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  • Hash : ccbb437e
    Author : Stefano Lattarini
    Date : 2011-12-14T20:53:10

    readme: don't reference the old homepage at sources.redhat.com
    
    * README: Don't reference the old homepage at sources.redhat.com,
    which is no longer active; reference the homepage on www.gnu.org
    instead.  See also automake bug#10157 and bug#10248.
    * tests/README: Likewise, and remove related extra-pedantic advice
    about copyright papers for test cases (we'll ask for those papers
    explicitly when we think they are warranted).
    

  • README

  • 			    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.
    
      If a test checks examples or idioms given in the documentation, make
      sure the documentation reference them appropriately in comments, as in:
        @c Keep in sync with autodist-config-headers.test.
        @example
        ...
        @end example
    
      Use `required=...' for required tools.  Do not explicitly require
      tools which can be taken for granted because they're listed in the
      GNU Coding Standards (for example, `gzip').
    
      Include ./defs in every test script (see existing tests for examples
      of how to do this).
    
      Use the `skip_' function to skip tests, with a meaningful message if
      possible.  Where convenient, use the `warn_' function to print generic
      warnings, the `fail_' function for test failures, and the `fatal_'
      function for hard errors.  In case a hard error is due to a failed
      set-up of a test scenario, you can use the `framework_fail_' function
      instead.
    
      For tests that use the `parallel-tests' Automake option, set the shell
      variable `parallel_tests' to "yes" before including ./defs.  Also,
      do not use for them a name that ends in `-p.test', since that would
      risk to clash with automatically-generated tests.  For tests that are
      *not* meant to work with the `parallel-tests' Automake option (these
      should be very very few), set the shell variable `parallel_tests' to
      "no" before including ./defs.
    
      ./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 `set -e' to catch failures you might not have thought of.
    
      End the test script with a `:' or `Exit 0'.  Otherwise, when somebody
      changes the test by adding a failing command after the last command,
      the test will spuriously fail because $? is nonzero at the end.
      Note that this is relevant also for tests using `set -e', if they
      contain commands like "grep ... Makefile.in && Exit 1" (and there
      are indeed a lot of such tests).
    
      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.
    
      Use `$PATH_SEPARATOR', not hard-coded `:', as the separator of
      PATH's entries.
    
      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 e.g.:
        $MAKE prefix=/opt install
      This is not portable for recursive targets (targets that call a
      sub-make may not pass `prefix=/opt' along).  Use the following
      instead:
        prefix=/opt $MAKE -e install