tests/README - make - Git at Google


            
            The test suite was originally written by Steve McGee and Chris Arthur.

            
            It is covered by the GNU General Public License (Version 2), described

            
            in the file COPYING.  It has been maintained as part of GNU make proper

            
            since GNU make 3.78.


            This entire test suite, including all test files, are copyright and

            
            distributed under the following terms:


             -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

            
             Copyright (C) 1992-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

            
             This file is part of GNU Make.


             GNU Make is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the

            
             terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software

            
             Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later

            
             version.


             GNU Make is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY

            
             WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR

            
             A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.


             You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with

            
             this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

            
             -----------------------------------------------------------------------------


            The test suite requires Perl.  These days, you should have at least Perl

            
            5.004 (available from ftp.gnu.org, and portable to many machines).  It

            
            used to work with Perl 4.036 but official support for Perl 4.x was

            
            abandoned a long time ago, due to lack of testbeds, as well as interest.


            The test suite assumes that the first "diff" it finds on your PATH is

            
            GNU diff, but that only matters if a test fails.


            To run the test suite on a UNIX system, use "perl ./run_make_tests"

            
            (or just "./run_make_tests" if you have a perl on your PATH).


            To run the test suite on Windows NT or DOS systems, use

            
            "perl.exe ./run_make-tests.pl".


            By default, the test engine picks up the first executable called "make"

            
            that it finds in your path.  You may use the -make_path option (ie,

            
            "perl run_make_tests -make_path /usr/local/src/make-3.78/make") if

            
            you want to run a particular copy.  This now works correctly with

            
            relative paths and when make is called something other than "make" (like

            
            "gmake").


            Tests cannot end with a "~" character, as the test suite will ignore any

            
            that do (I was tired of having it run my Emacs backup files as tests :))


            Also, sometimes the tests may behave strangely on networked

            
            filesystems.  You can use mkshadow to create a copy of the test suite in

            
            /tmp or similar, and try again.  If the error disappears, it's an issue

            
            with your network or file server, not GNU make (I believe).  This

            
            shouldn't happen very often anymore: I've done a lot of work on the

            
            tests to reduce the impacts of this situation.


            The options/dash-l test will not really test anything if the copy of

            
            make you are using can't obtain the system load.  Some systems require

            
            make to be setgid sys or kmem for this; if you don't want to install

            
            make just to test it, make it setgid to kmem or whatever group /dev/kmem

            
            is (ie, "chgrp kmem make;chmod g+s make" as root).  In any case, the

            
            options/dash-l test should no longer *fail* because make can't read

            
            /dev/kmem.


            A directory named "work" will be created when the tests are run which

            
            will contain any makefiles and "diff" files of tests that fail so that

            
            you may look at them afterward to see the output of make and the

            
            expected result.


            There is a -help option which will give you more information about the

            
            other possible options for the test suite.


            Open Issues

            
            -----------


            The test suite has a number of problems which should be addressed.  One

            
            VERY serious one is that there is no real documentation.  You just have

            
            to see the existing tests.  Use the newer tests: many of the tests

            
            haven't been updated to use the latest/greatest test methods.  See the

            
            ChangeLog in the tests directory for pointers.


            The second serious problem is that it's not parallelizable: it scribbles

            
            all over its installation directory and so can only test one make at a

            
            time.  The third serious problem is that it's not relocatable: the only

            
            way it works when you build out of the source tree is to create

            
            symlinks, which doesn't work on every system and is bogus to boot.  The

            
            fourth serious problem is that it doesn't create its own sandbox when

            
            running tests, so that if a test forgets to clean up after itself that

            
            can impact future tests.


            Bugs

            
            ----


            Any complaints/suggestions/bugs/etc. for the test suite itself (as

            
            opposed to problems in make that the suite finds) should be handled the

            
            same way as normal GNU make bugs/problems (see the README for GNU make).


                                                            Paul D. Smith

            
            						Chris Arthur
	The test suite was originally written by Steve McGee and Chris Arthur.
	It is covered by the GNU General Public License (Version 2), described
	in the file COPYING. It has been maintained as part of GNU make proper
	since GNU make 3.78.

	This entire test suite, including all test files, are copyright and
	distributed under the following terms:

	-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Copyright (C) 1992-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
	This file is part of GNU Make.

	GNU Make is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
	terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
	Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later
	version.

	GNU Make is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
	WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR
	A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

	You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
	this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
	-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The test suite requires Perl. These days, you should have at least Perl
	5.004 (available from ftp.gnu.org, and portable to many machines). It
	used to work with Perl 4.036 but official support for Perl 4.x was
	abandoned a long time ago, due to lack of testbeds, as well as interest.

	The test suite assumes that the first "diff" it finds on your PATH is
	GNU diff, but that only matters if a test fails.

	To run the test suite on a UNIX system, use "perl ./run_make_tests"
	(or just "./run_make_tests" if you have a perl on your PATH).

	To run the test suite on Windows NT or DOS systems, use
	"perl.exe ./run_make-tests.pl".

	By default, the test engine picks up the first executable called "make"
	that it finds in your path. You may use the -make_path option (ie,
	"perl run_make_tests -make_path /usr/local/src/make-3.78/make") if
	you want to run a particular copy. This now works correctly with
	relative paths and when make is called something other than "make" (like
	"gmake").

	Tests cannot end with a "~" character, as the test suite will ignore any
	that do (I was tired of having it run my Emacs backup files as tests :))

	Also, sometimes the tests may behave strangely on networked
	filesystems. You can use mkshadow to create a copy of the test suite in
	/tmp or similar, and try again. If the error disappears, it's an issue
	with your network or file server, not GNU make (I believe). This
	shouldn't happen very often anymore: I've done a lot of work on the
	tests to reduce the impacts of this situation.

	The options/dash-l test will not really test anything if the copy of
	make you are using can't obtain the system load. Some systems require
	make to be setgid sys or kmem for this; if you don't want to install
	make just to test it, make it setgid to kmem or whatever group /dev/kmem
	is (ie, "chgrp kmem make;chmod g+s make" as root). In any case, the
	options/dash-l test should no longer fail because make can't read
	/dev/kmem.

	A directory named "work" will be created when the tests are run which
	will contain any makefiles and "diff" files of tests that fail so that
	you may look at them afterward to see the output of make and the
	expected result.

	There is a -help option which will give you more information about the
	other possible options for the test suite.


	Open Issues
	-----------

	The test suite has a number of problems which should be addressed. One
	VERY serious one is that there is no real documentation. You just have
	to see the existing tests. Use the newer tests: many of the tests
	haven't been updated to use the latest/greatest test methods. See the
	ChangeLog in the tests directory for pointers.

	The second serious problem is that it's not parallelizable: it scribbles
	all over its installation directory and so can only test one make at a
	time. The third serious problem is that it's not relocatable: the only
	way it works when you build out of the source tree is to create
	symlinks, which doesn't work on every system and is bogus to boot. The
	fourth serious problem is that it doesn't create its own sandbox when
	running tests, so that if a test forgets to clean up after itself that
	can impact future tests.


	Bugs
	----

	Any complaints/suggestions/bugs/etc. for the test suite itself (as
	opposed to problems in make that the suite finds) should be handled the
	same way as normal GNU make bugs/problems (see the README for GNU make).


	Paul D. Smith
	Chris Arthur