1# GoogleTest FAQ 2 3## Why should test suite names and test names not contain underscore? 4 5{: .callout .note} 6Note: GoogleTest reserves underscore (`_`) for special-purpose keywords, such as 7[the `DISABLED_` prefix](advanced.md#temporarily-disabling-tests), in addition 8to the following rationale. 9 10Underscore (`_`) is special, as C++ reserves the following to be used by the 11compiler and the standard library: 12 131. any identifier that starts with an `_` followed by an upper-case letter, and 142. any identifier that contains two consecutive underscores (i.e. `__`) 15 *anywhere* in its name. 16 17User code is *prohibited* from using such identifiers. 18 19Now let's look at what this means for `TEST` and `TEST_F`. 20 21Currently `TEST(TestSuiteName, TestName)` generates a class named 22`TestSuiteName_TestName_Test`. What happens if `TestSuiteName` or `TestName` 23contains `_`? 24 251. If `TestSuiteName` starts with an `_` followed by an upper-case letter (say, 26 `_Foo`), we end up with `_Foo_TestName_Test`, which is reserved and thus 27 invalid. 282. If `TestSuiteName` ends with an `_` (say, `Foo_`), we get 29 `Foo__TestName_Test`, which is invalid. 303. If `TestName` starts with an `_` (say, `_Bar`), we get 31 `TestSuiteName__Bar_Test`, which is invalid. 324. If `TestName` ends with an `_` (say, `Bar_`), we get 33 `TestSuiteName_Bar__Test`, which is invalid. 34 35So clearly `TestSuiteName` and `TestName` cannot start or end with `_` 36(Actually, `TestSuiteName` can start with `_`—as long as the `_` isn't followed 37by an upper-case letter. But that's getting complicated. So for simplicity we 38just say that it cannot start with `_`.). 39 40It may seem fine for `TestSuiteName` and `TestName` to contain `_` in the 41middle. However, consider this: 42 43```c++ 44TEST(Time, Flies_Like_An_Arrow) { ... } 45TEST(Time_Flies, Like_An_Arrow) { ... } 46``` 47 48Now, the two `TEST`s will both generate the same class 49(`Time_Flies_Like_An_Arrow_Test`). That's not good. 50 51So for simplicity, we just ask the users to avoid `_` in `TestSuiteName` and 52`TestName`. The rule is more constraining than necessary, but it's simple and 53easy to remember. It also gives GoogleTest some wiggle room in case its 54implementation needs to change in the future. 55 56If you violate the rule, there may not be immediate consequences, but your test 57may (just may) break with a new compiler (or a new version of the compiler you 58are using) or with a new version of GoogleTest. Therefore it's best to follow 59the rule. 60 61## Why does GoogleTest support `EXPECT_EQ(NULL, ptr)` and `ASSERT_EQ(NULL, ptr)` but not `EXPECT_NE(NULL, ptr)` and `ASSERT_NE(NULL, ptr)`? 62 63First of all, you can use `nullptr` with each of these macros, e.g. 64`EXPECT_EQ(ptr, nullptr)`, `EXPECT_NE(ptr, nullptr)`, `ASSERT_EQ(ptr, nullptr)`, 65`ASSERT_NE(ptr, nullptr)`. This is the preferred syntax in the style guide 66because `nullptr` does not have the type problems that `NULL` does. 67 68Due to some peculiarity of C++, it requires some non-trivial template meta 69programming tricks to support using `NULL` as an argument of the `EXPECT_XX()` 70and `ASSERT_XX()` macros. Therefore we only do it where it's most needed 71(otherwise we make the implementation of GoogleTest harder to maintain and more 72error-prone than necessary). 73 74Historically, the `EXPECT_EQ()` macro took the *expected* value as its first 75argument and the *actual* value as the second, though this argument order is now 76discouraged. It was reasonable that someone wanted 77to write `EXPECT_EQ(NULL, some_expression)`, and this indeed was requested 78several times. Therefore we implemented it. 79 80The need for `EXPECT_NE(NULL, ptr)` wasn't nearly as strong. When the assertion 81fails, you already know that `ptr` must be `NULL`, so it doesn't add any 82information to print `ptr` in this case. That means `EXPECT_TRUE(ptr != NULL)` 83works just as well. 84 85If we were to support `EXPECT_NE(NULL, ptr)`, for consistency we'd have to 86support `EXPECT_NE(ptr, NULL)` as well. This means using the template meta 87programming tricks twice in the implementation, making it even harder to 88understand and maintain. We believe the benefit doesn't justify the cost. 89 90Finally, with the growth of the gMock matcher library, we are encouraging people 91to use the unified `EXPECT_THAT(value, matcher)` syntax more often in tests. One 92significant advantage of the matcher approach is that matchers can be easily 93combined to form new matchers, while the `EXPECT_NE`, etc, macros cannot be 94easily combined. Therefore we want to invest more in the matchers than in the 95`EXPECT_XX()` macros. 