The Phoronix Test Suite is the most comprehensive testing and benchmarking platform available for Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, and BSD operating systems. The Phoronix Test Suite allows for carrying out tests in a fully automated manner from test installation to execution and reporting. All tests are meant to be easily reproducible, easy-to-use, and support fully automated execution. The Phoronix Test Suite is open-source under the GNU GPLv3 license and is developed by Phoronix Media in cooperation with partners. Version 1.0 of the Phoronix Test Suite was publicly released in 2008.
The Phoronix Test Suite client itself is a test framework for providing seamless execution of test profiles and test suites. There are more than 200 tests available by default, which are transparently available via OpenBenchmarking.org integration. Of these default test profiles there is a range of sub-systems that can be tested and a range of hardware from mobile devices to desktops and worksrtations/servers. New tests can be easily introduced via the Phoronix Test Suite's extensible test architecture, with test profiles consisting of XML files and shell scripts. Test profiles can produce a quantitative result or other qualitative/abstract results like image quality comparisons and pass/fail. Using Phoronix Test Suite modules, other data can also be automatically collected at run-time such as the system power consumption, disk usage, and other software/hardware sensors. Test suites contain references to test profiles to execute as part of a set or can also reference other test suites. Test suites are defined via an XML schema.
Running the Phoronix Test Suite for the first time can be as simple as issuing a command such as phoronix-test-suite benchmark c-ray, which would proceed to install a simple CPU test, execute the test, and report the results. Along with the results, the system's hardware/software information is collected in a detailed manner, relevant system logs, and other important system attributes such as compiler flags and system state. Users can optionally upload their results to OpenBenchmarking.org for sharing results with others, comparing results against other systems, and to carry out further analysis.
OpenBenchmarking.org is an open, collaborative testing platform that makes the Phoronix Test Suite an even more extensible platform for conducting automated tests with complete integration into Phoronix Test Suite test client. OpenBenchmarking.org serves as a repository for storing test profiles, test suites, and result data. Test profiles and suites are stored in the OpenBenchmarking.org cloud to allow for new/updated tests to be seamlessly obtained via the Phoronix Test Suite without needing to manually update the Phoronix Test Suite client. OpenBenchmarking.org also makes it easy to facilitate side-by-side comparisons with any other results stored in the OpenBenchmarking.org cloud. Any Phoronix Test Suite user is permitted to upload their test results, test profiles, and suites to OpenBenchmarking.org.
When finding a set of results on OpenBenchmarking.org (e.g. an example result file), it's as easy as running the Phoronix Test Suite with that OpenBenchmarking.org ID to perform an automated side-by-side comparison (e.g. phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1203160-BY-NVTEGRA3785).
Thanks to the wealth of test data (results, system logs, etc) from crowd-sourced benchmarking via the Phoronix Test Suite, a plethora of analytical features are also available from OpenBenchmarking.org.
Phoromatic is a remote management system for the Phoronix Test Suite that allows the automatic scheduling of tests, remote installation of new tests, and the management of multiple test systems all through an intuitive, easy-to-use web interface. Tests can be scheduled to automatically run on a routine basis across multiple test systems. Phoromatic can also interface with revision control systems to offer support for issuing new tests on a context-basis, such as whenever a Git commit has been pushed or new daily image available. The test results are then available from this central, secure location.
Phoromatic is an add-on to the Phoronix Test Suite that's primarily intended for enterprise users when facilitating tests across a wide-spectrum of hardware within a test lab or when needing to carry out tests on a routine basis.
The following options are currently supported by the Phoronix Test Suite client. A list of available options can also be found by running phoronix-test-suite help.
This option will install the selected test(s) inside the testing environment directory). The install process from downloading of the test files to the installation is fully automated. The install option needs to be supplied with the test name or suite as an argument. Optionally, a OpenBenchmarking.org ID or the name of a saved results file can be supplied as well and the test(s) to install will automatically be extracted from that information. If the test is already installed and was run by the latest version of the installation process, no action will be taken. Multiple arguments can be supplied to install additional tests at the same time.
This option will install the external dependencies needed by the selected test(s) using the distribution's package management system. For example, some tests depend upon GCC for compiling code. If GCC is not detected on the system, the Phoronix Test Suite will attempt to install GCC using the distribution's package management system. If you are running this command as a local user, you may be prompted for the root password while the process is running. For unsupported distributions, the dependency names will be displayed along with common names for the package. The install-dependencies option needs to be supplied with the test name or suite as an argument. When using the install option, the external dependencies are automatically checked.
This option will create a download cache for use by the Phoronix Test Suite.
This option will permanently remove a installed test by the Phoronix Test Suite.
This option will install the selected test(s) (if needed) and will proceed to run the test(s). This option is equivalent to running phoronix-test-suite with the install option followed by the run option. Multiple arguments can be supplied to run additional tests at the same time and save the results into one file.
This option can be used if a test run had not properly finished running all tests within a saved results file. Using this option when specifying a saved results file where all tests had not completed will attempt to finish testing on the remaining tests where there are missing results.
This option will run the selected test(s).
This option can be used if you wish to run all of the tests found in a supplied suite, but you wish to re-configure each of the test options rather than using the defaults supplied by the suite.
This option and its arguments are equivalent to the benchmark option, but the process will be run in the Phoronix Test Suite batch mode.
If you wish to run the install process in the Phoronix Test Suite batch mode but do not wish to run any tests at this time. Running the install process in the batch mode will use the default values and not prompt the user of any possible options, to ensure the process is fully automated.
This option and its arguments are equivalent to the run option, but the process will be run in the Phoronix Test Suite batch mode.
This option is used to configure the batch mode options for the Phoronix Test Suite, which is subsequently written to the user configuration file. Among the options are whether to automatically upload the test results to OpenBenchmarking.org and prompting for the saved file name.
