Getting support

LAVA is free software and is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. Support is offered using the methods below and we will try to help resolve queries.

Whenever you look for support for LAVA, there are some guidelines to follow:

See also

LAVA Software Community Project Code of Conduct

Guidelines

  • Make sure you read the LAVA Software Community Project Code of Conduct which relates to all communication in the LAVA Software Community Project.
  • If you are having problems, it may be helpful to check the mailing list archives first - somebody else may have already seen and solved a similar problem. Also check the list of outstanding issues in GitLab to see if someone else has the same problem. https://git.lavasoftware.org/lava/lava/issues
  • Avoid putting LAVA job output directly into your email to a list or IRC channel. Mailing list posts can include a few lines but not IRC. Attach full logs to your email instead of including content inline.
  • Always use a pastebin for log output, and include a link to the paste in your post.
  • If you are integrating your own device into LAVA, always include the full jinja2 device-type template and device dictionary.
  • Include the job definition you used, either in this paste or another paste.
  • If you are administering your own instance, also include the device type template and an export of the device dictionary.
  • Provide details of which server you are using (with a URL if it is publicly visible or a version string from the documentation pages if not) and details of the actual device(s) in use.

Mailing lists

The primary method for support for LAVA is our mailing lists.

A few guidelines apply to all such lists:

  • Reply to the list, adding the submitter in CC where appropriate.
  • If your job uses URLs which are not visible to the rest of the list, include a rough outline of how those were built and what versions of tools were used.
  • Avoid top posting.
  • Always provide as much context as you can when phrasing your question to the list.

See also

The LAVA team workflow announcement: https://lists.lavasoftware.org/pipermail/lava-announce/2017-December/000043.html and https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/workflow/gitlab_flow.html

lava-users

The lava-users mailing list concentrates on support for setting up LAVA, using current LAVA tests. Subscribers include test writers, and individual admins. Users are encouraged to contribute to answer queries from other users. Replies to the lava-announce list are directed here.

lava-devel

Subscribing to the lava-devel list is recommended for developers of LAVA. lava-devel is aimed at supporting code contributors, device integration engineers and instance admins who are working with the LAVA codebase. Discussions about planning and new LAVA features also take place here.

lava-announce

Subscribing to the lava-announce list is recommended for everyone using LAVA, whether writing tests or viewing reports or administering a LAVA instance.

Replies to this list are sent to the lava-users list - if you are not subscribed to lava-users, please ask other users to CC you on replies.

The release notes for each production release are sent to the lava-announce mailing list and the archives contain the release-notes for previous releases.

IRC

IRC is a common support method for developers. Our team is spread geographically around the world, with members in Europe, America and Asia.

The LAVA Software Community Project has an IRC channel, #lavasoftware on irc.freenode.net. We can also be found on a IRC channel used for topics relating to the Linaro Lab in Cambridge, UK: #linaro-lava on irc.freenode.net.

Guidelines apply to IRC as well:

  • Use a proxy or other service which keeps you connected to IRC. Developers are based in multiple timezones and not everyone can answer all queries. Therefore, you may have to wait several hours until the relevant person or people are awake. Check back for replies on the channel intermittently. If you disconnect, you will not see any replies sent whilst you were disconnected from the channel.
  • Ask your question, do not wait to see people joining or talking. Don’t ask if you may ask a question!
  • It is even more important with IRC that you always use a pastebin, even more so than with mailing lists. See Guidelines.
  • Do not assume that the person someone else spoke to last is also able to answer your question. Avoid highlighting someone’s name out of habit - someone else could easily be able to help you but may feel that you do not want their input.
  • Do not assume that the person you spoke to last is also able to answer your other question(s). Different developers and maintainers have different strengths across the codebase.
  • Reply directly to a person by putting their IRC nickname at the start of your message to the channel. In a busy channel, it can be hard to spot replies not made to you.
  • Developers are busy - IRC is part of our development process, so please be considerate of the amount of time involved, there is code to write and there are bug fixes to make for other users as well.
  • Avoid personal messages unless there is a clear privacy issue involved or you know the person well.
  • You may well find that one of the Mailing lists actually provides a faster answer to your question, especially if you are new to LAVA.

Pastebins

Pastebin services are provided online by multiple people. Some are open to anyone, such as pastebin.com and paste.debian.net. Others (like the internal Linaro pastebin) are restricted and will require users to register. Pastes will typically expire automatically, depending on the options selected by the user creating the paste.

Wikipedia has more information