			    The Automake test suite


User interface
==============


Running all tests
-----------------

  make check

  You can use `-jN' for faster completion (it even helps on a
  uniprocessor system, due to unavoidable sleep delays, as
  noted below).


Interpretation
--------------

  Successes:
    PASS  - success
    XFAIL - expected failure

  Failures:
    FAIL  - failure
    XPASS - unexpected success

  Other:
    SKIP  - skipped tests (third party tools not available)


Getting details from failures
-----------------------------

  Each test is a shell script, and by default is run by /bin/sh.
  In a non-VPATH build you can run them directly, they will be verbose.
  By default, verbose output of a test foo.test is retained in the log
  file foo.log.  A summary log is created in the file test-suite.log.

  You can limit the set of files using the TESTS variable, and enable
  detailed test output at the end of the test run with the VERBOSE
  variable:

    env VERBOSE=x TESTS='first.test second.test ...' make -e check


Supported shells
----------------

  The test scripts are written with portability in mind, so that they
  should run with any decent Bourne-compatible shell.

  However, some care must be used with Zsh, since, when not directly
  starting in Bourne-compatibility mode, it has some incompatibilities
  in the handling of `$0' which conflict with our usage, and which have
  no easy workaround.  Thus, if you want to run a test script, say
  foo.test, with Zsh, you *can't* simply do `zsh foo.test', but you
  *must* resort to:
    zsh -o no_function_argzero foo.test

  Note that this problem does not occur if zsh is executed through a
  symlink with a basename of `sh', since in that case it starts
  in Bourne compatibility mode.  So you should be perfectly safe when
  /bin/sh is zsh.


Reporting failures
------------------

  Send verbose output, i.e., the contents of test-suite.log, of failing
  tests to <bug-automake@gnu.org>, along with the usual version numbers
  (which Automake, which Autoconf, which operating system, which make
  version, which shell, etc.)



Writing test cases
==================


Do
--

  If you plan to fix a bug, write the test case first.  This way you'll
  make sure the test catches the bug, and that it succeeds once you have
  fixed the bug.

  Add a copyright/license paragraph.

  Explain what the test does.

  Cite the PR number (if any), and the original reporter (if any), so
  we can find or ask for information if needed.

  Use `required=...' for required tools.

  Include ./defs (see other tests) for normal tests, ./defs-p for tests
  that use the `parallel-tests' option.  For the latter, use a name that
  ends in `-p.test' and does not clash with any generated tests in the
  suite.

  Use `set -e' to catch failures you might not have thought of.

  ./defs sets a skeleton configure.in.  If possible, append to this
  file.  In some cases you'll have to overwrite it, but this should
  be the exception.  Note that configure.in registers Makefile.in
  but do not output anything by default.  If you need ./configure
  to create Makefile, append AC_OUTPUT to configure.in.

  Use $ACLOCAL, $AUTOMAKE, $AUTOCONF, $AUTOUPDATE, $AUTOHEADER,
  $PERL, $MAKE, $EGREP, and $FGREP, instead of the corresponding
  commands.

  Use $sleep when you have to make sure that some file is newer
  than another.

  Use `cat' or `grep' to display (part of) files that may be
  interesting for debugging, so that when a user send a verbose
  output we don't have to ask him for more details.  Display stderr
  output on the stderr file descriptor.  If some redirected command
  is likely to fail, and `set -e' is in effect, display its output
  even in the failure case, before exiting.

  Use `Exit' rather than `exit' to abort a test.

  It's more important to make sure that a feature works, than
  make sure that Automake's output looks correct.  It might look
  correct and still fail to work.  In other words, prefer
  running `make' over grepping `Makefile.in' (or do both).

  If you run $AUTOMAKE or $AUTOCONF several times in the same test
  and change `configure.in' by the meantime, do
    rm -rf autom4te.cache
  before the following runs.  On fast machines the new `configure.in'
  could otherwise have the same timestamp as the old `autom4te.cache'.
  Alternatively, use `--force' for subsequent runs of the tools.

  Use filenames with two consecutive spaces when testing that some
  code preserves filenames with spaces.  This will catch errors like
  `echo $filename | ...`.

  Before commit: make sure the test is executable, add the tests to
  TESTS in Makefile.am, add it to XFAIL_TESTS in addition if needed,
  write a ChangeLog entry, send the diff to <automake-patches@gnu.org>.


Do not
------

  Do not test an Automake error with `$AUTOMAKE && Exit 1', or in three
  years we'll discover that this test failed for some other bogus reason.
  This happened many times.  Better use something like
     AUTOMAKE_fails
     grep 'expected diagnostic' stderr
  (Note this doesn't prevent the test from failing for another
  reason, but at least it makes sure the original error is still
  here.)

  Do not override Makefile variables using make arguments, as in
    $MAKE ANSI2KNR=./ansi2knr U=_ all
  this is not portable for recursive targets (targets that
  call a sub-make may not pass `ANSI2KNR=./ansi2knr U=_' along).
  Use the following instead.
    ANSI2KNR=./ansi2knr U=_ $MAKE -e all

  Do not send a test case without signing a copyright disclaimer.
  See http://sources.redhat.com/automake/contribute.html or
  ask <automake@gnu.org> for details.