This option will install the selected test(s) (if needed) and will proceed to run the test(s) in the defaults mode. This option is equivalent to running phoronix-test-suite with the install option followed by the default-run option.
This option will run the selected test(s). The name of the test or suite must be supplied or the OpenBenchmarking.org ID or saved local file name. Multiple arguments can be supplied to run additional tests at the same time and save the results in a suite-like fashion. Unlike the normal run option, the default-run will not prompt the user to select from the available test options but will instead use the default options as automatically set by pts-core or the test profile. Use batch-run to automatically test all of the available options.
This option will download a local copy of a file that was saved to OpenBenchmarking.org, as long as a valid public ID is supplied. More than one ID can be specified and the results will then be merged.
This option will list recent changes to test profiles of enabled OpenBenchmarking.org repositories.
This option is called automatically with the .openbenchmarking MIME file extension support for launching OpenBenchmarking.org operations.
This option is used for controlling your Phoronix Test Suite client options for OpenBechmarking.org and syncing the client to your account.
This option is used for refreshing the stored OpenBenchmarking.org repostory information and other data. The Phoronix Test Suite will automatically refresh this data every three days or when other thresholds are exceeded, but this command can be used to manually refresh/updates the data.
This option will list the OpenBenchmarking.org repositories currently linked to this Phoronix Test Suite client instance.
This option is used for uploading a test result to OpenBenchmarking.org.
This option can be used for uploading a test profile to your account on OpenBenchmarking.org. By uploading your test profile to OpenBenchmarking.org, others are then able to browse and access this test suite for easy distribution in a seamless manner by other Phoronix Test Suite clients.
This option can be used for uploading a test suite to your account on OpenBenchmarking.org. By uploading your test suite to OpenBenchmarking.org, others are then able to browse and access this test suite for easy distribution.
Display detailed information about the installed system hardware and software information as detected by the Phoronix Test Suite Phodevi Library.
This option will print information that is useful to developers when debugging problems with the Phoronix Test Suite and/or test profiles and test suites.
A simple text-driven interactive interface to the Phoronix Test Suite.
Display the installed system hardware and software information as detected by the Phoronix Test Suite Phodevi Library.
Display the installed system hardware and software sensors in real-time as detected by the Phoronix Test Suite Phodevi Library.
This option will show details about the supplied test, suite, virtual suite, or result file.
This option will list all available test suites that are available from the enabled OpenBenchmarking.org repositories.
This option will list all available test profiles that are available from the enabled OpenBenchmarking.org repositories.
This option will list all available virtual test suites that can be dynamically created based upon the available tests from enabled OpenBenchmarking.org repositories.
This option will list all of the packages / external test dependencies that are already installed on the system that the Phoronix Test Suite may potentially depend upon by test profiles.
This option will list all suites that are currently installed on the system.
This option will list all test profiles that are currently installed on the system.
This option will list all of the packages / external test dependencies that are missing from the system that the Phoronix Test Suite may potentially need by select test profiles.
This option will list all of the packages / external test dependencies that are are potentially used by the Phoronix Test Suite.
This option will list all of the saved test results found on the system.
This option will list various details about installed tests and their usage.
This option is intended for use by test profile writers and is identical to the install option but will yield more information during the run process that can be used to debug issues with a test profile installer or to verify the test profile is functioning correctly.
This option is intended for use by test profile writers and is identical to the <em>run</em> option but will yield more information during the run process that can be used to debug issues with a test profile or to verify the test profile is functioning correctly.
This option will check all download links within the specified test profile(s) to ensure there are no broken URLs.
This will download the selected test file(s) to the Phoronix Test Suite download cache but will not install the tests.
This option will force the installation (or re-installation) of a test or suite. The arguments and process is similar to the install option but even if the test is installed, the entire installation process will automatically be executed. This option is generally used when debugging a test installation problem.
This option will guide the user through the process of generating their own test suite, which they can then run, that is based upon an existing test results file.
This option can be used for validating a Phoronix Test Suite result file as being compliant against the OpenBenchmarking.org specification.
This option can be used for validating a Phoronix Test Suite test profile as being compliant against the OpenBenchmarking.org specification.
This option can be used for validating a Phoronix Test Suite test suite as being compliant against the OpenBenchmarking.org specification.
This option is used if you wish to change an existing test run within a saved results file.
This option will extract a single set of test results from a saved results file that contains multiple test results that have been merged. The user is the prompted to specify a new result file name and select which result identifier to extract.
This option will manually merge multiple sets of test results generated by the Phoronix Test Suite.
This option will re-render and save all result graphs within a saved file. This option can be used when making modifications to the graphing code or its color/option configuration file and testing the changes.
This option is used if there is a set of test results you wish to remove/delete from a saved results file. The user must specify a saved results file and then they will be prompted to select the results identifier associated with the results they wish to remove.
This option will permanently remove the saved file set that is set as the first argument.
This option is used if you wish to change the name of the identifier in a test results file that is shown in the Phoronix Test Suite Results Viewer and the contained graphs.
This option is used if you wish to change the order in which test results are shown in the Phoronix Test Suite Results Viewer and the contained graphs. The user must specify a saved results file and then they will be prompted to select the results identifiers one at a time in the order they would like them to be displayed from left to right.
This option will read a saved test results file and output the system hardware and software information along with the results to a CSV output. The CSV (Comma Separated Values) output can then be loaded into a spreadsheet for easy viewing.
This option will read a saved test results file and output the system hardware and software information along with the results to a PDF file.
This option will read a saved test results file and output the system hardware and software information to the terminal. The test results are also outputted.
Open up the test results in the Phoronix Test Suite Result Viewer or on OpenBenchmarking.org.