96 97## I need to test that different implementations of an interface satisfy some common requirements. Should I use typed tests or value-parameterized tests? 98 99For testing various implementations of the same interface, either typed tests or 100value-parameterized tests can get it done. It's really up to you the user to 101decide which is more convenient for you, depending on your particular case. Some 102rough guidelines: 103 104* Typed tests can be easier to write if instances of the different 105 implementations can be created the same way, modulo the type. For example, 106 if all these implementations have a public default constructor (such that 107 you can write `new TypeParam`), or if their factory functions have the same 108 form (e.g. `CreateInstance<TypeParam>()`). 109* Value-parameterized tests can be easier to write if you need different code 110 patterns to create different implementations' instances, e.g. `new Foo` vs 111 `new Bar(5)`. To accommodate for the differences, you can write factory 112 function wrappers and pass these function pointers to the tests as their 113 parameters. 114* When a typed test fails, the default output includes the name of the type, 115 which can help you quickly identify which implementation is wrong. 116 Value-parameterized tests only show the number of the failed iteration by 117 default. You will need to define a function that returns the iteration name 118 and pass it as the third parameter to INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P to have more 119 useful output. 120* When using typed tests, you need to make sure you are testing against the 121 interface type, not the concrete types (in other words, you want to make 122 sure `implicit_cast<MyInterface*>(my_concrete_impl)` works, not just that 123 `my_concrete_impl` works). It's less likely to make mistakes in this area 124 when using value-parameterized tests. 125 126I hope I didn't confuse you more. :-) If you don't mind, I'd suggest you to give 127both approaches a try. Practice is a much better way to grasp the subtle 128differences between the two tools. Once you have some concrete experience, you 129can much more easily decide which one to use the next time. 130 131## My death test modifies some state, but the change seems lost after the death test finishes. Why? 132 133Death tests (`EXPECT_DEATH`, etc.) are executed in a sub-process s.t. the 134expected crash won't kill the test program (i.e. the parent process). As a 135result, any in-memory side effects they incur are observable in their respective 136sub-processes, but not in the parent process. You can think of them as running 137in a parallel universe, more or less. 138 139In particular, if you use mocking and the death test statement invokes some mock 140methods, the parent process will think the calls have never occurred. Therefore, 141you may want to move your `EXPECT_CALL` statements inside the `EXPECT_DEATH` 142macro. 143 144## EXPECT_EQ(htonl(blah), blah_blah) generates weird compiler errors in opt mode. Is this a GoogleTest bug? 145 146Actually, the bug is in `htonl()`. 147 148According to `'man htonl'`, `htonl()` is a *function*, which means it's valid to 149use `htonl` as a function pointer. However, in opt mode `htonl()` is defined as 150a *macro*, which breaks this usage. 151 152Worse, the macro definition of `htonl()` uses a `gcc` extension and is *not* 153standard C++. That hacky implementation has some ad hoc limitations. In 154particular, it prevents you from writing `Foo<sizeof(htonl(x))>()`, where `Foo` 155is a template that has an integral argument. 156 157The implementation of `EXPECT_EQ(a, b)` uses `sizeof(... a ...)` inside a 158template argument, and thus doesn't compile in opt mode when `a` contains a call 159to `htonl()`. It is difficult to make `EXPECT_EQ` bypass the `htonl()` bug, as 160the solution must work with different compilers on various platforms. 161 162## The compiler complains about "undefined references" to some static const member variables, but I did define them in the class body. What's wrong? 