Spack Client and CDash Server: Standardizing Build Track Reporting

Integration Boundary

Spack provides integration with CDash servers to centralize build reporting via the --cdash-upload-url, --cdash-build, and --cdash-track flags. This allows the Spack client to upload XML reports to a remote dashboard for monitoring build success and failure across different environments.

Reporting Consistency and Noise

While CDash aggregates results, the organization of these reports depends on the values passed to the build and track flags. Inconsistent naming conventions for --cdash-track and --cdash-build can lead to fragmented dashboards, making it difficult to distinguish between systemic failures and isolated environment issues.

Given that Spack evolves rapidly, it is necessary to verify the exact flag behavior and supported report fields for the specific version in use via spack install --help.

• What is the recommended naming convention for --cdash-track to prevent dashboard fragmentation when managing multiple CI pipelines?
• How should the --cdash-build value be structured to maintain a clear history of build iterations without creating excessive noise in the CDash server?