From Code to Distribution: Building a Complete Testing Pipeline

How do you ensure code works across distributions before it reaches users? The Packaging and Testing Experience (PTE) project is an open-source approach to solving the upstream-to-downstream testing challenge.

The traditional model fragments testing: upstream tests their code, distribution maintainers test packages, and users discover the gaps. PTE bridges this by creating a continuous testing pipeline where upstream changes are automatically built, tested in realistic distribution environments, and validated before integration.

Our approach consists of three open-source components working together:

1. tmt - A CI-agnostic test management framework that defines tests once, runs anywhere
2. Testing Farm - On-demand test infrastructure providing clean VMs, containers, bare metal, and multi-host environments
3. Packit - Integration glue connecting upstream repositories to distribution workflows

But this isn't just about specific tools - it's about the philosophy: making tests portable, infrastructure on-demand, and integration automated. tmt works with any distribution. Testing Farm's architecture could inform similar services. The integration patterns apply broadly.
In this talk, we'll share:

• How all of these work together and what we’ve learned along the way.
• How we integrate and share tests from upstream projects down through Fedora, CentOS and RHEL. Both for the packages and their integration with each other as well.
• How other distributions can adopt these approaches.
• Where collaboration could reduce duplication across the ecosystem.