Developer setup

In this document, we assume that you are developing on a Debian system. We also assume that the version is Bullseye (or any more recent versions).

Other distributions

Even if we assume the use of Debian, you can also use any non-Debian distributions. Just adapt the steps above to match your distribution.

We currently recommend three methods for developing LAVA.

• using uv and pyproject.toml (recommended)
• from the Debian packages
• from sources

Using uv

uv is the recommended way to set up a development environment. LAVA provides a pyproject.toml with optional dependency groups for each component.

Available dependency groups:

• dispatcher -- dependencies for lava-dispatcher
• server -- dependencies for lava-server
• dispatcher-host -- dependencies for lava-dispatcher-host
• coordinator -- dependencies for lava-coordinator
• full -- all of the above
• test -- test dependencies (pytest, coverage, etc.)
• dev -- development tools (black, isort, pylint, mypy, etc.)
• docs -- documentation build dependencies (sphinx)

Fetch the sources and install dependencies:

git clone https://gitlab.com/lava/lava
cd lava/
uv sync --extra dev

Running the development server

LAVA uses PostgreSQL in production, but for local development you can use SQLite:

export DATABASE_URL="sqlite:////tmp/lava.sqlite3"
uv run --extra server manage.py migrate
uv run --extra server manage.py collectstatic --noinput
uv run --extra server manage.py createsuperuser
uv run --extra server manage.py runserver

LAVA is now accessible at http://localhost:8000/

Running tests and linters

uv run python -m pytest tests/
uv run black --check .
uv run isort --check .

Note

Production deployments use Debian packages, not pip or uv. The pyproject.toml dependency groups are provided for development convenience only. System-level files (systemd units, configuration in /etc, etc.) are handled by the Debian packaging and setup.py, not by pyproject.toml.

Using pip

Alternatively, you can use pip in a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

From Debian packages

Install the Debian packages:

apt-get install git postgresql
apt-get install lava-coordinator lava-dispatcher lava-server

Fetch the sources somewhere in your home directory.

cd ~/
git clone https://gitlab.com/lava/lava
cd ~/lava/

Remove the lava binaries and packages from the system directories:

# python libraries
rm -rf /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lava/
rm -rf /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lava_common/
rm -rf /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lava_dispatcher/
rm -rf /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lava_dispatcher_host/
rm -rf /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lava_rest_app/
rm -rf /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lava_results_app/
rm -rf /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lava_scheduler_app/
rm -rf /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/lava_server/
rm -rf /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/linaro_django_xmlrpc/

# binaries
rm -f /usr/bin/lava-coordinator
rm -f /usr/bin/lava-dispatcher-host
rm -f /usr/bin/lava-run
rm -f /usr/bin/lava-server
rm -f /usr/bin/lava-worker

Add symbolic links to your local clone:

# python libraries
cd /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/
ln -s ~/lava/lava/ .
ln -s ~/lava/lava_common/ .
ln -s ~/lava/lava_dispatcher/ .
ln -s ~/lava/lava_dispatcher_host/ .
ln -s ~/lava/lava_rest_app/ .
ln -s ~/lava/lava_results_app/ .
ln -s ~/lava/lava_scheduler_app/ .
ln -s ~/lava/lava_server/ .
ln -s ~/lava/linaro_django_xmlrpc/ .

# binaries
cd /usr/bin/
ln -s ~/lava/lava/coordinator/lava-coordinator .
ln -s ~/lava/lava/dispatcher/lava-run .
ln -s ~/lava/lava/dispatcher/lava-worker .
ln -s ~/lava/lava_dispatcher_host/lava-dispatcher-host .
ln -s ~/lava/manage.py lava-server

Install the lava-dispatcher-host udev rules:

lava-dispatcher-host rules install

Restart the services:

systemctl restart lava-coordinator
systemctl restart lava-publisher
systemctl restart lava-scheduler
systemctl restart lava-server-gunicorn
systemctl restart lava-worker

LAVA is now accessible at http://localhost/

From sources

Install basic tools:

apt-get install black git nfs-kernel-server \
    postgresql postgresql-client \
    python3 python3-yaml python3-django-extensions python3-werkzeug \
    ruby-foreman

Fetch the sources somewhere in your home directory.

cd ~/
git clone https://gitlab.com/lava/lava
cd ~/lava/

Install lava-dispatcher and lava-server dependencies:

apt-get install \
    $(python3 share/requires.py  -p lava-common -d debian -s bullseye -n) \
    $(python3 share/requires.py  -p lava-dispatcher -d debian -s bullseye -n) \
    $(python3 share/requires.py  -p lava-dispatcher -d debian -s bullseye -n -u) \
    $(python3 share/requires.py  -p lava-dispatcher-host -d debian -s bullseye -n) \
    $(python3 share/requires.py  -p lava-server -d debian -s bullseye -n) \
    $(python3 share/requires.py  -p lava-server -d debian -s bullseye -n -u)

Create the test database:

sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE ROLE devel NOSUPERUSER CREATEDB NOCREATEROLE INHERIT LOGIN ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'devel'"
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE DATABASE devel OWNER devel"

Apply the django migrations

python3 manage.py migrate

Install the lava-dispatcher-host udev rules

$(pwd)/lava_dispatcher_host/lava-dispatcher-host rules install

The above will make the installed udev rules call the lava-dispatcher-host program inside your source directory. If you move your source directory to a different location, you will have to install the rules again.

Start the services

foreman start

LAVA is now accessible at http://localhost:8000/