16.4 Making testsuite Scripts

For putting Autotest into movement, you need some configuration and Makefile machinery. We recommend, at least if your package uses deep or shallow hierarchies, that you use `tests/' as the name of the directory holding all your tests and their `Makefile'. Here is a check list of things to do.

• Make sure to create the file `package.m4', which defines the identity of the package. It must define AT_PACKAGE_STRING, the full signature of the package, and AT_PACKAGE_BUGREPORT, the address to which bug reports should be sent. For sake of completeness, we suggest that you also define AT_PACKAGE_NAME, AT_PACKAGE_TARNAME, and AT_PACKAGE_VERSION. See section 4.1 Initializing configure, for a description of these variables. We suggest the following Makefile excerpt:

  $(srcdir)/package.m4: $(top_srcdir)/configure.ac { \ echo '# Signature of the current package.'; \ echo 'm4_define([AT_PACKAGE_NAME], [@PACKAGE_NAME@])'; \ echo 'm4_define([AT_PACKAGE_TARNAME], [@PACKAGE_TARNAME@])'; \ echo 'm4_define([AT_PACKAGE_VERSION], [@PACKAGE_VERSION@])'; \ echo 'm4_define([AT_PACKAGE_STRING], [@PACKAGE_STRING@])'; \ echo 'm4_define([AT_PACKAGE_BUGREPORT], [@PACKAGE_BUGREPORT@])'; \ } >$(srcdir)/package.m4

  Be sure to distribute `package.m4' and to put it into the source hierarchy: the test suite ought to be shipped!

• Invoke AC_CONFIG_TESTDIR.

  Macro: AC_CONFIG_TESTDIR (directory, [test-path = `directory'])

  An Autotest test suite is to be configured in directory. This macro requires the instantiation of `directory/atconfig' from `directory/atconfig.in', and sets the default AUTOTEST_PATH to test-path (see section 16.3 Running testsuite Scripts).

• Still within `configure.ac', as appropriate, ensure that some AC_CONFIG_FILES command includes substitution for `tests/atlocal'.

• The `tests/Makefile.in' should be modified so the validation in your package is triggered by `make check'. An example is provided below.

With Automake, here is a minimal example about how to link `make check' with a validation suite.

EXTRA_DIST = testsuite.at testsuite TESTSUITE = $(srcdir)/testsuite check-local: atconfig atlocal $(TESTSUITE) $(SHELL) $(TESTSUITE) AUTOTEST = $(AUTOM4TE) --language=autotest $(TESTSUITE): $(srcdir)/testsuite.at $(AUTOTEST) -I $(srcdir) $@.at -o $@.tmp mv $@.tmp $@

You might want to list explicitly the dependencies, i.e., the list of the files `testsuite.at' includes.

With strict Autoconf, you might need to add lines inspired from the following:

subdir = tests atconfig: $(top_builddir)/config.status cd $(top_builddir) && \ $(SHELL) ./config.status $(subdir)/$@ atlocal: $(srcdir)/atlocal.in $(top_builddir)/config.status cd $(top_builddir) && \ $(SHELL) ./config.status $(subdir)/$@

and manage to have `atconfig.in' and $(EXTRA_DIST) distributed.