163 164If your class has a static data member: 165 166```c++ 167// foo.h 168class Foo { 169 ... 170 static const int kBar = 100; 171}; 172``` 173 174you also need to define it *outside* of the class body in `foo.cc`: 175 176```c++ 177const int Foo::kBar; // No initializer here. 178``` 179 180Otherwise your code is **invalid C++**, and may break in unexpected ways. In 181particular, using it in GoogleTest comparison assertions (`EXPECT_EQ`, etc.) 182will generate an "undefined reference" linker error. The fact that "it used to 183work" doesn't mean it's valid. It just means that you were lucky. :-) 184 185If the declaration of the static data member is `constexpr` then it is 186implicitly an `inline` definition, and a separate definition in `foo.cc` is not 187needed: 188 189```c++ 190// foo.h 191class Foo { 192 ... 193 static constexpr int kBar = 100; // Defines kBar, no need to do it in foo.cc. 194}; 195``` 196 197## Can I derive a test fixture from another? 198 199Yes. 200 201Each test fixture has a corresponding and same named test suite. This means only 202one test suite can use a particular fixture. Sometimes, however, multiple test 203cases may want to use the same or slightly different fixtures. For example, you 204may want to make sure that all of a GUI library's test suites don't leak 205important system resources like fonts and brushes. 206 207In GoogleTest, you share a fixture among test suites by putting the shared logic 208in a base test fixture, then deriving from that base a separate fixture for each 209test suite that wants to use this common logic. You then use `TEST_F()` to write 210tests using each derived fixture. 211 212Typically, your code looks like this: 213 214```c++ 215// Defines a base test fixture. 216class BaseTest : public ::testing::Test { 217 protected: 218 ... 219}; 220 221// Derives a fixture FooTest from BaseTest. 222class FooTest : public BaseTest { 223 protected: 224 void SetUp() override { 225 BaseTest::SetUp(); // Sets up the base fixture first. 226 ... additional set-up work ... 227 } 228 229 void TearDown() override { 230 ... clean-up work for FooTest ... 231 BaseTest::TearDown(); // Remember to tear down the base fixture 232 // after cleaning up FooTest! 233 } 234 235 ... functions and variables for FooTest ... 236}; 237 238// Tests that use the fixture FooTest. 239TEST_F(FooTest, Bar) { ... } 240TEST_F(FooTest, Baz) { ... } 241 242... additional fixtures derived from BaseTest ... 243``` 244 245If necessary, you can continue to derive test fixtures from a derived fixture. 246GoogleTest has no limit on how deep the hierarchy can be. 247 248For a complete example using derived test fixtures, see 249[sample5_unittest.cc](https://github.com/google/googletest/blob/main/googletest/samples/sample5_unittest.cc). 250 251## My compiler complains "void value not ignored as it ought to be." What does this mean? 252 253You're probably using an `ASSERT_*()` in a function that doesn't return `void`. 254`ASSERT_*()` can only be used in `void` functions, due to exceptions being 255disabled by our build system. Please see more details 256[here](advanced.md#assertion-placement). 257 258## My death test hangs (or seg-faults). How do I fix it? 259 260In GoogleTest, death tests are run in a child process and the way they work is 261delicate. To write death tests you really need to understand how they work—see 262the details at [Death Assertions](reference/assertions.md#death) in the 263Assertions Reference. 264 265In particular, death tests don't like having multiple threads in the parent 266process. So the first thing you can try is to eliminate creating threads outside 267of `EXPECT_DEATH()`. For example, you may want to use mocks or fake objects 268instead of real ones in your tests. 269 270Sometimes this is impossible as some library you must use may be creating 271threads before `main()` is even reached. In this case, you can try to minimize 272the chance of conflicts by either moving as many activities as possible inside 273`EXPECT_DEATH()` (in the extreme case, you want to move everything inside), or 274leaving as few things as possible in it. Also, you can try to set the death test 275style to `"threadsafe"`, which is safer but slower, and see if it helps. 276 277If you go with thread-safe death tests, remember that they rerun the test 278program from the beginning in the child process. Therefore make sure your 279program can run side-by-side with itself and is deterministic. 