This option will generate a candlestick graph showing the distribution of results from all trial runs. The candlestick graph is similar to the Japanese candlestick charts used by the financial industry, except instead of representing stock data it is numerical result data from all trial runs.\n\nThe tip of the upper-wick represents the highest value of the test runs with the tip of the lower-wick representing the lowest value of all test runs. The upper-edge of the candle body represents the first or last run value and the lower-edge represents the first or last run value. Lastly, if the last run value is less than the first run value, the candle body is the same color as the graph background, otherwise the last run value is greater.
This option will analyze a batch results file and plot out the performance impact from the different options onto a line graph (i.e. to see the impact that changing the video resolution has on the system's performance).
This option will analyze a test result file if it contains any test results that produced an image quality comparison (IQC) and will render image deltas illustrating the difference between images from two test results.
This option will guide the user through the process of generating their own test suite, which they can then run. Optionally, passed as arguments can be the test(s) or suite(s) to add to the suite to be created, instead of being prompted through the process.
This option will display the list of available Phoronix Test Suite commands.
This option allows the user to configure how the Phoronix Test Suite connects to OpenBenchmarking.org and other web-services. Connecting through an HTTP proxy can be configured through this option.
This option can be used to rebuild your composite XML file in the event that the main result file was corrupted and the test-X.xml files are still present in the result file directory.
This option can be used for resetting the Phoronix Test Suite user configuration file to its default state.
This option can be used for setting an XML value in the Phoronix Test Suite user configuration file.
This option will display the Phoronix Test Suite client version.
This option will list all of the available Phoronix Test Suite modules on this system.
This option will show detailed information on a Phoronix Test Suite module such as the version, developer, and a description of its purpose.
This option will allow you to configure all available end-user options for a Phoronix Test Suite module. These options are then stored within the user's configuration file. Not all modules may have options that can be configured by the end-user.
This option can be used for debugging a Phoronix Test Suite module.
The following list is the modules included with the Phoronix Test Suite that are intended to extend the functionality of pts-core. Some of these options have commands that can be run directly in a similiar manner to the other Phoronix Test Suite user commands. Some modules are just meant to be loaded directly by adding the module name to the LoadModules tag in ~/.phoronix-test-suite/user-config.xml or via the PTS_MODULES environmental variable. A list of available modules is also available by running phoronix-test-suite list-modules.
This is a simple module intended for developers to just demonstrate some of the module functions.
phoronix-test-suite dummy_module.dummy-command
The Ekofisk client is used for connecting to OpenBenchmarking.org to facilitate the automatic running of tests, generally across multiple test nodes in a routine manner.
phoronix-test-suite ekofisk.start
phoronix-test-suite ekofisk.user-system-return
This module checks a number of events prior to and and after running a test to make sure the graphics sub-system was not put in a sour or unintended state by the application. For instance, it makes sure syncing to vBlank is not forced through the driver and that a graphics test has not left the display in an unintended mode.
This module allows you to override some graphics rendering settings for the ATI and NVIDIA drivers while running the Phoronix Test Suite.
This module utilizes the following environmental variables: FORCE_AA, FORCE_AF.
My Automated Test Infrastructure Setup Kit
phoronix-test-suite matisk.run
phoronix-test-suite matisk.template
The Phoromatic client is used for connecting to a Phoromatic server (Phoromatic.com or a locally run server) to facilitate the automatic running of tests, generally across multiple test nodes in a routine manner. For more details visit http://www.phoromatic.com/
phoronix-test-suite phoromatic.start
phoronix-test-suite phoromatic.user-system-return
phoronix-test-suite phoromatic.upload-results
phoronix-test-suite phoromatic.clone-results
phoronix-test-suite phoromatic.system-schedule
phoronix-test-suite phoromatic.system-schedule-today
phoronix-test-suite phoromatic.send-message
A notification module.
This module contains sensor monitoring support.
This module utilizes the following environmental variables: MONITOR, PERFORMANCE_PER_WATT.
This is a module that will take a screenshot of the system at a pre-defined interval. ImageMagick must be installed onto the system prior to using this module.
This module utilizes the following environmental variables: SCREENSHOT_INTERVAL.
This module toggles the system's screensaver while the Phoronix Test Suite is running. At this time, the GNOME and KDE screensavers are supported.
This module utilizes the following environmental variables: HALT_SCREENSAVER.
This module checks to see if the Phoronix Test Suite -- and its tests and suites -- are up to date.
The Phoronix Test Suite supports Linux, Apple Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Solaris, Hurd, BSD, and other operating system environments. The only Linux distribution-specific code deals with the external dependencies support feature that are set by individual test profiles. If you are not running one of the supported Linux distributions, Solaris, BSD, or Mac OS X, you may need to install a package manually (as instructed by the Phoronix Test Suite) in order for a test to run. An example of an external dependency would be GCC and the OpenGL Utility Toolkit being needed for test profiles that build an OpenGL benchmark from source-code.
Among the distributions where the Phoronix Test Suite has been officially tested include Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva / Mageia, Gentoo, PCLinuxOS, Arch Linux, Pardus, OpenSuSE, Optware, webOS, Zenwalk, CentOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Oracle Linux, Scientific Linux, Debian, Mint, MEPIS, and Amazon Linux EC2.
Among the tested BSD distributions are FreeBSD, PC-BSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Debian GNU/kFreeBSD, and DragonflyBSD. Tested Solaris distributions include OpenSolaris, Solaris Express 11, Oracle Solaris 11, OpenIndiana, Illumos, and Nexenta.
The only required dependency for the Phoronix Test Suite is PHP 5.2 or newer. On Linux distributions, the needed package is commonly called php5-cli or php-cli or php. It is important to note that only PHP for the command-line is needed and not a web server (Apache) or other packages commonly associated with PHP and its usage by web-sites. The PHP5 version required is PHP 5.2+ and can also be found at www.php.net.
As part of the PHP requirement, the following PHP extensions are required and/or highly recommended in order to take advantage of the Phoronix Test Suite capabilities:
Without all of these extensions, some capabilities of the Phoronix Test Suite will not be available. Many of these packages are enabled by default and do not require any additional installation steps on most Linux distributions, otherwise they are often found in the package vendor's repository.
