path: root/tests/README

README -- Tcl test suite design document.

RCS: @(#) $Id: README,v 1.5 1999/04/21 21:50:29 rjohnson Exp $

Contents:
---------

    1. Introduction
    2. Definitions file
    3. Writing a new test
    4. Constraints
    5. Adding a New Test File
    6. Test output
    7. Selecting tests for execution within a file
    8. Selecting files to be sourced by all.tcl
    9. Incompatibilities with prior Tcl versions

1. Introduction:
----------------

This directory contains a set of validation tests for the Tcl commands
and C Library procedures for Tcl.  Each of the files whose name ends
in ".test" is intended to fully exercise the functions in the C source
file that corresponds to the file prefix.  The C functions and/or Tcl
commands tested by a given file are listed in the first line of the
file.

You can run the tests in three ways:

    (a) type "make test" in ../unix; this will run all of the tests.

    (b) type "tcltest <testFile> ?<option> <value>?
	Command line options include:

	-verbose <level>     set the level of verbosity to a substring
			     of "bps".  See the "Test output" section
			     for an explanation of this option.

	-match <matchList>   only run tests that match one or more of
			     the glob patterns in <matchList>

	-skip <skipList>     do not run tests that match one or more
			     of the glob patterns in <skipList>

	-file <globPattern>  only source test files that match
			     <globPattern> (relative to the "tests"
			     directory).  This option only applies
			     when you run the test suite with the
			     "all.tcl" file.

	-constraints <list>  tests with any constraints in <list> will
			     not be skipped.  Not that elements of
			     <list> must exactly match the existing
			     constraints.

    (c) start up tcltest in this directory, then "source" the test
        file (for example, type "source parse.test").  To run all
	of the tests, type "source all.tcl".  To use the options in
	interactive mode, you can set their corresponding tcltest
	namespace variables after sourcing the defs.tcl file.
		  ::tcltest::match
		  ::tcltest::skip
		  ::tcltest::testConfig(nonPortable)
		  ::tcltest::testConfig(knownBug)
		  ::tcltest::testConfig(userInteractive)

In all cases, no output will be generated if all goes well, except for
a listing of the test files and a statistical summary.  If there are
errors, then additional messages will appear in the format described
below.  Note that some tests will be skipped if you run as superuser.

This approach to testing was designed and initially implemented by
Mary Ann May-Pumphrey of Sun Microsystems in the early 1990's.  Many
thanks to her for donating her work back to the public Tcl release.


2. Definitions file:
--------------------

The file "defs.tcl" defines the "tcltest" namespace which contains a
collection of procedures and variables used to run the tests.  It is
read in automatically by each of the .test files if needed, but once
it has been read once it will not be read again by the .test files.
Currently, the following procedures are exported from the "tcltest"
namespace and automatically imported:

    test	      Run a test script.

    cleanupTests      Print stats and remove files created by tests.

    dotests	      Source a test file and run tests of the
		      specified pattern.

    makeFile	      Create a file--the file will automatically
		      be removed by cleanupTests.

    removeFile	      Force a file to be removed.

    makeDirectory     Create a directory--the directory will
		      automatically be removed by cleanupTests.

    removeDirectory   Force a directory to be removed.

    viewFile	      Returns the contents of a file.

    normalizeMsg      Remove extra newlines from a string.

    bytestring	      Construct a string that consists of the
		      requested sequence of bytes, as opposed to a
		      string of properly formed UTF-8 characters.

    set_iso8859_1_locale    Set the locale to iso8859_1.

    restore_locale    Restore the locale to its original setting.

    saveState	      Save the procedure and global variable names.

    restoreState      Restore the procedure and global variable names.

    threadReap	      Kill all threads except for the main thread.

Please refer to the defs.tcl file for more documentation on these
procedures.


3. Writing a new test:
----------------------

The test procedure runs a test script and prints an error message if
the script's result does not match the expected result.  The following
is the spec for the "test" command:

    test <name> <description> ?<constraint>? <script> <expectedAnswer>

The <name> argument should follow the pattern,
"<target>-<majorNum>.<minorNum>".  For white-box (regression) tests,
the target should be the name of the c function or Tcl procedure being
tested.  For black-box tests, the target should be the name of the
feature being tested.  Related tests should share a major number.

The <description> argument is a short textual description of the test,
to help humans understand what it does.

The optional <constraints> argument is list of one or more keywords,
each of which must be the name of an element in the array
"::tcltest::testConfig".  If any of these elements is false or does
not exist, the test is skipped.  Add appropriate constraints (e.g.,
unixOnly) to any tests that should not always be run.  For example, a
test that should only be run on Unix should look like the following:

    test getAttribute-1.1 {testing file permissions} {unixOnly} {
        lindex [file attributes foo.tcl] 5
    } {00644}

See the "Constraints" section for a list of built-in
constraints and information on how to add your own constraints.