280 281In the end, this boils down to good concurrent programming. You have to make 282sure that there are no race conditions or deadlocks in your program. No silver 283bullet - sorry! 284 285## Should I use the constructor/destructor of the test fixture or SetUp()/TearDown()? {#CtorVsSetUp} 286 287The first thing to remember is that GoogleTest does **not** reuse the same test 288fixture object across multiple tests. For each `TEST_F`, GoogleTest will create 289a **fresh** test fixture object, immediately call `SetUp()`, run the test body, 290call `TearDown()`, and then delete the test fixture object. 291 292When you need to write per-test set-up and tear-down logic, you have the choice 293between using the test fixture constructor/destructor or `SetUp()`/`TearDown()`. 294The former is usually preferred, as it has the following benefits: 295 296* By initializing a member variable in the constructor, we have the option to 297 make it `const`, which helps prevent accidental changes to its value and 298 makes the tests more obviously correct. 299* In case we need to subclass the test fixture class, the subclass' 300 constructor is guaranteed to call the base class' constructor *first*, and 301 the subclass' destructor is guaranteed to call the base class' destructor 302 *afterward*. With `SetUp()/TearDown()`, a subclass may make the mistake of 303 forgetting to call the base class' `SetUp()/TearDown()` or call them at the 304 wrong time. 305 306You may still want to use `SetUp()/TearDown()` in the following cases: 307 308* C++ does not allow virtual function calls in constructors and destructors. 309 You can call a method declared as virtual, but it will not use dynamic 310 dispatch. It will use the definition from the class the constructor of which 311 is currently executing. This is because calling a virtual method before the 312 derived class constructor has a chance to run is very dangerous - the 313 virtual method might operate on uninitialized data. Therefore, if you need 314 to call a method that will be overridden in a derived class, you have to use 315 `SetUp()/TearDown()`. 316* In the body of a constructor (or destructor), it's not possible to use the 317 `ASSERT_xx` macros. Therefore, if the set-up operation could cause a fatal 318 test failure that should prevent the test from running, it's necessary to 319 use `abort` and abort the whole test 320 executable, or to use `SetUp()` instead of a constructor. 321* If the tear-down operation could throw an exception, you must use 322 `TearDown()` as opposed to the destructor, as throwing in a destructor leads 323 to undefined behavior and usually will kill your program right away. Note 324 that many standard libraries (like STL) may throw when exceptions are 325 enabled in the compiler. Therefore you should prefer `TearDown()` if you 326 want to write portable tests that work with or without exceptions. 327* The GoogleTest team is considering making the assertion macros throw on 328 platforms where exceptions are enabled (e.g. Windows, Mac OS, and Linux 329 client-side), which will eliminate the need for the user to propagate 330 failures from a subroutine to its caller. Therefore, you shouldn't use 331 GoogleTest assertions in a destructor if your code could run on such a 332 platform. 333 334## The compiler complains "no matching function to call" when I use `ASSERT_PRED*`. How do I fix it? 335 336See details for [`EXPECT_PRED*`](reference/assertions.md#EXPECT_PRED) in the 337Assertions Reference. 338 339## My compiler complains about "ignoring return value" when I call RUN_ALL_TESTS(). Why? 340 341Some people had been ignoring the return value of `RUN_ALL_TESTS()`. That is, 342instead of 343 344```c++ 345 return RUN_ALL_TESTS(); 346``` 347 348they write 349 350```c++ 351 RUN_ALL_TESTS(); 352``` 353 354This is **wrong and dangerous**. The testing services needs to see the return 355value of `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` in order to determine if a test has passed. If your 356`main()` function ignores it, your test will be considered successful even if it 357has a GoogleTest assertion failure. Very bad. 358 359We have decided to fix this (thanks to Michael Chastain for the idea). Now, your 360code will no longer be able to ignore `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` when compiled with 361`gcc`. If you do so, you'll get a compiler error. 