You may need to modify the php.ini file on your system in order to support uploading results to OpenBenchmarking.org or logging into your OpenBenchmarking.org account. The allow_url_fopen, file_uploads, and allow_url_include options must be set to true in the PHP configuration. See additional information in this Phoronix Forums support thread.
Major updates to the Phoronix Test Suite are released on a quarterly basis. The latest stable and development versions of the Phoronix Test Suite are available at Phoronix-Test-Suite.com. The Git repository where the latest Phoronix Test Suite code is provided is hosted at Phorogit.com and can be cloned/pulled from the http://www.phorogit.com/repo/phoronix-test-suite.git repository. The latest upstream development code is housed in the master tree while older Phoronix Test Suite releases are available in their respective Git branches based upon the release's code-name.
If building the PHP package from upstream sources, it should just be a matter of running ./configure with the --enable-zip flag (all other requirements should be apart of the stock PHP configuration) to satisfy the PHP needs of the Phoronix Test Suite.
If manually changing the location of the phoronix-test-suite launcher file, the PTS_USER_PATH environment variable must be adjusted inside the file to reflect the absolute location that leads to the root directory of the pts and pts-core folders. The pts-core directory contains the "engine" of the Phoronix Test Suite.
The Phoronix Test Suite can be simply extracted from the downloaded .tar.gz or .zip file or it can also be installed system-wide. If you just wish to run the Phoronix Test Suite without installing it, open a terminal and run ./phoronix-test-suite <options> from the same directory.
Running install-sh from the root directory of the Phoronix Test Suite will install the software for system-wide access. By default the phoronix-test-suite executable is in /usr/bin/, the Phoronix Test Suite files in /usr/share/phoronix-test-suite/, and the documentation in /usr/share/doc/phoronix-test-suite/. Root access is required. The default installation prefix is /usr/ but can be adjusted as the first argument (example: install-sh /home/user/ to install the Phoronix Test Suite in your home directory).
Debian/Ubuntu users are able to follow the Generic Installation instructions or can obtain a Debian Package from the Phoronix Test Suite web-site. The package contains the phoronix-test-suite executable in /usr/bin/, the Phoronix Test Suite files in /usr/share/phoronix-test-suite/, and the documentation in /usr/share/doc/phoronix-test-suite/.
A phoronix-test-suite package can also be found in the official Ubuntu universe repository beginning with the Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) release, but it may be out of date compared to the latest upstream version.
The Phoronix Test Suite can be installed on Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and CentOS systems using the generic installation method. Alternatively, a phoronix-test-suite package is available in recent versions of the Fedora repository and in the EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux) repository for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. At this time, however, the Fedora-supplied package is vastly out of date.
Gentoo ebuild's for the Phoronix Test Suite have been created by users and can be currently found in the Gentoo BugZilla.
Phoronix Test Suite packages are available through Mandriva Cooker starting with the Mandriva Linux 2009 release.
The Phoronix Test Suite core (pts-core) is supported on Solaris and OpenSolaris platforms, but some features may not fully function. Additionally, the PTS External Dependencies feature is supported on OpenSolaris using IPS (the Image Packaging System). However, not all test profiles are supported on Solaris / OpenSolaris, and it may be in violation of your end-user agreement to perform such benchmarks on the Sun Solaris operating system. Using the OpenSolaris Image Packaging System, installing SUNWphp524 will provide PHP, PHP GD, and related dependencies. The Phoronix Test Suite has also been tested on Oracle Solaris 11 Express, OpenIndiana, StormOS, and Nexenta Core Platform.
The Phoronix Test Suite also supports *BSD operating systems. However, like the Solaris support, not all test profiles are compatible with BSD operating systems, but pts-core has been tested against FreeBSD 7.0/7.2/8.0, NetBSD, PC-BSD 7/8/9, DragonFlyBSD, and OpenBSD 4.4/4.6. The Phoronix Test Suite will also work with Debian GNU/kFreeBSD.
For DragonFlyBSD, it's a matter of just using pkg_radd with php5, php5-json, php5-dom, and php5-zip. Under FreeBSD/PC-BSD, PHP can be obtained from the php5 and php5-extensions Ports collection.
The Phoronix Test Suite is fully supported on Apple's Mac OS X operating system as of Mac OS X 10.5 with improved support under Mac OS X 10.6. PHP ships with Mac OS X by default so it's simply a matter of downloading the Phoronix Test Suite package, extracting it, and running the executable. For tests that rely upon a compiler, Apple's XCode with GCC and LLVM can be utilized.
The Phoronix Test Suite support on Windows is in development and will function just fine, but is not yet feature complete compared to the other operating systems support. At this time the Phoronix Test Suite client is dependent upon PHP being installed to C:\Program Files (x86)\PHP\php. The Phoronix Test Suite also uses CPU-Z for much of the hardware detection support on Windows and is dependent upon CPU-Z being installed to C:\Program Files\CPUID\CPU-Z\cpuz.exe if you wish to utilize this hardware reporting feature. In terms of the Microsoft Windows support, right now the Phoronix Test Suite is developed and solely tested against Windows 7 x64.
The Phoronix Test Suite can also be transformed/compiled from PHP into C++ using Facebook's HipHop and GCC. This support though is still early and not officially supported. To compile the Phoronix Test Suite using HipHop/GCC, run find . -name "*.php" > files.list && hphp --input-list=files.list -k 1 --log=3 --include-path="." --cluster-count=50 -v "AllDynamic=true" -v "AllVolatile=true" from the root phoronix-test-suite/ directory. It can then be executed in the form of /tmp/hphp_XXX/program -f pts-core/phoronix-test-suite.php system-info.
The Phoronix Test Suite has a feature known as "External Dependencies" where the Phoronix Test Suite can attempt to automatically install some of the test-specific dependencies on supported distributions. If running on a distribution where there is currently no External Dependencies profile, the needed package name(s) are listed for manual installation.
