---
blurb: |
C TAP Harness is a pure-C implementation of TAP, the Test Anything
Protocol. TAP is the text-based protocol used by Perl's test suite. This
package provides a harness similar to Perl's Test::Harness for running
tests, with some additional features useful for test suites in packages
that use Autoconf and Automake, and C and shell libraries to make writing
TAP-compliant test programs easier.
build:
autoconf: '2.64'
automake: '1.11'
autotools: true
cplusplus: true
install: false
manpages: true
suffix: |
Installing C TAP Harness is not normally done. Instead, see the section
on using the harness below.
type: Autoconf
valgrind: true
copyrights:
- holder: Russ Allbery <eagle@eyrie.org>
years: 2000-2001, 2004, 2006-2016
- holder: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
years: 2006-2009, 2011-2013
description: |
This package started as the runtests program I wrote for INN in 2000 to
serve as the basis for a new test suite using a test protocol similar to
that used for Perl modules. When I started maintaining additional C
packages, I adopted runtests for the test suite driver of those as well,
resulting in further improvements but also separate copies of the same
program in different distributions. The C TAP Harness distribution merges
all the various versions into a single code base that all my packages can
pull from.
C TAP Harness provides a full TAP specification driver (apart from a few
possible edge cases) and has additional special features for supporting
builds outside the source directory. It's mostly useful for packages
using Autoconf and Automake and because it doesn't assume or require Perl.
The runtests program can be built with knowledge of the source and build
directory and pass that knowledge on to test scripts, and will search for
test scripts in both the source and build directory. This makes it easier
for packages using Autoconf and Automake and supporting out-of-tree builds
to build some test programs, ship others, and run them all regardless of
what tree they're in. It also makes it easier for test cases to find
their supporting files when they run.
Also included in this package are C and shell libraries that provide
utility functions for writing test scripts that use TAP to report results.
The C library also provides a variety of utility functions useful for test
programs running as part of an Automake-built package: finding test data
files, creating temporary files, reporting output from external programs
running in the background, and similar common problems.
distribution:
section: devel
tarname: c-tap-harness
version: c-tap-harness
docs:
api:
- name: bail
title: bail and sysbail
- name: bmalloc
title: bmalloc, bcalloc, brealloc, bstrdup, and bstrndup
- name: breallocarray
title: breallocarray
- name: diag
title: diag and sysdiag
- name: diag_file_add
title: diag_file_add and diag_file_remove
- name: is_int
title: is_bool, is_int, is_double, is_string, and is_hex
- name: ok
title: ok, okv, and ok_block
- name: plan
title: plan and plan_lazy
- name: skip
title: skip and skip_block
- name: skip_all
title: skip_all
- name: test_cleanup_register
title: test_cleanup_register
- name: test_file_path
title: test_file_path and test_file_path_free
- name: test_tmpdir
title: test_tmpdir and test_tmpdir_free
user:
- name: writing
title: Writing TAP tests
- name: runtests
title: runtests manual page
format: v1
license:
name: Expat
maintainer: Russ Allbery <eagle@eyrie.org>
name: C TAP Harness
requirements: |
C TAP Harness requires a C compiler to build. Any ISO C89 or later C
compiler on a system supporting the Single UNIX Specification, version 3
(SUSv3) should be sufficient. This should not be a problem on any modern
system. The test suite and shell library require a Bourne-compatible
shell. Outside of the test suite, C TAP Harness has no other
prerequisites or requirements.
To run the test suite, you will need Perl plus the Perl module Test::More,
which comes with Perl 5.8 or later. The following additional Perl modules
will be used by the test suite if present:
* Test::Pod
* Test::Spelling
All are available on CPAN. Those tests will be skipped if the modules are
not available.
sections:
- body: |
While there is an install target that installs runtests in the default
binary directory (`/usr/local/bin` by default) and installs the man pages,
one normally wouldn't install anything from this package. Instead, the
code is intended to be copied into your package and refreshed from the
latest release of C TAP Harness for each release.
You can obviously copy the code and integrate it however works best for
your package and your build system. Here's how I do it for my packages
as an example:
* Create a tests directory and copy tests/runtests.c into it. Create a
`tests/tap` subdirectory and copy the portions of the TAP library (from
`tests/tap`) that I need for that package into it. The TAP library is
designed to let you drop in additional source and header files for
additional utility functions that are useful in your package.