362 363If you see the compiler complaining about you ignoring the return value of 364`RUN_ALL_TESTS()`, the fix is simple: just make sure its value is used as the 365return value of `main()`. 366 367But how could we introduce a change that breaks existing tests? Well, in this 368case, the code was already broken in the first place, so we didn't break it. :-) 369 370## My compiler complains that a constructor (or destructor) cannot return a value. What's going on? 371 372Due to a peculiarity of C++, in order to support the syntax for streaming 373messages to an `ASSERT_*`, e.g. 374 375```c++ 376 ASSERT_EQ(1, Foo()) << "blah blah" << foo; 377``` 378 379we had to give up using `ASSERT*` and `FAIL*` (but not `EXPECT*` and 380`ADD_FAILURE*`) in constructors and destructors. The workaround is to move the 381content of your constructor/destructor to a private void member function, or 382switch to `EXPECT_*()` if that works. This 383[section](advanced.md#assertion-placement) in the user's guide explains it. 384 385## My SetUp() function is not called. Why? 386 387C++ is case-sensitive. Did you spell it as `Setup()`? 388 389Similarly, sometimes people spell `SetUpTestSuite()` as `SetupTestSuite()` and 390wonder why it's never called. 391 392## I have several test suites which share the same test fixture logic; do I have to define a new test fixture class for each of them? This seems pretty tedious. 393 394You don't have to. Instead of 395 396```c++ 397class FooTest : public BaseTest {}; 398 399TEST_F(FooTest, Abc) { ... } 400TEST_F(FooTest, Def) { ... } 401 402class BarTest : public BaseTest {}; 403 404TEST_F(BarTest, Abc) { ... } 405TEST_F(BarTest, Def) { ... } 406``` 407 408you can simply `typedef` the test fixtures: 409 410```c++ 411typedef BaseTest FooTest; 412 413TEST_F(FooTest, Abc) { ... } 414TEST_F(FooTest, Def) { ... } 415 416typedef BaseTest BarTest; 417 418TEST_F(BarTest, Abc) { ... } 419TEST_F(BarTest, Def) { ... } 420``` 421 422## GoogleTest output is buried in a whole bunch of LOG messages. What do I do? 423 424The GoogleTest output is meant to be a concise and human-friendly report. If 425your test generates textual output itself, it will mix with the GoogleTest 426output, making it hard to read. However, there is an easy solution to this 427problem. 428 429Since `LOG` messages go to stderr, we decided to let GoogleTest output go to 430stdout. This way, you can easily separate the two using redirection. For 431example: 432 433```shell 434$ ./my_test > gtest_output.txt 435``` 436 437## Why should I prefer test fixtures over global variables? 438 439There are several good reasons: 440 4411. It's likely your test needs to change the states of its global variables. 442 This makes it difficult to keep side effects from escaping one test and 443 contaminating others, making debugging difficult. By using fixtures, each 444 test has a fresh set of variables that's different (but with the same 445 names). Thus, tests are kept independent of each other. 4462. Global variables pollute the global namespace. 4473. Test fixtures can be reused via subclassing, which cannot be done easily 448 with global variables. This is useful if many test suites have something in 449 common. 450 451## What can the statement argument in ASSERT_DEATH() be? 452 453`ASSERT_DEATH(statement, matcher)` (or any death assertion macro) can be used 454wherever *`statement`* is valid. So basically *`statement`* can be any C++ 455statement that makes sense in the current context. In particular, it can 456reference global and/or local variables, and can be: 457 458* a simple function call (often the case), 459* a complex expression, or 460* a compound statement. 461 462Some examples are shown here: 463 464```c++ 465// A death test can be a simple function call. 466TEST(MyDeathTest, FunctionCall) { 467 ASSERT_DEATH(Xyz(5), "Xyz failed"); 468} 469 470// Or a complex expression that references variables and functions. 471TEST(MyDeathTest, ComplexExpression) { 472 const bool c = Condition(); 473 ASSERT_DEATH((c ? Func1(0) : object2.Method("test")), 474 "(Func1|Method) failed"); 475} 476 477// Death assertions can be used anywhere in a function. In 478// particular, they can be inside a loop. 479TEST(MyDeathTest, InsideLoop) { 480 // Verifies that Foo(0), Foo(1), ..., and Foo(4) all die. 481 for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) { 482 EXPECT_DEATH_M(Foo(i), "Foo has \\d+ errors", 483 ::testing::Message() << "where i is " << i); 484 } 485} 486 487// A death assertion can contain a compound statement. 