Below are a list of the operating systems that currently have external dependencies support within the Phoronix Test Suite for the automatic installation of needed test files.
~/.phoronix-test-suite/user-config.xml
This is a per-user configuration file. Among the information stored here is the test options, locations for storing files, and batch mode options. This file is formatted in XML.
~/.phoronix-test-suite/graph-config.json
This is a per-user configuration file for storing graph attributes. The adjustable options include HTML hex color codes for different areas of the graph, dimensions of the graph, and font sizes. This file is formatted in JSON.
~/.phoronix-test-suite/download-cache/
This directory contains test packages that have been downloaded for test profiles. For more information on the download cache.
~/.phoronix-test-suite/installed-tests/
This directory is where tests are installed by default. Each test has its own directory within a sub-directory of installed-tests/ based upon its OpenBenchmarking.org repository. In the test's folder is a pts-install.xml file used for managing the installation.
~/.phoronix-test-suite/test-results/
This directory is where tests results are saved by default. Each saved file has its own directory. In the saved directory is then a composite.xml file containing the useful results while in the test-X.xml files are back-ups of the results.
~/.phoronix-test-suite/modules-data/
This is the directory where any Phoronix Test Suite modules should save any files to, within a sub-directory of the module's name. The module configuration settings are also stored within this directory.
~/.phoronix-test-suite/test-profiles/
This is the directory where test profiles are stored.
~/.phoronix-test-suite/test-suites/
This is the directory where test suites are stored.
TEST_RESULTS_NAME
When this variable is set, the value will be used as the name for automatically saving the test results.
TEST_RESULTS_IDENTIFIER
When this variable is set, the value will be used as the test identifier when automatically saving the test results.
TEST_RESULTS_DESCRIPTION
When this variable is set, the value will be used as the test results description when saving the test results.
PRESET_OPTIONS
For setting any test option(s) from an environment variable rather than being prompted for the options when running a test. Example: PRESET_OPTIONS="stream.run-type=Add" ./phoronix-test-suite benchmark stream
SKIP_TESTS
If there are any test(s) to exempt from the testing process, specify them in this variable. Multiple tests can be waived by delimiting each test identifier by a comma. A test hardware type (i.e. Graphics) can also be supplied for skipping a range of tests.
PTS_MODULE_SETUP
This variable can be used to load Phoronix Test Suite module settings automatically when using the module-setup option. An example would be: PTS_MODULE_SETUP="phoromatic.remote_host=http://www.phoromatic.com/; phoromatic.remote_account=123456; phoromatic.remote_verifier=ABCD" phoronix-test-suite module-setup phoromatic.
PTS_MODULES
If there are any Phoronix Test Suite modules to additionally load, they can be specified here. Multiple modules can be supplied by delimiting them with a comma. The more appropriate way of loading Phoronix Test Suite modules for longer periods of time is by using the ~/.phoronix-test-suite/user-config.xml configuration.
NO_PHODEVI_CACHE
This is a debugging option to disable the Phodevi cache from being loaded of cached software/hardware information. Instead, all software/hardware will be polled from the Phodevi library without caching.
EXTERNAL_PHODEVI_CACHE
This option can be used for loading an external Phodevi cache. Such as loading the native hardware/software information from within a Windows Wine client from a native system host.
PTS_DISPLAY_MODE
If you wish to load a non-default display mode for a single instance, specify the mode in this variable.
TOTAL_LOOP_TIME
When running any test(s), if you would like the test(s) to continue running as a loop until a certain time has been reached, this variable can be used. The value should be the number of minutes to run the testing process before the loop is ended.
TOTAL_LOOP_COUNT
When running any test(s), if you would like the test(s) to continue running for a number of times, this variable can be used. The value should be the number of times to loop the testing process before ending.
FORCE_TIMES_TO_RUN
If you wish to override the number of times to run each test -- rather than the Phoronix Test Suite using the number of times specified in each test profile -- this variable can be used.
FORCE_MIN_TIMES_TO_RUN
This is similar to the FORCE_TIMES_TO_RUN option but will only be used if the test profile's run count is less than this defined value.
NO_MD5_CHECKS
To disable MD5 check-sums from being used when downloading test files, set this variable to 1.
PTS_DOWNLOAD_CACHE
While non-standard Phoronix Test Suite download caches can be specified within the user-config.xml file, an additional directory to look for potential Phoronix Test Suite download files can be specified by this variable.
GRAPH_HIGHLIGHT
If this variable is set with a valid test identifer from a result file whether you are using the refresh-graphs command or any other related to the rendering of test results on a bar graph, the specified test identifier's result will be highlighted in a different color than the other rendered test results. Multiple identifiers can be specified when delimited by a comma.
VIDEO_MEMORY
If Phodevi fails to detect the system's video memory capacity or is incorrectly detected, the video memory capacity (in MB) can be specified by this variable.
OVERRIDE_VIDEO_MODES
If Phodevi fails to detect all of the system's monitor video modes or a separate set of modes would be preferred, the modes can be specified in this variable. Example: OVERRIDE_VIDEO_MODES=800x600,1024x768,1280x1024 phoronix-test-suite benchmark nexuiz.
SKIP_TEST_SUPPORT_CHECKS
If this environment variable is set, it will not honor the support checks made by individual test profiles. I.e. test profiles that would normally be considered un-supported on a given platform are attempted to install and run regardless.
DEFAULT_VIDEO_MODE
If Phodevi fails to detect the system's monitor standard / default resolution, the mode can be specified in this variable. Example: DEFAULT_VIDEO_MODE=1680x1050 phoronix-test-suite benchmark nexuiz.
