Phoronix Test Suite 1.0.0

You have likely already read the Phoronix Test Suite 1.0 press release, but today -- on the fourth anniversary of Phoronix -- we have reached the version 1.0 milestone for this Linux testing platform. It's been a lot of work -- over the past few months especially -- though we've reached our initial goal in formalizing and releasing our internal test tools and at the same time developing a feature-rich platform. Plans are already being made for charting the future of the Phoronix Test Suite and the features we will be rolling out over the coming months, but in this article we'll highlight some of what is already possible with Phoronix Test Suite 1.0.

Key Features:

- 57 test profiles
- 23 test suites
- Automatic detection of installed hardware and software
- All tests written in a documented, standardized XML-based specification
- Support for housing multiple tests within a test suite
- Automatic installation of tests
- Support for running tests in batch mode
- Unified system (thermal, fan speed, voltage) monitoring while tests are running
- Automatic control of ambient services such as power management and screensaver
- Side-by-side results comparison viewer
- Integrated visual graphing support of test results
- Online results repository via PTS Global
- Test profiles compatible across Linux distributions, architectures

Whether you are looking to compare the frame-rate performance of a new computer game with friends, are interested in validating your company's hardware or software for Linux, or would like to measure workstation performance with co-workers, it's all possible via the Phoronix Test Suite.

Since the development versions of the Phoronix Test Suite were introduced, it's picked up many new test profiles and suites. The 57 test profiles range from Linux games to ray tracing to molecular biology simulations and the suites are equally interesting and unique. The different tests and suites can be found by running phoronix-test-suite list-tests or phoronix-test-suites list-suites, respectively. Alternatively, you can also view all of the native 1.0 tests by visiting http://tests.phoronix-test-suite.com/.

With the documentation that ships with the Phoronix Test Suite (and can be viewed online), one can easily write their own test profile or suite by following the XML specification and the basic how-to guide. We are also more than happy to accept new tests/suites in future versions of the Phoronix Test Suite. The Phoronix Test Suite has already caught the attention of a number of different software/hardware vendors, and more on that will be shared in later announcements.

Aside from the automated testing, the Phoronix Test Suite is able to control ambient services such as automatically shutting down the screensaver and other power management features while the tests are running and then restoring the system's previous state upon its completion. With that, the Phoronix Test Suite has unified support for monitoring and recording system sensors such as the processor temperature and line voltages while tests are running. An example of how to conduct the monitoring is showcased below (run phoronix-test-suite sensor-options for all of the information).

MONITOR=all phoronix-test-suite benchmark universe-x

Here are the thermal results from a Lenovo ThinkPad T61 with a Core 2 Duo T9300 "Penryn" and Quadro NVS 140M while running OpenSSL within Phoronix Test Suite 1.0.0.