previously allocate; a host allocation test alone does not prove native content loading.

For core lifecycle acceptance, test coloured content, open Quick Menu with the core paused, close content to XMB, reload another game, and choose Quit. Inspect both the live frontend log and kernel capture. Native exit(0) followed by SIGSYS is a shutdown failure even when the user intentionally chose Quit. Check core XBGR-to-XRGB conversion and repeated immutable cached-frame uploads on the host; console colour/flicker confirmation remains required.

For patch 0078, manually exercise game -> Quick Menu -> Close Content -> another core/game, repeating with FCEUmm and mGBA. Check menu and gameplay for flicker and stale image regions at each transition, including the RGUI configuration in the owner's reproduction. Owner observation is required: a recording at a matching refresh cadence may hide alternating corrupted frames. Preserve the live frontend log before a relaunch replaces it; do not accept a clean loader probe alone as visual acceptance. Record hashes of linked driver archives when the sibling Vulkan repository is being developed concurrently.