SKIP_EXTERNAL_DEPENDENCIES
To skip the Phoronix Test Suite external dependency checking/installation when installing a test, set this environment variable to 1. If wishing to skip only certain external dependencies, set this variable's value to the name of the external dependencies (the generic dependency names used by the Phoronix Test Suite) to not install. Multiple dependencies to skip can be delimited by a comma.
Q: May I use the Phoronix Test Suite when running benchmarks for my own publication or blog? Are there any publishing restrictions?
A: Anyone is more than welcome to use the Phoronix Test Suite for their own publication or purpose. While the Phoronix Test Suite came out of our internal test tools for carrying out Linux hardware reviews at Phoronix.com, we invite other hardware review web-sites, technology journals, and independent publications to use our software too. While not required, we would just kindly ask that you mention in your review/article that the Phoronix Test Suite was used for carrying out your testing, and ideally to link to www.phoronix-test-suite.com so that your readers will know where to obtain the software if they are interested in running the tests. You are also more than welcome to upload your results to OpenBenchmarking.org so that others may compare their results against yours in an easy manner.
We also try to make the Phoronix Test Suite easy-to-use by independent publications. For example, if you would like to watermark your web-site's URL into the graphs containing your test results, that can be easily modified in ~/.phoronix-test-suite/graph-config.json. The colors and other graph settings are also stored in this XML file. If you are a publication and run into any issues with the Phoronix Test Suite or have a feature request, please let us know.
A partial list of other publications using the Phoronix Test Suite can be found in this forum thread.
Q: Why does the Phoronix Test Suite not use my distribution's package management system for acquiring all needed packages?
A: The tests themselves are generally downloaded from source and built locally on the machine, rather than fetching any distribution-specific packages. This is done to ensure more comparable results across operating systems / releases, etc. The distribution packager could be applying a number of unknown patches to the software, building the software with unique build options, or making other changes to the software that could skew the results.
Q: Besides being a developer, documentation writer, or having any other unique technical abilities, how else can I contribute to the Phoronix Test Suite?
A: Independent code contributions are very welcome as well as creating your own test profiles and suites. We also appreciate any feedback, comments, or other ideas either by emailing us, posting on the forums, or sending a message to the mailing list. You can also see this (outdated) forum thread.
Q: Do you offer technical support for the Phoronix Test Suite
A: Paid, professional support is available and is done via our commercial services. We also offer Phoromatic licenses for use within a corporate intranet and other custom services. Free, community support is offered via our mailing list, IRC channel (#phoronix on FreeNode.net, and the Phoronix Forums.
Q: May I put the Phoronix Test Suite logo on my company's web-site or on my product packaging?
A: Contact us for licensing information and details regarding the Phoronix Certification & Qualification Suite.
Q: How often is the Phoronix Test Suite updated?
A: We provide major updates on a quarterly basis with an occasional point release to fix outstanding bugs or address other issues. The latest work going into the Phoronix Test Suite is accessible via our Git repository at Phorogit.com.
- The desktop's screensaver will automatically be shutdown when a test is running and will be restored to its previous state upon the test's completion. This is supported for GNOME, KDE, and other XDG-supportive desktop environments.
- If you have many computers you wish to benchmark, once all of your tests have been downloaded, run phoronix-test-suite make-download-cache to generate a copy of these files at ~/.phoronix-test-suite/download-cache/. A download cache is used for conserving time and bandwidth by eliminating the need for the Phoronix Test Suite to download files that have already been downloaded once. Copy this folder to the other systems or copy it to a DVD or USB hard drive, connect it to the next test system, and the Phoronix Test Suite will automatically use this local download cache. Or store these files on a local HTTP/FTP server and then update your ~/.phoronix-test-suite/user-config.xml file to reflect the location of this download cache directory.
- When running a test in batch mode (through the use of the batch-run or batch-benchmark options) that normally has end-user options (such as the sub-test to run or resolution), the Phoronix Test Suite will run the test with each unique combination of options possible, if configured appropriately.
- When running a test where you are prompted to enter any test options, multiple selections can be performed -- which will result in multiple test runs for each combination of the selected option(s) -- by separating each intended test option / number with a comma.
- When being prompted for the test identifier or the file name for saving the results, several user variables are supported. These include $VIDEO_RESOLUTION, $VIDEO_CARD, $OPERATING_SYSTEM, $PROCESSOR, $MOTHERBOARD, $CHIPSET, and $KERNEL_VERSION. If any of these variables are entered, the Phoronix Test Suite will replace them with their respective values before saving the results.
- If RemoveDownloadFiles is set to TRUE within the user-config.xml file, once a test has been installed the originally downloaded files for that test will be automatically removed. This conserves disk space but will cause these files to be re-downloaded the next time the test needs to be re-installed. This will also not back up the downloaded files to the Phoronix Test Suite download cache. Enabling this option is just recommended for users with very limited disk space.
- If the amount of video memory for your graphics card is incorrectly reported by the Phoronix Test Suite (you can check by running phoronix-test-suite diagnostics), you can use the VIDEO_MEMORY= environment variable for overriding the video memory capacity (in Megabytes) used by the Phoronix Test Suite.
- If the DISPLAY environment variable is not set or NO_GRAPHICS_TESTS environment variable is set, tests of type Graphics will not be run. Likewise, if NO_SYSTEM_TESTS environment variable is set, tests of type System will not run. This applies to all test types where NO_<TEST TYPE>_TESTS is set.
- If while running multiple tests you want to quit the testing prematurely, in a new terminal window type touch ~/.phoronix-test-suite/halt-testing. All results for tests that had already run will be saved (permitting you opted to save the results), except for the test currently being run.
- If you wish to stop the current test run prematurely but continue the testing process, in a new terminal window type touch ~/.phoronix-test-suite/skip-test.
- If you want the specified test(s) to run in a loop for a set period of time, use the TOTAL_LOOP_TIME environment variable. For instance, running TOTAL_LOOP_TIME=120 phoronix-test-suite benchmark ffmpeg would keep running the ffmpeg test profile for 120 minutes.