The <script> argument contains the script to run to carry out the
test.  It must return a result that can be checked for correctness.
If your script requires that a file be created on the fly, please use
the ::tcltest::makeFile procedure.  If your test requires that a small
file (<50 lines) be checked in, please consider creating the file on
the fly using the ::tcltest::makeFile procedure.  Files created by the
::tcltest::makeFile procedure will automatically be removed by the
::tcltest::cleanupTests call at the end of each test file.

The <expectedAnswer> argument will be compared against the result of
evaluating the <script> argument.  If they match, the test passes,
otherwise the test fails.


4. Constraints:
---------------

Constraints are used to determine whether a test should be skipped.
Each constraint is stored as an index in the array
::tcltest::testConfig.  For example, the unixOnly constraint is
defined as the following:

    set ::tcltest::testConfig(unixOnly) \
	[expr {$tcl_platform(platform) == "unix"}]

If a test is constrained by "unixOnly", then it will only be run if
the value of ::tcltest::testConfig(unixOnly) is true.

The following is a list of constraints defined in the defs.tcl file:

unix            test can only be run on any UNIX platform
pc	        test can only be run on any Windows platform
nt	        test can only be run on any Windows NT platform
95	        test can only be run on any Windows 95 platform
mac	        test can only be run on any Mac platform
unixOrPc        test can only be run on a UNIX or PC platform
macOrPc	        test can only be run on a Mac or PC platform
macOrUnix       test can only be run on a Mac or UNIX platform
tempNotPc	test can not be run on Windows.  This flag is used
		to temporarily disable a test.
tempNotMac	test can not be run on a Mac.  This flag is used
		to temporarily disable a test.
unixCrash       test crashes if it's run on UNIX.  This flag is used
		to temporarily disable a test.
pcCrash 	test crashes if it's run on Windows.  This flag is
		used to temporarily disable a test.
macCrash 	test crashes if it's run on a Mac.  This flag is used
		to temporarily disable a test.

emptyTest	test is empty, and so not worth running, but
                it remains as a place-holder for a test to be
                written in the future.  This constraint always
                causes tests to be skipped.

knownBug	test is known to fail and the bug is not yet
                fixed.  This constraint always causes tests to be
                skipped unless the user specifies otherwise.  See the
                "Introduction" section for more details.

nonPortable	test can only be run in the master Tcl/Tk
		development environment.  Some tests are inherently
		non-portable because they depend on things like word
		length, file system configuration, window manager,
		etc.  These tests are only run in the main Tcl
		development directory where the configuration is
		well known.  This constraint always causes tests to be
		skipped unless the user specifies otherwise.  See the
		"Introduction" section for more details.

userInteraction test requires interaction from the user.  This
                constraint always causes tests to be skipped unless
                the user specifies otherwise.  See the "Introduction"
                section for more details. 

interactive	test can only be run in if the interpreter is in
		interactive mode, that is the global tcl_interactive
		variable is set to 1.

nonBlockFiles	test can only be run if platform supports setting
		files into nonblocking mode

asyncPipeClose	test can only be run if platform supports async
		flush and async close on a pipe

unixExecs	test can only be run if this machine has commands
		such as 'cat', 'echo', etc. available.

hasIsoLocale	test can only be run if can switch to an ISO locale

fonts		test can only be run if the wish app's fonts can
		be controlled by Tk.

root		test can only run if Unix user is root

notRoot		test can only run if Unix user is not root

eformat		test can only run if app has a working version of
		sprintf with respect to the "e" format of
		floating-point numbers.

stdio		test can only be run if the current app can be
		spawned via a pipe


5. Adding a new test file:
--------------------------

Tests files should begin by sourcing the defs.tcl file:

    if {[lsearch [namespace children] ::tcltest] == -1} {
        source [file join [pwd] [file dirname [info script]] defs.tcl]
    }

Test files sould end by cleaning up after themselves and calling
::tcltest::cleanupTests.  The ::tcltest::cleanupTests procedure prints
statistics about the number of tests that passed, skipped, and failed,
and removes all files that were created using the ::tcltest::makeFile
and ::tcltest::makeDirectory procedures.

    # Remove files created by these tests
    # Change to original working directory
    # Unset global arrays
    ::tcltest::cleanupTests
    return

The all.tcl file will source your new test file if the filename
matches the tests/*.test pattern (as it should).  The names of test
files that contain regression (or glass-box) tests should correspond
to the Tcl or C code file that they are testing.  For example, the
test file for the C file "tclCmdAH.c" is "cmdAH.test".  Test files
that contain black-box tests may not correspond to any Tcl or C code
file so they should match the pattern "*_bb.test".