488TEST(MyDeathTest, CompoundStatement) { 489 // Verifies that at lease one of Bar(0), Bar(1), ..., and 490 // Bar(4) dies. 491 ASSERT_DEATH({ 492 for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) { 493 Bar(i); 494 } 495 }, 496 "Bar has \\d+ errors"); 497} 498``` 499 500## I have a fixture class `FooTest`, but `TEST_F(FooTest, Bar)` gives me error ``"no matching function for call to `FooTest::FooTest()'"``. Why? 501 502GoogleTest needs to be able to create objects of your test fixture class, so it 503must have a default constructor. Normally the compiler will define one for you. 504However, there are cases where you have to define your own: 505 506* If you explicitly declare a non-default constructor for class `FooTest` 507 (`DISALLOW_EVIL_CONSTRUCTORS()` does this), then you need to define a 508 default constructor, even if it would be empty. 509* If `FooTest` has a const non-static data member, then you have to define the 510 default constructor *and* initialize the const member in the initializer 511 list of the constructor. (Early versions of `gcc` doesn't force you to 512 initialize the const member. It's a bug that has been fixed in `gcc 4`.) 513 514## Why does ASSERT_DEATH complain about previous threads that were already joined? 515 516With the Linux pthread library, there is no turning back once you cross the line 517from a single thread to multiple threads. The first time you create a thread, a 518manager thread is created in addition, so you get 3, not 2, threads. Later when 519the thread you create joins the main thread, the thread count decrements by 1, 520but the manager thread will never be killed, so you still have 2 threads, which 521means you cannot safely run a death test. 522 523The new NPTL thread library doesn't suffer from this problem, as it doesn't 524create a manager thread. However, if you don't control which machine your test 525runs on, you shouldn't depend on this. 526 527## Why does GoogleTest require the entire test suite, instead of individual tests, to be named `*DeathTest` when it uses `ASSERT_DEATH`? 528 529GoogleTest does not interleave tests from different test suites. That is, it 530runs all tests in one test suite first, and then runs all tests in the next test 531suite, and so on. GoogleTest does this because it needs to set up a test suite 532before the first test in it is run, and tear it down afterwards. Splitting up 533the test case would require multiple set-up and tear-down processes, which is 534inefficient and makes the semantics unclean. 535 536If we were to determine the order of tests based on test name instead of test 537case name, then we would have a problem with the following situation: 538 539```c++ 540TEST_F(FooTest, AbcDeathTest) { ... } 541TEST_F(FooTest, Uvw) { ... } 542 543TEST_F(BarTest, DefDeathTest) { ... } 544TEST_F(BarTest, Xyz) { ... } 545``` 546 547Since `FooTest.AbcDeathTest` needs to run before `BarTest.Xyz`, and we don't 548interleave tests from different test suites, we need to run all tests in the 549`FooTest` case before running any test in the `BarTest` case. This contradicts 550with the requirement to run `BarTest.DefDeathTest` before `FooTest.Uvw`. 551 552## But I don't like calling my entire test suite `*DeathTest` when it contains both death tests and non-death tests. What do I do? 553 554You don't have to, but if you like, you may split up the test suite into 555`FooTest` and `FooDeathTest`, where the names make it clear that they are 556related: 557 558```c++ 559class FooTest : public ::testing::Test { ... }; 560 561TEST_F(FooTest, Abc) { ... } 562TEST_F(FooTest, Def) { ... } 563 564using FooDeathTest = FooTest; 565 566TEST_F(FooDeathTest, Uvw) { ... EXPECT_DEATH(...) ... } 567TEST_F(FooDeathTest, Xyz) { ... ASSERT_DEATH(...) ... } 568``` 569 570## GoogleTest prints the LOG messages in a death test's child process only when the test fails. How can I see the LOG messages when the death test succeeds? 571 572Printing the LOG messages generated by the statement inside `EXPECT_DEATH()` 573makes it harder to search for real problems in the parent's log. Therefore, 574GoogleTest only prints them when the death test has failed. 