- If you want the specified test(s) to run in a loop for a set number of times, use the TOTAL_LOOP_COUNT environment variable. For instance, running TOTAL_LOOP_COUNT=3 phoronix-test-suite benchmark ffmpeg would keep running the ffmpeg test profile three times.
- When any tests are being installed and when tests are being run, a lock is created in the system's temporary directory with the name phoronix-test-suite.active (i.e. /tmp/phoronix-test-suite.active) and is removed upon completion. Thus if you have any system scripts that you wish to run when tests are not running or being installed as to not impact the results, one simple way to handle this is by having the script check for the existence of this lock.
- The user configuration options for the Phoronix Test Suite are stored in ~/.phoronix-test-suite/user-config.xml. The batch mode options are also stored within this file and those can be adjusted by running phoronix-test-suite batch-setup.
- The colors, size, and other attributes for the graphs found within the Phoronix Test Suite Results Viewer can be modified via the file ~/.phoronix-test-suite/graph-config.json.
- The Phoronix Test Suite recursively determines tests/suites and allows a suite to call another suite.
- By writing a Phoronix Test Suite module, you can easily extend the functionality of the Phoronix Test Suite. Some examples are being able to email the results upon completion, controlling the system's screensaver, updating a text LCD panel with the current test status, etc.
Virtual test suites are not like a traditional test suite defined by the XML suite specification. Virtual test suites are dynamically generated in real-time by the Phoronix Test Suite client based upon the specified test critera. Virtual test suites can automatically consist of all test profiles that are compatible with a particular operating system or test profiles that meet other critera. When running a virtual suite, the OpenBenchmarking.org repository of the test profiles to use for generating the dynamic suite must be prefixed.
Virtual test suites can be installed and run just like a normal XML test suite and shares nearly all of the same capabilities. However, when running a virtual suite, the user will be prompted to input any user-configuration options for needed test profiles just as they would need to do if running the test individually. When running a virtual suite, the user also has the ability to select individual tests within the suite to run or to run all of the contained test profiles. Virtual test suites are also only supported for an OpenBenchmarking.org repository if there is no test profile or test suite of the same name in the repository. Below is a list of common virtual test suites for the main Phoronix Test Suite repository, but the dynamic list of available virtual test suites based upon the enabled repositories is available by running phoronix-test-suite list-available-virtual-suites.
This is a collection of all test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository that are already installed on the system under test.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being compatible with the Linux Operating System.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being compatible with the Solaris Operating System.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being compatible with the BSD Operating System.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being compatible with the MacOSX Operating System.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being compatible with the Windows Operating System.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being compatible with the Hurd Operating System.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being a test of the System sub-system.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being a test of the Processor sub-system.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being a test of the Graphics sub-system.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being a test of the Other sub-system.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being a Utility software test.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being a Simulator software test.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being a Scientific software test.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being a Benchmark software test.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being a Application software test.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified as being a Game software test.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified via an internal tag as testing smp.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified via an internal tag as testing python.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified via an internal tag as testing mpi.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified via an internal tag as testing vdpau.
This is a collection of test profiles found within the specified OpenBenchmarking.org repository where the test profile is specified via an internal tag as testing video.
A majority of the test profiles provided by OpenBenchmarking.org to the Phoronix Test Suite are source-based tests. Relying upon the upstream source-code for each program under test allows for the tests to be easily brought to new platforms and architectures, avoids any out-of-tree / non-default packaging differences by different distributions and operating systems, and to allow the Phoronix Test Suite user to easily test new compilers and/or compiler options. For the source-based tests, the Phoronix Test Suite relies upon a compiler (e.g. GCC, LLVM/Clang, Sun Studio, Open64, et al) being present on the system under test. The Phoronix Test Suite does respect CC/CXX environment variables and test profiles are expected to honor CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS and other compiler settings.
As of Phoronix Test Suite 3.8, a compiler masking method is utilized for logging compiler options and other settings with each test profile installation. Prior to installing an open-source test, the Phoronix Test Suite determines the intended compiler to be used based upon the pre-set environment variables or the pre-set compiler(s) within the PATH environment variable. The Phoronix Test Suite then masks the compiler to ensure that any options/flags submitted to the compiler are first passed through pts-core so that they can be logged for later use, then is linked to the original, intended compiler. Additionally, other compiler binary names of the same type are blacklisted to prevent their un-intended use (i.e. if a test profile has hard-coded gcc in its build script, but clang is set as the compiler via CC, a sym-link will automatically be created from gcc to the masked clang for the duration of its test installation).
The logged compiler data is then used by the Phoronix Test Suite following the test execution process for automated result analysis. If there is a detected change in compiler settings, the differences are automatically reported to the test result graphs. Additionally, key compiler information (e.g. the compiler optimization level and key libraries that were linked at compile-time) is reported as a footnote on result graphs. The Phoronix Test Suite handles all of this in a fully automated manner; test profiles require no changes to take advantage of these compiler-reporting capabilities.
Separately, the Phoronix Test Suite attempts to automatically log the system compiler's build configuration (i.e. GCC's gcc -v "Configured with") output. If the Phoronix Test Suite detects there is a compiler build configuration change between test runs in a result file, it will report each compiler's build configuration to the system information table within the results viewer. Reported to the table is a reduced view of the build configuration options, with less relevant items being stripped away from this view to reduce verbosity. Upon clicking the text, the raw compiler information output can be viewed in full.
By default tests are installed to ~/.phoronix-test-suite/installed-tests/. However, the location can be updated from ~/.phoronix-test-suite/user-config.xml or dynamically via the PTS_TEST_INSTALL_ROOT_PATH environment variable.
