[Bug 2062506] [NEW] autopkgtest - offloads conntrack - ICMP related with SNAT fails with openbsd-netcat

[Frode Nordahl]

Public bug reported:

When run with the CPU/RAM constraints in the autopkgtest cloud, this
test currently fails more often than not [0]. Curiously if we switch to
using the NMAP netcat implementation the test passes more often than
not.

An overnight experience provides these statistics:
nmap-netcat 57/62 PASS
openbsd-netcat 3/62 PASS

The upstream developers appear to be using the NMAP netcat
implementation more often than the OpenBSD netcat implementation, and
for the OVN package the NMAP implementation is required [1].

The curious thing is that when the test is ran with more available
resources it passes, so it may also be we are near some resource limit
and a that this change alleviates the situation somewhat randomly.
However, the fact that upstream develop the tests using the NMAP netcat
implementation does shift the scale towards using that implementation in
our test runs.

0: https://autopkgtest.ubuntu.com/results/autopkgtest-noble/noble/amd64/o/openvswitch/20240415_172419_494f2@/log.gz
1: https://github.com/ovn-org/ovn/blob/1c9656714c601b128ca0a6bed47050c77e98fb8b/utilities/containers/ubuntu/Dockerfile#L33

** Affects: openvswitch (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2062506

Title:
  autopkgtest - offloads conntrack - ICMP related with SNAT fails with
  openbsd-netcat

Status in openvswitch package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  When run with the CPU/RAM constraints in the autopkgtest cloud, this
  test currently fails more often than not [0]. Curiously if we switch
  to using the NMAP netcat implementation the test passes more often
  than not.

  An overnight experience provides these statistics:
  nmap-netcat 57/62 PASS
  openbsd-netcat 3/62 PASS

  The upstream developers appear to be using the NMAP netcat
  implementation more often than the OpenBSD netcat implementation, and
  for the OVN package the NMAP implementation is required [1].

  The curious thing is that when the test is ran with more available
  resources it passes, so it may also be we are near some resource limit
  and a that this change alleviates the situation somewhat randomly.
  However, the fact that upstream develop the tests using the NMAP
  netcat implementation does shift the scale towards using that
  implementation in our test runs.

  0: https://autopkgtest.ubuntu.com/results/autopkgtest-noble/noble/amd64/o/openvswitch/20240415_172419_494f2@/log.gz
  1: https://github.com/ovn-org/ovn/blob/1c9656714c601b128ca0a6bed47050c77e98fb8b/utilities/containers/ubuntu/Dockerfile#L33

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