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+<body>
+<div class="document" id="audio-testing-of-virtualbox">
+<h1 class="title">Audio Testing of VirtualBox</h1>
+
+<div class="section" id="overview-goal">
+<h1>Overview / Goal</h1>
+<p>The goal is to create a flexible testing framework to test the
+VirtualBox audio stack.</p>
+<p>It should be runnable with an easy-to-use setup so that also regular users
+can perform tests on request, without having to install or set up additional
+dependencies.</p>
+<p>That framework must be runnable on all host/guest combinations together with all
+audio drivers (&quot;backends&quot;) and device emulations being offered. This makes it a
+rather big testing matrix which therefore has to be processed in an automated
+fashion.</p>
+<p>Additionally it should be flexible enough to add more (custom) tests later on.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="operation">
+<h1>Operation</h1>
+<p>The framework consists of several components which try to make use as much of
+the existing audio stack code as possible. This allows the following
+operation modes:</p>
+<dl class="docutils">
+<dt>Standalone</dt>
+<dd>Playing back / recording audio data (test tones / .WAV files) in a
+standalone scenario, i.e. no VirtualBox / VMs required). This mode is using
+VirtualBox' audio (mixing) stack and available backend drivers without the
+need of VirtualBox being installed.</dd>
+<dt>Manual</dt>
+<dd>Performing single / multiple tests manually on a local machine.
+Requires a running and set up test VM.</dd>
+<dt>Automated</dt>
+<dd>Performs single / multiple tests via the Validation Kit audio test
+driver and can be triggered via the Validation Kit Test Manager.</dd>
+<dt>(Re-)validation of previously ran tests</dt>
+<dd>This takes two test sets and runs the validation / analysis on them.</dd>
+<dt>Self testing mode</dt>
+<dd>Performs standalone self tests to verify / debug the involved components.</dd>
+</dl>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="components-and-terminology">
+<h1>Components and Terminology</h1>
+<p>The following components are in charge for performing the audio tests
+(depends on the operation mode, see above):</p>
+<ul>
+<li><p class="first">VBoxAudioTest (also known as VKAT, &quot;Validation Kit Audio Test&quot;):
+A binary which can perform the standalone audio tests mentioned above, as well
+as acting as the guest and host service(s) when performing manual or automated
+tests. It also includes the analysis / verification of audio test sets.
+VKAT also is included in host installations and Guest Additions since
+VirtualBox 7.0 to give customers and end users the opportunity to test and
+verify the audio stack.</p>
+<dl class="docutils">
+<dt>Additional features include:</dt>
+<dd><ul class="first last simple">
+<li>Automatic probing of audio backends (&quot;--probe-backends&quot;)</li>
+<li>Manual playback of test tones (&quot;play -t&quot;)</li>
+<li>Manual playback of .WAV files (&quot;play &lt;WAV-File&gt;&quot;)</li>
+<li>Manual recording to .WAV files (&quot;recording &lt;WAV-File&gt;&quot;)</li>
+<li>Manual device enumeration (sub command &quot;enum&quot;)</li>
+<li>Manual (re-)verification of test sets (sub command &quot;verify&quot;)</li>
+<li>Self-contained self tests (sub command &quot;selftest&quot;)</li>
+</ul>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p>See the syntax help (&quot;--help&quot;) for more.</p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first">ATS (&quot;Audio Testing Service&quot;): Component which is being used by 1 and the
+Validation Kit audio driver (backend) to communicate across guest and host
+boundaries. Currently using a TCP/IP transport layer. Also works with VMs
+which are configured with NAT networking (&quot;reverse connection&quot;).</p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first">Validation Kit audio test driver (tdAudioTest.py): Used for integrating and
+invoking VKAT for manual and automated tests via the Validation Kit framework
+(Test Manager). Optional. The test driver can be found at <a class="footnote-reference" href="#footnote-1" id="footnote-reference-1">[1]</a>.</p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first">Validation Kit audio driver (backend): A dedicated audio backend which
+communicates with VKAT running on the same host to perform the actual audio
+tests on a VirtualBox installation. This makes it possible to test the full
+audio stack on a running VM without any additional / external tools.</p>
+<p>On guest playback, data will be recorded, on guest recording, data will be
+injected from the host into the audio stack.</p>
+</li>
+<li><dl class="first docutils">
+<dt>Test sets contain</dt>
+<dd><ul class="first last simple">
+<li>a test manifest with all information required (vkat_manifest.ini)</li>
+<li>the generated / captured audio data (as raw PCM)</li>
+</ul>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+<p>and are either packed as .tar.gz archives or consist of a dedicated directory
+per test set.</p>
+<p>There always must be at least two test sets - one from the host side and one
+from the guest side - to perform a verification.</p>
+<p>Each test set contains a test tag so that matching test sets can be
+identified.</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+<p>The above components are also included in VirtualBox release builds and can be
+optionally enabled (disabled by default).</p>
+<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="footnote-1" rules="none">
+<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
+<tbody valign="top">
+<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#footnote-reference-1">[1]</a></td><td>src/VBox/ValidationKit/tests/audio/tdAudioTest.py</td></tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="setup-instructions">
+<h1>Setup instructions</h1>
+<ul>
+<li><p class="first">VM needs to be configured to have audio emulation and audio testing enabled
+(via extra-data, set &quot;VBoxInternal2/Audio/Debug/Enabled&quot; to &quot;true&quot;).</p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first">Audio input / output for the VM needs to be enabled (depending on the test).</p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first">Start VBoxAudioTest on the guest, for example:</p>
+<p>VBoxAudioTest test --mode guest --tcp-connect-address 10.0.2.2</p>
+<dl class="docutils">
+<dt>Note: VBoxAudioTest is included with the Guest Additions starting at</dt>
+<dd><p class="first last">VirtualBox 7.0.</p>
+</dd>
+<dt>Note: Depending on the VM's networking configuration there might be further</dt>
+<dd><p class="first last">steps necessary in order to be able to reach the host from the guest.