When any disk tests are executed, the Phoronix Test Suite will attempt to log the mount options and scheduler of the disk/partition being used for testing. This information is subsequently displayed within the system information table. If the scheduler / mount options are maintained the same throughout all test runs, only a single line is displayed otherwise the options for each test run will be automatically displayed. The file-system in use is always captured and shown in the system information table.
Phoromatic is a remote management system for the Phoronix Test Suite. Phoromatic allows the automatic (hence the name Phoromatic) scheduling of tests, remote installation of new tests, and the management of multiple test systems all through an intuitive, easy-to-use web interface. Tests can be scheduled to automatically run on a routine basis across multiple test systems. The test results are then available from this central, secure location.
For more information on Phoromatic and a detailed guide, read Building A Benchmarking Test Farm With Phoromatic.
PTS Desktop Live and PTS Netbook Live are Linux-based operating systems designed to provide a free software platform for carrying out system tests and hardware benchmarks in an automated, reproducible, and effective manner. The Phoronix Test Suite operating systems are designed around the Phoronix Test Suite with the operating system itself consisting of a stripped down Linux environment, then built upon that is the Phoronix Test Suite with its test profiles and suites. This is not a standard Linux desktop with the normal throng of packages.
Testing with PTS Desktop Live is intended to be via a Live DVD or Live USB (i.e. flash drive or memory card) environment. PTS Netbook Live is similar to PTS Desktop Live but designed for testing on lightweight x86 systems and netbooks. Both PTS Desktop Live and PTS Netbook Live make it very easy to deploy the Phoronix Test Suite across an array of systems, isolates any software differences when seeking to perform hardware comparisons, and is designed to be very easy to carry out these Linux benchmarks even for a first-time Linux user.
The inaugural release of this operating system was PTS Desktop Live 2009.3 (codenamed "Gernlinden") and was based upon the Phoronix Test Suite 2.0 release. The Gernlinden release shipped with more than 50 open-source test profiles and all needed files being located on the disc image. PTS Desktop Live uses the GTK2 GUI dialog for the Phoronix Test Suite by default, but the CLI options are also accessible. PTS Desktop Live also features optimizations to the Linux kernel and related components for use on the latest high-end hardware and other performance related tweaking. PTS Netbook Live features optimizations for the Intel Atom processor.
The mission of the Phoronix Test Suite and related products will not be achieved until it has made Linux benchmarking incredibly robust and innovative, drop dead easy to perform nearly any kind of benchmark, and when it out-paces other leading operating systems for its benchmarking abilities. These operating systems are being updated quarterly in conjunction with new Phoronix Test Suite releases. The Phoronix Test Suite will continue to be supported under all other Linux distributions, OpenSolaris, Mac OS X, Windows, and *BSD operating systems, but this is just another addition on top of that.
PTS Desktop Live is designed to run on x86_64 compatible systems with 2GB or more of system memory (ideally 4GB+ if you wish to run many of the tests in a live environment) being highly recommended along with a modern CPU and graphics processor. No proprietary graphics drivers are shipped with PTS Desktop Live at this time, so depending upon the hardware you may not have OpenGL acceleration to run the few graphics-related tests that are included with this release. Only graphics drivers are provided for ATI/AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel hardware. An Internet connection is not required but is needed for communication with OpenBenchmarking.org and for utilizing some of the other Phoronix Test Suite features.
PTS Netbook Live is designed for netbooks and nettop computers with an Intel Atom processor.
When the operating system has fully booted, the end-user agreement for the Phoronix Test Suite will be displayed, followed by initializing the main GTK user interface for the Phoronix Test Suite. The Phoronix Test Suite has more than 100 test profiles while there are about 50 test profiles featured within live environment, which are free software, do not pose significant install size problems, and are suitable for benchmarking from a live environment. By default, PTS Desktop Live and PTS Netbook Live will only show the test profiles and suites where all of the needed test files and dependencies ship with this open-source operating system. However, to access any of the test profiles that may require downloading additional files or external dependencies, use the View menu to toggle the different options. The system's hardware and software information can also be viewed in a graphical window from this menu.
From the Available Tests tab, any test/suite can be selected to view more information. If you wish to install the test, simply click on the install button while waiting shortly for it to install. Afterwards, the test can be run by selecting it again and clicking on the run/benchmark button. If you have a OpenBenchmarking.org account, you can login from the File menu while Phoronix Test Suite settings are adjustable from the Edit menu.
When the testing has completed, the graphical user interface will reappear. Via the buttons that appear at the top of the interface, the test results can then be opened within the web browser. Depending upon the test profile, it may also be possible to immediately compare the test result(s) against a set of reference systems. If the completed test(s) do have reference results available, a list of the comparable systems are shown, so that you can click on one or more of these reference systems to see how the given system performs in comparison. Results from OpenBenchmarking.org can also be compared with any of the test results.
Assuming you did not launch any commands from the terminal to alter the disk(s) or its contents or carry out any other changes; PTS Desktop Live will have not touched your data or the installed operating system(s). If you wish to archive any of your test results, upload the results to OpenBenchmarking.org. Alternatively, when going to the Test Results tab and selecting a test, the File menu presents options for exporting results to text, CSV, and PDF files. The contents of the ~/.phoronix-test-suite/test-results/ folder can also be backed up for preserving the test results.
If you wish to use the Phoronix Test Suite from the command-line, open a terminal and run phoronix-test-suite.
The Phoronix Test Suite is based upon the extensive testing and internal tools developed by Phoronix.com since 2004 along with support from leading tier-one computer hardware and software vendors. The principal architects of the Phoronix Test Suite are Michael Larabel and Matthew Tippett. The phoronix-test-suite, pts_Graph, bilde_renderer, Phodevi, tandem_Xml, and nye_Xml are some of the related open-source projects provided by Phoronix Media.
Below is a list of individuals and organizations that have contributed upstream patches, test profiles, and/or made other contributions to the Phoronix Test Suite that Phoronix Media would like to thank.
Copyright © 2008 - 2012 by Phoronix Media.