TAF-Perl (Test Automation Framework - Perl)

TAF-Perl is a deterministic, extensible test automation framework written in Perl. It provides a stable foundation for building client-to-backend test suites, benchmarking workloads, and system validation tools. The framework emphasizes clarity, reproducibility, and contributor-proof behavior.

TAF-Perl is maintained under the MariaDB Foundation as part of its mission to support open, vendor-neutral, community-driven tooling for the database ecosystem. The framework supports MariaDB, MySQL, and any other database maker for which a TAF database plugin, SQL dialect, and compatible test client exist.

For remote testing, only the SQL dialect, test client, and a reachable database installation are required.

Why Perl

TAF-Perl is implemented in Perl for practical, architectural, and operational reasons.

Perl is present on every Linux distribution used for database development, testing, and production. There is no runtime to install, no virtual environment to manage, and no dependency chain to maintain. The language is available immediately on bare systems, containers, CI hosts, and remote test machines.

Perl aligns directly with the needs of a deterministic test framework:

• stable behavior across platforms
• predictable execution
• mature standard library for process control, file handling, and automation
• no external modules or package managers required

Perl enables contributor-proof design by making state transitions, file operations, and test lifecycles explicit and easy to inspect. It avoids the overhead of compiled toolchains, language servers, or dependency managers. The result is a framework that is simple to deploy, simple to reason about, and simple to maintain.

Features

TAF-Perl provides a deterministic, contributor-proof automation framework with the following capabilities:

• Modular Perl test suite architecture
• Deterministic lifecycle routines
• Properties-driven configuration with override discipline
• Unified tools library for file operations, logging, archiving, SCP, validation, and system information
• Starter template suite for rapid onboarding
• Supports client build logic and backend setup routines
• Designed for single-host execution with client and backend co-resident
• Contributor-proof design with explicit, predictable behavior
• By default, TAF keeps all components, including database software installs, inside the TAF directory structure. This keeps test systems clean and allows multiple database installs to coexist without affecting the host.

Directory Structure

taf-perl/
  taf.pl
  LICENSE
  README.md
  TAF-PERL_QuickStart.pdf

  archive/
    (run artifacts and archived test outputs)

  client_source/
    BMK/
    hammerdb/
    sysbench-lua/
    template/

  data/
    (database runtime files created during test execution)

  database_config_files/
    mariadb/
    mysql/

  database_software_installs/
    (TAF-managed database installs, multiple versions allowed)

  external_tools/
    (optional external utilities)

  help/
    TAF-PERL_OVERVIEW.pdf
    TAF-PERL_DatabaseSoftwareInstallsQuickStart.pdf
    TAF-PERL_HammerDB-TPROCC_QuickStart.pdf
    TAF-PERL_HammerDB-TPROCH_QuickStart.pdf
    TAF-PERL_Sysbench_QuickStart.pdf
    taf_usage.txt

  libs/
    database_libs/
    reporter_libs/
    script_tools_lib/
    sql_libs/
      dialects/
        mariadb/
        mysql/
        oracle/
        postgres/
    taf_libs/

  logs/
    (client build logs and test execution logs)

  properties/
    default/
    examples/
    mariadb/
    mysql/

  reports/
    (generated reports)

  results/
    (test results)

  scripts/
    hammerdb/
    sql/
    ResultsCompareRaw.pl
    ResultsCompareTprochRaw.pl

  test_suites/
    hammerdb-tprocc.pm
    hammerdb-tproch.pm
    sysbench-lua.pm
    test_suite_template.pm

  tidesdb_data/
    (schema and table data for tidesdb workloads)

  tmp/
    (temporary working files)

Test Suite Lifecycle

Each test suite may implement the following lifecycle routines:

• PreTestSetup
• TestSetup
• TestRun
• TestPost
• TestCleanup

Optional metadata and control routines:

• BuildClient
• GetDefaultTests
• GetLegalTests
• GetTestClientVersion
• GetTestDuration
• GetTestSuiteRevision
• GetTestSuiteVersion
• GetThreads
• Help
• InstancesEnabled
• MultiThreadEnabled
• StrictTestValidation
• TSParseProperty
• TestSuiteCleanup

Supported Test Suites

• hammerdb-tpcc.pm
• hammerdb-tpch.pm
• sysbench-lua.pm
• template.pm

Getting Started

Clone the repository:

Show help:

cd taf-perl
perl taf.pl --help

Run a sample test:

perl taf.pl --prop=./properties/examples/test_01.template_hello.properties

Advanced example:

perl taf.pl --prop=./properties/examples/test_01.template_hello.properties \
    --iter=1 --threads=2,128 --tools-debug \
    --skip-test-setup --duration=10

Platform Compatibility

TAF-Perl runs on any modern Linux distribution that includes Perl 5.30.x or newer. This includes common enterprise and development environments such as Oracle Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat-compatible systems, and most container-based images.

No additional runtime, package manager, or language environment is required.

MariaDB Foundation

TAF-Perl is maintained under the MariaDB Foundation. The Foundation ensures that the framework remains open-source, vendor-neutral, community-driven, and aligned with the long-term health of the MariaDB ecosystem.

Copyright

TAF-Perl and all associated source files are Copyright MariaDB Foundation

All framework code, test suites, libraries, scripts, and documentation are released under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later (GPLv2+), unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Contributing

Contributions, suggestions, and feedback are welcome. Submit issues or pull requests to help improve TAF-Perl.

License

TAF-Perl is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later (GPLv2+). See the LICENSE file for details.