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Testing kernels

A GPU port is only as trustworthy as its comparison with the CPU version. cunumpy.kernel_testing provides pytest helpers for exactly that, designed so that the same test suite runs on a laptop without a GPU (GPU cases are skipped) and on a GPU runner (everything runs).

from cunumpy.kernel_testing import (
    BACKENDS,
    assert_kernels_agree,
    backend,
    device_function_kernel,
    requires_cupy,
)

cunumpy.kernel_testing is not imported by import cunumpy, and it imports pytest only when one of its pytest objects is used.

Run a test on both backends

BACKENDS is ["numpy", pytest.param("cupy", marks=requires_cupy)]:

import pytest

import cunumpy as xp
from cunumpy.kernel_testing import BACKENDS


@pytest.mark.parametrize("backend", BACKENDS)
def test_norm(backend):
    with xp.use_backend(backend):
        assert float(xp.linalg.norm(xp.ones(4))) == 2.0

The backend fixture does the same and also activates the backend for the whole test. Import it into conftest.py to make it available everywhere:

# conftest.py
from cunumpy.kernel_testing import backend  # noqa: F401
def test_energy_is_conserved(backend):
    state = make_state()  # arrays land on the active backend
    e0 = energy(state)
    for _ in range(100):
        step(state, 1e-3)
    assert abs(float(energy(state)) - float(e0)) < 1e-10

requires_cupy is a plain skip marker for GPU-only tests:

from cunumpy.kernel_testing import requires_cupy


@requires_cupy
def test_kernel_compiles():
    with xp.use_backend("cupy"):
        assert catalog["push"].compile()

Compare host and CUDA kernels: assert_kernels_agree

import numpy as np

import cunumpy as xp
from cunumpy.kernel_testing import assert_kernels_agree


def make_axpy_args(backend, seed):
    rng = np.random.default_rng(seed)
    x = xp.to_cunumpy(rng.random(1000))
    y = xp.to_cunumpy(rng.random(1000))
    return (2.0, x, y, 1000)


def test_axpy_parity():
    assert_kernels_agree(axpy, make_axpy_args, n_threads=1000)

For each backend, NumPy then CuPy, it activates the backend, builds the arguments with make_args(backend, seed), calls the kernel (n_calls times), then copies the CUDA results to the host and compares them with numpy.testing.assert_allclose(rtol=1e-12, atol=0). A failure names the argument that differs. Without a GPU the test is skipped.

Things to know:

  • Build random data on the host. NumPy and CuPy generators produce different sequences from the same seed, so use numpy.random.default_rng and convert with to_cunumpy(), as above.
  • Which arguments are compared: outputs=(2,) selects them by index and outputs=("markers",) by parameter name (the names of the host function). "markers.positions" compares only that field of a struct or argument object, leaving out fields the two kernels fill differently (scratch buffers, for instance); otherwise the host kernel's declared outputs are used, and if there are none, every array argument. Arrays held by argument objects (one level deep, e.g. a CudaArguments object or a list) are compared too. A CudaStructArguments object is read through its struct fields, so its arrays get the names of the host argument object's attributes (argument 0.markers), also when the fields are properties.
  • Tolerances: the default rtol=1e-12 suits deterministic kernels. Kernels with atomics or a different summation order need looser tolerances, for example rtol=1e-10, atol=1e-14.
  • n_calls=10 runs the kernel repeatedly on the same arguments, which catches state that is not reset between calls.
  • It returns the host results by argument name for additional assertions.

One test for the whole catalog

import pytest

from my_sim.kernels import catalog
from my_sim.kernels.test_args import MAKE_ARGS, N_THREADS


@pytest.mark.parametrize("name, kernel", catalog.parity_cases())
def test_parity(name, kernel):
    assert_kernels_agree(kernel, MAKE_ARGS[name], n_threads=N_THREADS[name])

parity_cases() yields the kernels that have a CUDA version, so every newly ported kernel is tested as soon as its .cu file exists (it needs an entry in MAKE_ARGS, which fails loudly with a KeyError if forgotten).

Test arguments next to the kernel

Instead of one make_args per kernel in the test file, each kernel folder can hold <name>_test_args.py:

# my_sim/kernels/push/push_test_args.py
import numpy as np

import cunumpy as xp

N_THREADS = 1000  # or GRID; also BLOCK, RTOL, ATOL, N_CALLS, OUTPUTS, SEED


def make_args(backend, seed):
    x = xp.to_cunumpy(np.random.default_rng(seed).random(1000))
    return (x, 2.0, x.size)

KernelCatalog.from_package() records these modules (imported only when a test asks for them), and the parity test of the whole package becomes

from cunumpy.kernel_testing import check_parity, parity_cases


@pytest.mark.parametrize("kernel", parity_cases(catalog))
def test_parity(kernel):
    check_parity(kernel)

A kernel with a CUDA version but no test-arguments module shows up as skipped, with the name of the missing file in the reason, so the report lists what is left to do. N_THREADS may be a function of the argument tuple (lambda args: args[0].shape[0]), or be omitted when the CUDA kernel has n_threads_from. Keyword arguments of check_parity override the module.

