qbt is a command to execute test-patch without a patch. It uses
the same plug-ins and the same options as test-patch. The only
difference is that no patch file, location, etc should be supplied.
It is meant to be a way to easily get test-patch's output on your
current source tree. It is suitable to be run as a regularly
scheduled build as part of your overall development strategy.
When using an automation tool, it may be useful to use the
--console-report-file option to send the summary email to a
file. This can then be used with systems like Jenkin's
email-ext plug-in to send the output as an emailed report:
${FILE,path="<report-file-path>"}
For something a bit more structured, there is also the --html-report-file
option. Using this output, again with Jenkins' email-ext plug-in, it is
possible to build some very nice looking output that is easily customized:
<html>
<head>
<style>
table {
border-collapse: collapse;
}
table, th, td {
border: 1px solid black;
}
tr:nth-child(even){background-color: #f2f2f2}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>See the <a href="${BUILD_URL}">Jenkins Build</a> for more information.</p>
<p>${CHANGES, format="<div>[%d] (%a) %m</div>"}</p>
<p></p>
${FILE,path="<report-file-path>"}
</body></html>
If your mailing lists do not allow HTML-formatted email, then the --brief-report-file provides a solution. This option creates a very plain, reduced content text file suitable for email. It contains just the barebones information needed to get information on failures: what voted -1, what tests failed, what subsystems are long running (configurable with the --brief-report-long opton), and a list of any attached log files.
NOTE: Be aware that ASF mailing lists do not allow HTML formatted email.
It may be useful to save off certain files while qbt is running for more
post-processing by another utility. If the rsync command is available,
then the archiving functionality may be used.
The --archive-list option takes a comma separated list of find -name
patterns and copies them to the patch directory's archiver subdirectory.
It will preserve the directory structure of the source tree so that
multiple matching file names will be preserved.