Inquisitor is a
software suite
A software suite (also known as an application suite) is a collection of computer programs (application software, or programming software) of related functionality, sharing a similar user interface and the ability to easily exchange data with eac ...
used for hardware diagnostics,
stress testing
Stress testing (sometimes called torture testing) is a form of deliberately intense or thorough testing used to determine the stability of a given system, critical infrastructure or entity. It involves testing beyond normal operational capacity, ...
, certification and benchmarking platform. It is available in three formats:
* Standalone – As a package to be installed into existing Linux installation; such practice is somewhat limited in available tests.
* Live – Distributed as a Linux
live CD
A live CD (also live DVD, live disc, or live operating system) is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs directly from a CD-ROM or similar storage device into a computer's memory, rather than loading f ...
distribution; system under test should be booted from it; this way one particular system can be tested thoroughly.
* Enterprise – A most advanced format; multiple systems can be tested simultaneously by booting from network using
PXE, in fully controlled environment; all testing progress and results are collected on central server to be analyzed by testing operator.
Released under the terms of version 3 of the
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end user
In product development, an end user (sometimes end-user) is a person who ultimately uses or is intended to ulti ...
, Inquisitor is
free software
Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, ...
.
History
Inquisitor started in early 2004 as a closed project developed by Mikhail Yakshin at
ALT Linux for MaxSelect, a Russian hardware vendor. First versions were closed-source, although some effort was made to open some of its components. Versions 1 and 2 were fully developed in-house and were fully adopted by MaxSelect and its multiple branches. These versions concentrated on server-based enterprise testing and were optimized mostly for notebook hardware.
In 2005, a special abridged version of Inquisitor suite was developed for distribution on Live CDs. These Live CDs were supplied with MaxSelect products, so every buyer can stress test their newly bought hardware to ensure it runs stable.
In August, 2007, all legal complications were solved and Inquisitor was announced as an open source platform. This platform can be used to implement various Linux-based solutions that deal with hardware testing, monitoring and benchmarking. As of July, 2008, version 3.0 is released into public.
Version 3.1 made it to beta, but the distribution was discontinued before this beta was finalized.
Tests
Minimal steps that can be undertaken for purposes of testing or benchmarking are called "tests" in Inquisitor and are implemented as simple Unix
shell scripts that run other (binary) programs and collects their results. In its simplest form, test outputs only binary result: success or failure, but more advanced
API is supplied for
benchmarks that output results.
, Inquisitor distribution includes following tests:
See also
*
Phoronix Test Suite
*
Stresslinux
Stresslinux is a lightweight Linux distribution designed to test a computer's hardware by running the components at high load while monitoring their health. It is designed to be booted from CD-ROM or via PXE.
See also
* Inquisitor (hardware te ...
Notes
References
*
{{Linux-distro
Operating system distributions bootable from read-only media
Light-weight Linux distributions
RPM-based Linux distributions
Hardware testing
Linux distributions