Test CUDA kernels without a GPU: emulate_cuda_kernel

On a CPU-only CI runner the parity tests are skipped, so nothing checks the CUDA kernels' index and weight arithmetic. emulate_cuda_kernel runs a kernel on the CPU instead: the source is compiled as C++ with the CUDA built-ins replaced, and the kernel is called once per thread, one thread after another. Compare it with the host kernel:

import numpy as np
import pytest

from cunumpy.kernel_testing import emulate_cuda_kernel, emulation_compiler

from my_sim.kernels import catalog

pytestmark = pytest.mark.skipif(emulation_compiler() is None, reason="no C++ compiler")


def test_gather_cuda_arithmetic():
    rng = np.random.default_rng(0)
    positions, field = rng.random((500, 2)), rng.normal(size=(17, 9, 2))
    expected, result = np.zeros((500, 2)), np.zeros((500, 2))
    catalog["gather"].host_kernel(
        positions, field, expected, 0.0, 0.0, 0.06, 0.11, 17, 9
    )
    emulate_cuda_kernel(
        catalog["gather"].cuda_kernel,
        positions,
        field,
        result,
        0.0,
        0.0,
        0.06,
        0.11,
        17,
        9,
        n_threads=500,
    )
    np.testing.assert_allclose(result, expected, rtol=1e-12, atol=1e-14)

Arrays are passed as NumPy arrays (any strides) and the kernel writes into them; scalars are checked like in a launch. Each kernel is compiled once into a shared library and cached (in the process and in ~/.cache/cunumpy/emulation, see emulation_cache_dir()), so further launches with other values and sizes cost no compilation. It catches wrong indices, clamping, periodic wrapping and weights, i.e. most porting bugs of gather, scatter and push kernels. Block shared memory and __syncthreads are emulated (pass shared_mem= for extern __shared__ arrays), so per-block deposits and shared-memory reductions are covered too. It does not emulate concurrency between barriers or warp intrinsics; kernels using the latter are refused with NotImplementedError, so those still need a GPU run. Inline PTX is not emulated either: asm(...) and asm volatile(...) compile but trap when reached, so a PTX branch a test never takes needs no extra options, and reaching it raises RuntimeError. The compiler may fuse multiply-adds as NVRTC does, so compare with a tolerance of a few ulp.

Struct parameters and emulated_launches()

A kernel with struct parameters takes, for each struct, a dictionary of field names to values, a CudaStructValue, or any object with an attribute per field (a host argument class, a CudaStructArguments); the arrays in it are updated in place:

emulate_cuda_kernel(
    push,
    {"markers": markers, "alive": alive, "n": 4},  # the struct Particles
    0.5,
    total,
    n_threads=4,
)

To test code that launches kernels (a Kernel on the CuPy backend, a propagator), wrap it in emulated_launches(). With the fake CuPy (below) every CudaKernel launch in the block then runs through the emulation on the host buffers of the fake arrays, so the device arrays hold the results:

from cunumpy.kernel_testing import emulated_launches, host_buffer

with emulated_launches():
    propagator(dt)  # CuPy backend = the fake CuPy
np.testing.assert_allclose(host_buffer(markers), expected)

host_buffer(array) is the NumPy array behind a fake CuPy array (not a copy). Launches are serial, so use small problems.

No CUDA is compiled inside the block either: kernel.compile(), recompile() and the compile_all() methods build the emulation library instead (and return None), so a program that compiles its kernels before the time loop runs unchanged and still reports compile errors there. fake_cupy_session() does all of it for a whole program, activating the CuPy backend too:

from cunumpy.kernel_testing import fake_cupy_session, requires_device_backend


@requires_device_backend  # a GPU, or the fake CuPy
def test_simulation_on_the_cupy_backend():
    with fake_cupy_session():  # only with the fake CuPy
        sim.run()

The fake CuPy must be installed before cunumpy is used, so a test process that runs on NumPy cannot switch to it. run_in_fake_cupy_subprocess(code) runs the code in a serial child process on the fake CuPy (outside the MPI job, only on rank 0 under MPI) and fails the test with the signal or exit code and the end of the child's output if it fails.