+See the VirtualBox manual for more information.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="performing-a-manual-test">
+<h1>Performing a manual test</h1>
+<ul>
+<li><p class="first">Follow &quot;Setup instructions&quot;.</p>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first">Start VBoxAudioTest on the host with selected test(s), for example:</p>
+<p>VBoxAudioTest test --mode host</p>
+<blockquote>
+<dl class="docutils">
+<dt>Note: VBoxAudioTest is included with the VirtualBox 7.0 host installers and</dt>
+<dd><p class="first last">will be installed by default.</p>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+</blockquote>
+</li>
+<li><p class="first">By default the test verification will be done automatically after running the
+tests.</p>
+</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="advanced-performing-manual-verification">
+<h1>Advanced: Performing manual verification</h1>
+<p>VBoxAudioTest can manually be used with the &quot;verify&quot; sub command in order to
+(re-)verify previously generated test sets. It then will return different exit
+codes based on the verification result.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="advanced-performing-an-automated-test">
+<h1>Advanced: Performing an automated test</h1>
+<ul class="simple">
+<li>TxS (Test E[x]ecution Service) has to be up and running (part of the
+Validation Kit) on the guest.</li>
+<li>Invoke the tdAudioTest.py test driver, either manually or fully automated
+via Test Manager.</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="internals-workflow-for-a-single-test">
+<h1>Internals: Workflow for a single test</h1>
+<p>When a single test is being executed on a running VM, the following (simplified)
+workflow applies:</p>
+<ul class="simple">
+<li>VKAT on the host connects to VKAT running on the guest (via ATS, also can be a
+remote machine in theory).</li>
+<li>VKAT on the host connects to Validation Kit audio driver on the host
+(via ATS, also can be a remote machine in theory).</li>
+<li><dl class="first docutils">
+<dt>For example, when doing playback tests, VKAT on the host ...</dt>
+<dd><ul class="first last">
+<li><dl class="first docutils">
+<dt>... tells the Validation Kit audio driver to start recording</dt>
+<dd>guest playback.</dd>
+</dl>
+</li>
+<li>... tells the VKAT on the guest to start playing back audio data.</li>
+<li><dl class="first docutils">
+<dt>... gathers all test data (generated from/by the guest and recorded from</dt>
+<dd>the host) as separate test sets.</dd>
+</dl>
+</li>
+<li>... starts verification / analysis of the test sets.</li>
+</ul>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="current-status-limitations">
+<h1>Current status / limitations</h1>
+<ul class="simple">
+<li><dl class="first docutils">
+<dt>The following test types are currently implemented:</dt>
+<dd><ul class="first last">
+<li>Test tone (sine wave) playback from the guest</li>
+<li>Test tone (sine wave) recording by the guest (injected from the host)</li>
+</ul>
+</dd>
+</dl>
+</li>
+<li>Only the HDA device emulation has been verified so far.</li>
+<li>Only the ALSA audio stack on Debian 10 has been verified so far.
+Note: This is different from PulseAudio using the ALSA plugin!</li>
+</ul>
+</div>
+<div class="section" id="troubleshooting">
+<h1>Troubleshooting</h1>
+<ul class="simple">
+<li>Make sure that audio device emulation is enabled and can be used within the
+guest. Also, audio input / output has to be enabled, depending on the tests.</li>
+<li>Make sure that the guest's VBoxAudioTest's instance can reach the host via
+the selected transport layer (TCP/IP by default).</li>
+<li>Increase the hosts audio logging level
+(via extra-data, set &quot;VBoxInternal2/Audio/Debug/Level&quot; to &quot;5&quot;).</li>
+<li>Increase VBoxAudioTest's verbosity level (add &quot;-v&quot;, can be specified
+multiple times).</li>
+<li>Check if the VBox release log contains any warnings / errors with the
+&quot;ValKit:&quot; prefix.</li>
+</ul>
+<table class="docutils field-list" frame="void" rules="none">
+<col class="field-name" />
+<col class="field-body" />
+<tbody valign="top">
+<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Status:</th><td class="field-body">$Id: VBoxAudioValidationKitReadMe.html $</td>
+</tr>
+<tr class="field"><th class="field-name">Copyright:</th><td class="field-body">Copyright (C) 2021-2023 Oracle Corporation.</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+</div>
+</div>
+</body>
+</html>