From apt show autopkgtest:

Package: autopkgtest
...
Description: automatic as-installed testing for Debian packages
 autopkgtest runs tests on binary packages.  The tests are run on the
 package as installed on a testbed system (which may be found via a
 virtualisation or containment system).  The tests are expected to be
 supplied in the corresponding Debian source package.
 .
 See adt-run(1) and /usr/share/doc/autopkgtest.
 Depending on which virtualization server you want to use, you need to
 install additional packages (schroot, lxc, lxd, or qemu-system)
 .
 For generating tests of well-known source packages such as Perl and Ruby
 libraries you should install the autodep8 package.

The file /usr/share/doc/autopkgtest/README.running-tests.rst.gz contains useful information on how to run tests.

Additional documentation:

/usr/share/doc/autopkgtest/README.click-tests.rst.gz

/usr/share/doc/autopkgtest/README.package-tests.rst.gz

/usr/share/doc/autopkgtest/README.virtualisation-server.rst.gz

Simple (local) test

  1. Start with a source package. apt source is a good option:

    mkdir systemd
cd systemd
apt source systemd
cd systemd-229/

  2. Run the package tests:

    sudo adt-run -d ./ --- null

The tests might modify the system. Although that’s a very simple way to run the test, it’s recommended to use a virtual machine for that.

Testing with QEMU

Using QEMU allows tests to perform some operations that other backends do not allow, such as reboots. Besides that the tests are executed in an overlay image, preserving the original image for further tests.

  1. Start with a source package (check previous section).

  2. Create a base QEMU image to run the tests:

    adt-buildvm-ubuntu-cloud -v

    Check man adt-buildvm-ubuntu-cloud for additional options.

    Use autopkgtest-buildvm-ubuntu-cloud if adt-buildvm-ubuntu-cloud is not available.

  3. Customize your base image:

    kvm -m 1024 -nographic -net user -net user -net nic,model=virtio ./adt-xenial-amd64-cloud.img

    The default username and password for the image is ubuntu/ubuntu.

    Use Ctrl-a x to exit or Ctrl-a h for help.

  4. Run the tests in a virtual machine:

    adt-run --unbuilt-tree  ./ --- qemu ./adt-xenial-amd64-cloud.img
# Or with debug messages:
adt-run -d --unbuilt-tree  ./ --- qemu -d ./adt-xenial-amd64-cloud.img

    Check man adt-virt-qemu to see what option you can pass to the QEMU virtual server.