Be sure your new test file can be run from any working directory.

Be sure no temporary files are left behind by your test file.

Be sure your tests can run cross-platform in both a build environment
as well as an installation environment.  If your test file contains
tests that should not be run in one or more of those cases, please use
the constraints mechanism to skip those tests.


6. Test output:
---------------

After all specified test files are sourced, the number of tests
passed, skipped, and failed is printed to stdout.  Aside from this
statistical information, output can be controlled on a per-test basis
by the ::tcltest::verbose variable.

::tcltest::verbose can be set to any substring or permutation of "bps".
In the string "bps", the 'b' stands for a test's "body", the 'p'
stands for "passed" tests, and the 's' stands for "skipped" tests.
The default value of ::tcltest::verbose is "b".  If 'b' is present, then
the entire body of the test is printed for each failed test, otherwise
only the test's name, desired output, and actual output, are printed
for each failed test.  If 'p' is present, then a line is printed for
each passed test, otherwise no line is printed for passed tests.  If
's' is present, then a line (containing the consraints that cause the
test to be skipped) is printed for each skipped test, otherwise no
line is printed for skipped tests.

You can set ::tcltest::verbose either interactively (after the defs.tcl
file has been sourced) or by the command line argument -verbose, for
example:

      tcltest socket.test -verbose bps


7. Selecting tests for execution within a file:
-----------------------------------------------

Normally, all the tests in a file are run whenever the file is
sourced.  An individual test will be skipped if one of the following
conditions is met:

    1) the "name" of the tests does not match (using glob style
       matching) one or more elements in the ::tcltest::match
       variable

    2) the "name" of the tests matches (using glob style matching) one
       or more elements in the ::tcltest::skip variable

    3) the "constraints" argument to the "test" call, if given,
       contains one or more false elements.

You can set ::tcltest::match and/or ::tcltest::skip
either interactively (after the defs.tcl file has been sourced), or by
the command line arguments -match and -skip, for example:

       tcltest info.test -match '*-5.* *-7.*' -skip '*-7.1*'

Be sure to use the proper quoting convention so that your shell does
not perform the glob substitution on the match or skip patterns you
specify.

The two predefined constraints (knownBug and nonPortable) can be
overridden either interactively (after the defs.tcl file has been
sourced) by setting the ::tcltest::testConfig(<constraint>) variable,
or by using the -constraints command line option with the name of the
constraint in the argument.  The following example shows how to run
tests that are constrained by the knownBug and nonPortable
restricions:

	tcltest all.tcl -constraints "knownBug nonPortable"

See the defs.tcl file for information about each of these constraints.
Other constraints can be added at any time.  See the "Writing a new
test" section below for more details about using built-in constraints
and adding new ones.


8. Selecting files to be sourced by all.tcl:
--------------------------------------------

You can specify the files you want all.tcl to source on the command
line with the -file options.  For example, if you call the
following:

     tcltest all.tcl -file 'unix*.test'

all files in "tests" directory that match the pattern unix*.test will
be sourced by the all.tcl file.  Another useful example is if a
particular test hangs, say "get.test", and you just want to run the
remaining tests, then you can call the following:

     tcltest all.tcl -file '[h-z]*.test'

Note that the argument to -file will be substituted relative to the
"tests" directory.  Be sure to use the proper quoting convention so
that your shell does not perform the glob substitution.


9. Incompatibilities with prior Tcl versions:
---------------------------------------------

1) Global variables such as VERBOSE, TESTS, and testConfig are now
   renamed to use the new "tcltest" namespace.

   old name   new name
   --------   --------
   VERBOSE    ::tcltest::verbose
   TESTS      ::tcltest::match
   testConfig ::tcltest::testConfig

   The introduction of the "tcltest" namespace is a precursor to using
   a "tcltest" package.  This next step will be part of a future Tcl
   version.

2) VERBOSE values are no longer numeric.  Please see the section above
   on "Test output" for the new usage of the ::tcltest::verbose variable.

3) When you run "make test", the working dir for the test suite is now
   the one from which you called "make test", rather than the "tests"
   directory.  This change allows for both unix and windows test
   suites to be run simultaneously without interference with each
   other or with existing files.  All tests must now run independently
   of their working directory.

4) The "all", "defs", and "visual" files are now called "all.tcl",
   "defs.tcl", and "visual_bb.test", respectively.

5) Instead of creating a doAllTests file in the tests directory, to
   run all nonPortable tests, just use the "-constraints nonPortable"
   command line flag.  If you are running interactively, you can set
   the ::tcltest::testConfig(nonPortable) variable to 1 (after
   sourcing the defs.tcl file).