575 576If you really need to see such LOG messages, a workaround is to temporarily 577break the death test (e.g. by changing the regex pattern it is expected to 578match). Admittedly, this is a hack. We'll consider a more permanent solution 579after the fork-and-exec-style death tests are implemented. 580 581## The compiler complains about `no match for 'operator<<'` when I use an assertion. What gives? 582 583If you use a user-defined type `FooType` in an assertion, you must make sure 584there is an `std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream&, const FooType&)` function 585defined such that we can print a value of `FooType`. 586 587In addition, if `FooType` is declared in a name space, the `<<` operator also 588needs to be defined in the *same* name space. See 589[Tip of the Week #49](https://abseil.io/tips/49) for details. 590 591## How do I suppress the memory leak messages on Windows? 592 593Since the statically initialized GoogleTest singleton requires allocations on 594the heap, the Visual C++ memory leak detector will report memory leaks at the 595end of the program run. The easiest way to avoid this is to use the 596`_CrtMemCheckpoint` and `_CrtMemDumpAllObjectsSince` calls to not report any 597statically initialized heap objects. See MSDN for more details and additional 598heap check/debug routines. 599 600## How can my code detect if it is running in a test? 601 602If you write code that sniffs whether it's running in a test and does different 603things accordingly, you are leaking test-only logic into production code and 604there is no easy way to ensure that the test-only code paths aren't run by 605mistake in production. Such cleverness also leads to 606[Heisenbugs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenbug). Therefore we strongly 607advise against the practice, and GoogleTest doesn't provide a way to do it. 608 609In general, the recommended way to cause the code to behave differently under 610test is [Dependency Injection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_injection). You can inject 611different functionality from the test and from the production code. Since your 612production code doesn't link in the for-test logic at all (the 613[`testonly`](https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/be/common-definitions.html#common.testonly) attribute for BUILD targets helps to ensure 614that), there is no danger in accidentally running it. 615 616However, if you *really*, *really*, *really* have no choice, and if you follow 617the rule of ending your test program names with `_test`, you can use the 618*horrible* hack of sniffing your executable name (`argv[0]` in `main()`) to know 619whether the code is under test. 620 621## How do I temporarily disable a test? 622 623If you have a broken test that you cannot fix right away, you can add the 624`DISABLED_` prefix to its name. This will exclude it from execution. This is 625better than commenting out the code or using `#if 0`, as disabled tests are 626still compiled (and thus won't rot). 627 628To include disabled tests in test execution, just invoke the test program with 629the `--gtest_also_run_disabled_tests` flag. 630 631## Is it OK if I have two separate `TEST(Foo, Bar)` test methods defined in different namespaces? 632 633Yes. 634 635The rule is **all test methods in the same test suite must use the same fixture 636class**. This means that the following is **allowed** because both tests use the 637same fixture class (`::testing::Test`). 638 639```c++ 640namespace foo { 641TEST(CoolTest, DoSomething) { 642 SUCCEED(); 643} 644} // namespace foo 645 646namespace bar { 647TEST(CoolTest, DoSomething) { 648 SUCCEED(); 649} 650} // namespace bar 651``` 652 653However, the following code is **not allowed** and will produce a runtime error 654from GoogleTest because the test methods are using different test fixture 655classes with the same test suite name. 656 657```c++ 658namespace foo { 659class CoolTest : public ::testing::Test {}; // Fixture foo::CoolTest 660TEST_F(CoolTest, DoSomething) { 661 SUCCEED(); 662} 663} // namespace foo 664 665namespace bar { 666class CoolTest : public ::testing::Test {}; // Fixture: bar::CoolTest 667TEST_F(CoolTest, DoSomething) { 668 SUCCEED(); 669} 670} // namespace bar 671``` 672