KPASS in test results

[Mike Mason]

My understanding is KPASS indicates a test exposes a known bug and should have failed, but did not.  While testing on x86_64 the following tests resulted in KPASS:

KPASS: buildok/process_test.stp (PRMS 9999)
KPASS: buildok/seven.stp (PRMS 9999)
KPASS: buildok/syscall.stp (PRMS 9999)

I figured out this is generated by the following lines in systemtap.pass1-4/buildok.exp:

buildok/seven.stp {setup_kfail 9999 *-*-*}
buildok/process_test.stp {setup_kfail 9999 *-*-*}
buildok/syscall.stp {setup_kfail 9999 *-*-*}

I also figured out that 9999 represents a bug # and *-*-* is the targetname (I think). I don't know yet where targetname on a specific machine is defined.

I have a few questions:

- When is it appropriate to remove a setup_kfail line?

- If we're going to use setup_kfail, shouldn't we be filling in the bug # and target variables?

- Is it wise to even use setup_kfail?  It might mask failures that should be getting more attention. I realize the intent of setup_kfail is to distinguish known bugs from new bugs, but should we really do that?  

Mike