; Summary: Add target database (aka "board dictionary") feature to fuego
; Owner: Tim
; Reporter: Tim
; Status: closed
; Priority: medium

= Description =
The target database holds information about a board, for use by the fuego
system.  The "board dictionary" holds the information for a particular board.

The information that needs to be held for a particular board depends
on the tests that are installed in the system.  Thus the system needs
to be ad-hoc.

ftc should be used to manage the board dictionary values (like
tdb).  A user should be able to manually clear values, update values
and read values.

The board file should be used to hold the board dictionary.  The dictionary
values should be kept in ENVIRONMENT variables, that are set when the
board file is source'd.

Some values that should be considered "board dictionary" values are:
 * SATA_DEV
 * SATA_MP
 * LTP_OPEN_POSIX_SUBTEST_COUNT_POS
 * LTP_OPEN_POSIX_SUBTEST_COUNT_NEG
 * FUNCTIONAL_BC_PROGRAM

This feature supports manual and programmatic modification of the information
for a board.  This supports several features:
 * ability to scan a target, and add info to the file
   * for detecting test binaries
   * for assistance in installing board files (autodetect SSH_PORT, IP, TRANSPORT, PLATFORM)
 * ability to add info for latest tests
   * performance baseline?

= Notes =
When updating the board file, updates to existing values should
replace lines in the same position in the file.  (Lines should be replaced
in-place, and not moved around on an edit).

Should there be an indication of whether a value should be persistent or not?
Some values might change, if the software on the target changes.
For example, FUNCTIONAL_BC_PROGRAM might change if the distro on the target
changes, or if the program gets deleted.  Should this be treated like
a cache variable, instead of an immutable fact about the board?
How would we indicate that?

Update in May 2017 - dynamic variables are now placed in the file:
/fuego-rw/boards/<board>.vars.  These can be erased at any time, and will
be rebuilt by tests that populate the file.

For now, ignore this issue.

; backlink: [[Fuego Issues List]]