Test __device__ helpers: device_function_kernel

Helpers such as B-spline evaluation or coordinate maps are __device__ functions in headers. Testing them through a whole kernel is indirect. device_function_kernel(header_source, signature) generates an elementwise kernel that calls the function once per thread:

from pathlib import Path

import numpy as np

import cunumpy as xp
from cunumpy.kernel_testing import device_function_kernel, requires_cupy

BSPLINES = Path("my_sim/kernels/common/bsplines.cuh").read_text()


@requires_cupy
def test_find_span_matches_host():
    find_span = device_function_kernel(
        BSPLINES, "int find_span(const double* t, int p, double eta)"
    )
    t = np.linspace(0.0, 1.0, 17)
    eta = np.random.default_rng(0).random(1000)
    expected = np.array([find_span_host(t, 3, e) for e in eta])

    with xp.use_backend("cupy"):
        out = xp.empty(eta.size, dtype=xp.int32)
        find_span(
            xp.to_cupy(t),
            xp.full(eta.size, 3, dtype=xp.int32),  # scalar parameter -> one per thread
            xp.to_cupy(eta),
            out,
            eta.size,
            n_threads=eta.size,
        )
    np.testing.assert_array_equal(xp.to_numpy(out), expected)

In the generated kernel, pointer parameters are passed unchanged to every thread (shared data), scalar parameters become per-thread arrays, the return value of thread i goes to out[i], and n is the number of elements. A struct parameter, by value or by const reference (const DomainArgs& d), is passed through unchanged as well; give the struct types in structs= and pass a CudaStructArguments object or a packed value, so helpers that take the argument structs of the kernels are tested the same way. Extra keyword arguments (include_dirs, includes, block_size) go to the CudaKernel.

Run the CuPy code paths without a GPU: the fake CuPy

emulate_cuda_kernel covers the kernels. Everything around them (argument objects built from device arrays, struct packing, as_device_array, transfer counting, the backend branches of a simulation) runs only with CuPy present. For CI machines without a GPU, cunumpy ships a strict stand-in:

CUNUMPY_FAKE_CUPY=1 CUNUMPY_BACKEND=cupy pytest tests/

Its arrays live in host memory but are not NumPy arrays: numpy.asarray(a) raises (as it does for real CuPy arrays, so a compiled host kernel rejects them), CuPy functions reject NumPy arrays and lists, mixing the two raises, reductions return 0-d arrays, and arrays have data.ptr, device and __cuda_array_interface__. Kernels cannot run: RawKernel raises NotImplementedError, requires_cupy skips and assert_kernels_agree skips while the fake is active (cunumpy.kernel_testing.fake_cupy_active()). It can also be installed from code, before the first backend use:

# conftest.py
from cunumpy.kernel_testing import install_fake_cupy

install_fake_cupy()

Most host/device bugs (a NumPy array reaching a device argument object, a device array reaching SciPy or MPI, a missing xp.asarray) show up this way long before the code reaches a GPU. The fake is never installed when the real CuPy is importable.

Test that a step stays on the device

@requires_cupy
def test_time_step_has_no_transfers():
    with xp.use_backend("cupy"):
        state = make_state()
        step(state, 1e-3)  # warm-up: compilation, allocations
        with xp.profiling.assert_no_transfers():
            step(state, 1e-3)

This catches to_numpy() calls, PyccelKernel conversions and Kernel fallbacks that crept into the step. It does not see copies made outside CuNumpy (see Data movement).

Syncs (the host waiting for the device) are recorded as well, in counter.syncs, and are accepted unless you ask for none: assert_no_transfers(syncs=True). They include xp.synchronize() and the waits of the MPI helpers; on the fake CuPy also float(a), int(a), bool(a), a.item() and a.tolist(), which stall the real CuPy too but cannot be observed there from Python.

Test generated headers

When struct headers are generated with write_cuda_header() and committed, add a test that regenerates them and compares (see Kernel arguments and structs, "Write the struct to a header"). A forgotten regeneration then fails CI instead of producing a kernel that reads fields at wrong offsets.

CI setup

  • With CUNUMPY_REQUIRE_CUDA=1 the GPU markers fail instead of skipping: requires_cupy (as an error when the test is set up), the cupy run of the backend fixture (which also activates CuPy strictly, never falling back to NumPy) and assert_kernels_agree. Set it on the GPU CI job, so a broken CuPy or driver cannot pass as a set of skipped tests.

  • Run the suite on a normal CPU runner: everything on NumPy runs, GPU cases are reported as skipped, and emulate_cuda_kernel tests check the CUDA kernels' arithmetic (the runner needs a C++ compiler, which Linux images have).

  • Run it a second time with CUNUMPY_FAKE_CUPY=1 CUNUMPY_BACKEND=cupy, so the CuPy code paths are exercised on the CPU runner too (kernel launches are skipped).

  • Run the same suite on a GPU runner, optionally with CUNUMPY_CUDA_DEBUG=1 so kernels are bounds-checked and errors are attributed to the right launch.

  • Every so often, run the GPU suite under compute-sanitizer (see Debugging CUDA kernels).