* Add code to my top-level `Makefile.am` (I always use a non-recursive
Makefile with `subdir-objects` set) to build `runtests` and the test
library:
```make
check_PROGRAMS = tests/runtests
tests_runtests_CPPFLAGS = -DC_TAP_SOURCE='"$(abs_top_srcdir)/tests"' \
-DC_TAP_BUILD='"$(abs_top_builddir)/tests"'
check_LIBRARIES = tests/tap/libtap.a
tests_tap_libtap_a_CPPFLAGS = -I$(abs_top_srcdir)/tests
tests_tap_libtap_a_SOURCES = tests/tap/basic.c tests/tap/basic.h \
tests/tap/float.c tests/tap/float.h tests/tap/macros.h
```
Omit `float.c` and `float.h` from the last line if your package doesn't
need the `is_double` function. Building the build and source
directories into runtests will let `tests/runtests -o <test>` work for
users without requiring that they set any other variables, even if
they're doing an out-of-source build.
Add additional source files and headers that should go into the TAP
library if you added extra utility functions for your package.
* Add code to `Makefile.am` to run the test suite:
```make
check-local: $(check_PROGRAMS)
cd tests && ./runtests -l $(abs_top_srcdir)/tests/TESTS
```
See the `Makefile.am` in this package for an example.
* List the test programs in the `tests/TESTS` file. This should have the
name of the test executable with the trailing "-t" or ".t" (you can use
either extension as you prefer) omitted.
Test programs must be executable.
For any test programs that need to be compiled, add build rules for
them in `Makefile.am`, similar to:
```make
tests_libtap_c_basic_LDADD = tests/tap/libtap.a
```
and add them to `check_PROGRAMS`. If you include the `float.c` add-on
in your libtap library, you will need to add `-lm` to the `_LDADD`
setting for all test programs linked against it.
A more complex example from the remctl package that needs additional
libraries:
```make
tests_client_open_t_LDFLAGS = $(GSSAPI_LDFLAGS)
tests_client_open_t_LDADD = client/libremctl.la tests/tap/libtap.a \
util/libutil.la $(GSSAPI_LIBS)
```
If the test program doesn't need to be compiled, add it to `EXTRA_DIST`
so that it will be included in the distribution.
* If you have test programs written in shell, copy `tests/tap/libtap.sh`
the tap subdirectory of your tests directory and add it to `EXTRA_DIST`.
Shell programs should start with:
```sh
. "${C_TAP_SOURCE}/tap/libtap.sh"
```
and can then use the functions defined in the library.
* Optionally copy `docs/writing-tests` into your package somewhere, such
as `tests/README`, as instructions to contributors on how to write tests
for this framework.
If you have configuration files that the user must create to enable some
of the tests, conventionally they go into `tests/config`.
If you have data files that your test cases use, conventionally they go
into `tests/data`. You can then find the data directory relative to the
`C_TAP_SOURCE` environment variable (set by `runtests`) in your test
program. If you have data that's compiled or generated by Autoconf, it
will be relative to the `BUILD` environment variable. Don't forget to add
test data to `EXTRA_DIST` as necessary.
For more TAP library add-ons, generally ones that rely on additional
portability code not shipped in this package or with narrower uses, see
[the rra-c-util
package](https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/rra-c-util/). There are
several additional TAP library add-ons in the `tests/tap` directory in
that package. It's also an example of how to use this test harness in
another package.
title: Using the Harness
support:
email: eagle@eyrie.org
github: rra/c-tap-harness
web: https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/c-tap-harness/
synopsis: C harness for running TAP-compliant tests
test:
override: |
C TAP Harness comes with a comprehensive test suite, which you can run
after building with:
```
make check
```
If a test fails, you can run a single test with verbose output via:
```
./runtests -b `pwd`/tests -s `pwd`/tests -o <name-of-test>
```
Do this instead of running the test program directly since it will ensure
that necessary environment variables are set up. You may need to change
the `-s` option argument if you build with a separate build directory from
the source directory.
vcs:
browse: https://git.eyrie.org/?p=devel/c-tap-harness.git
github: rra/c-tap-harness
openhub: https://www.openhub.net/p/c-tap-harness
type: Git
url: https://git.eyrie.org/git/devel/c-tap-harness.git
version: '4.0'