xref: /freebsd/tests/README (revision f4b37ed0f8b307b1f3f0f630ca725d68f1dff30d)
1src/tests: The FreeBSD test suite
2=================================
3
4This file describes the build infrastructure of the FreeBSD test suite.
5If you are only interested in using the test suite itself, please refer
6to tests(7) instead.
7
8The build of the test suite is organized in the following manner:
9
10* The build of all test artifacts is protected by the MK_TESTS knob.
11  The user can disable these with the WITHOUT_TESTS setting in
12  src.conf(5).
13
14* The goal for /usr/tests/ (the installed test programs) is to follow
15  the same hierarchy as /usr/src/ wherever possible, which in turn drives
16  several of the design decisions described below.  This simplifies the
17  discoverability of tests.  We want a mapping such as:
18
19    /usr/src/bin/cp/      -> /usr/tests/bin/cp/
20    /usr/src/lib/libc/    -> /usr/tests/lib/libc/
21    /usr/src/usr.bin/cut/ -> /usr/tests/usr.bin/cut/
22    ... and many more ...
23
24* Test programs for specific utilities and libraries are located next
25  to the source code of such programs.  For example, the tests for the
26  src/lib/libcrypt/ library live in src/lib/libcrypt/tests/.  The tests/
27  subdirectory is optional and should, in general, be avoided.
28
29* The src/tests/ hierarchy (this directory) provides generic test
30  infrastructure and glue code to join all test programs together into
31  a single test suite definition.
32
33* The src/tests/ hierarchy also includes cross-functional test programs:
34  i.e. test programs that cover more than a single utility or library
35  and thus don't fit anywhere else in the tree.  Consider this to follow
36  the same rationale as src/share/man/: this directory contains generic
37  manual pages while the manual pages that are specific to individual
38  tools or libraries live next to the source code.
39
40In order to keep the src/tests/ hierarchy decoupled from the actual test
41programs being installed --which is a worthy goal because it simplifies
42the addition of new test programs and simplifies the maintenance of the
43tree-- the top-level Kyuafile does not know which subdirectories may
44exist upfront.  Instead, such Kyuafile automatically detects, at
45run-time, which */Kyuafile files exist and uses those directly.
46
47Similarly, every directory in src/ that wants to install a Kyuafile to
48just recurse into other subdirectories reuses this Kyuafile with
49auto-discovery features.  As an example, take a look at src/lib/tests/
50whose sole purpose is to install a Kyuafile into /usr/tests/lib/.
51The goal in this specific case is for /usr/tests/lib/ to be generated
52entirely from src/lib/.
53
54--
55$FreeBSD$
56