avocado-framework/avocado

==============================
64.0 The man who would be king
==============================

The Avocado team is proud to present another release: Avocado version
64.0, AKA "The man who would be king", is now available!

Release documentation: `Avocado 64.0
<http://avocado-framework.readthedocs.io/en/64.0/>`_

The major changes introduced on this version are listed below,
roughly categorized into major topics and intended audience:

Users/Test Writers
==================

* A new varianter plugin, the :ref:`cit-varianter-plugin`. This plugin
  implements a "Pair-Wise", also known as "Combinatorial Independent
  Testing" algorithm, in pure Python.  This exciting new functionality
  is provided thanks to a collaboration with the Czech Technical
  University in Prague.

* The :mod:`avocado.utils.distro` module has dropped the probe that
  depended on the Python standard library :func:`platform.dist`.  The
  reason is the :func:`platform.dist` has been deprecated since Python
  2.6, and has been removed on the upcoming Python 3.8.

* All optional plugins available on Python 2 RPM packages are now also
  available on Python 3 based RPM packages.

* The :mod:`avocado.utils.iso9660` module gained a pycdlib based
  backend, which is very capable, and pure Python ISO9660 library.
  This allows us to have a working :mod:`avocado.utils.iso9660`
  backend on environments in which other backends may not be easily
  installable.

* The :func:`avocado.utils.iso9660.iso9660` function gained a
  capabilities mechanism, in which users may request a backend that
  implement a given set of features.

* The :mod:`avocado.utils.iso9660` module, gained "create" and "write"
  capabilities, currently implemented on the pycdlib based backend.
  This allows users of the :mod:`avocado.utils.iso9660` module to
  create ISO images programmatically - a task that was previously done
  by running ``mkisofs`` and similar tools.

* The :func:`avocado.utils.vmimage.get` function now provides a
  directory in which to put the snapshot file, which is usually
  discarded.  Previously, the snapshot file would always be kept in
  the cache directory, resulting in its pollution.

* The :mod:`avocado.utils.download` module, and the various utility
  functions that use it, will have extended logging, including the
  file size, time stamp information, etc.

* A brand new module, :mod:`avocado.utils.cloudinit`, that aides in
  the creation of ISO files containing configuration for the virtual
  machines compatible with cloudinit.  Besides authentication
  credentials, it's also possible to define a "phone home" address,
  which is complemented by a simple phone home server implementation.
  On top of that, a very easy to use function to wait on the phone
  home is available as :func:`avocado.utils.cloudinit.wait_for_phone_home`.

* The Human UI plugin, will now show the "reason" behind test
  failures, cancellations and others right along the test result
  status.  This hopefully will give more information to users without
  requiring them to resort to logs every single time.

Bug Fixes
=========

* The :mod:`avocado.utils.partition` now behaves better when the
  system is missing the ``lsof`` utility.

Internal Changes
================

* Fixes generators on Python 3.7, according to PEP479.

* Other enablements for Python 3.7 environments were added, including
  RPM build fixes for Fedora 29.

* A large number of warnings checks have been enabled in the "lint"
  check, making the Avocado source code better now, and avoiding best
  practices regressions.

For more information, please check out the complete
`Avocado changelog
<https://github.com/avocado-framework/avocado/compare/63.0...64.0>`_.

Release Meeting
===============

The Avocado release meetings are now open to the community via
Hangouts on Air.  The meetings are recorded and made available on the
`Avocado Test Framework YouTube channel
<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-RVZ_HFTbEztDM7wNY4NfA>`_.

For this release, you can watch the meeting on `this link
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn9y2FHVmiw>`_.

----

| Sprint theme: https://trello.com/c/dTc5HtrX/1382-sprint-theme-the-man-who-would-be-king-1975