DriversΒΆ

Warning

This project is still evolving, so these docs may be incomplete or out-of-date.

Jumpstarter uses Python modules called drivers to interact with the hardware interfaces connected to the Device Under Test (DUT).

Similar to the drivers used by your operating system, drivers in Jumpstarter enable the us to interact with hardware and provide abstractions that makethat it easier to use.

Drivers in Jumpstarter consist of three components:

  • Driver - Implements the logic to configure and use the interface(s) provided by the host system. e.g. a TCP port.

  • DriverInterface - Defines the contract between the driver client and the driver itself.

  • DriverClient - Provides a user-friendly interface that can be used byclients to interact with the underlying Driver either locally or remotely over the network.

Drivers follow a client/server model similar to the client and exporter. The exporter instance runs the Driver itself to interact with the hardware. Clients use a DriverClient class to interact with the driver through the contract defined in the DriverInterface.

When a client connects to the exporter and requests a lease, a session is created for each set of tests to execute. Within the session, the specified Driver subclass is instantiated for each of the configured interfaces defined in the exporter configuration. These driver instances live throughout the duration of the session and can run setup/teardown logic and keep state internally for that session.

On the client side, a DriverClient subclass is instantiated for each interface that is exported by the exporter. The DriverClient is used to interact with each Driver through the defined DriverInterface for each driver. As the client may not be on the same machine as the exporter, the DriverClient classes are loaded dynamically if they are specified in the list of allowed packages.

To keep the client/server library versions in sync, it is recommended to not make breaking changes to the DriverInterface. Only add new methods when necessary and avoid changing the method signatures. If breaking changes are required, new MyDriverInterfaceV2, MyDriverClientV2, and MyDriverV2 classes can be created within the same Python module.