src/tests: The FreeBSD test suite ================================= This file describes the build infrastructure of the FreeBSD test suite. If you are only interested in using the test suite itself, please refer to tests(7) instead. The build of the test suite is organized in the following manner: * The build of all test artifacts is protected by the MK_TESTS knob. The user can disable these with the WITHOUT_TESTS setting in src.conf(5). * The goal for /usr/tests/ (the installed test programs) is to follow the same hierarchy as /usr/src/ wherever possible, which in turn drives several of the design decisions described below. This simplifies the discoverability of tests. We want a mapping such as: /usr/src/bin/cp/ -> /usr/tests/bin/cp/ /usr/src/lib/libc/ -> /usr/tests/lib/libc/ /usr/src/usr.bin/cut/ -> /usr/tests/usr.bin/cut/ ... and many more ... * Test programs for specific utilities and libraries are located next to the source code of such programs. For example, the tests for the src/lib/libcrypt/ library live in src/lib/libcrypt/tests/. The tests/ subdirectory is optional and should, in general, be avoided. * The src/tests/ hierarchy (this directory) provides generic test infrastructure and glue code to join all test programs together into a single test suite definition. * The src/tests/ hierarchy also includes cross-functional test programs: i.e. test programs that cover more than a single utility or library and thus don't fit anywhere else in the tree. Consider this to follow the same rationale as src/share/man/: this directory contains generic manual pages while the manual pages that are specific to individual tools or libraries live next to the source code. In order to keep the src/tests/ hierarchy decoupled from the actual test programs being installed --which is a worthy goal because it simplifies the addition of new test programs and simplifies the maintenance of the tree-- the top-level Kyuafile does not know which subdirectories may exist upfront. Instead, such Kyuafile automatically detects, at run-time, which */Kyuafile files exist and uses those directly. Similarly, every directory in src/ that wants to install a Kyuafile to just recurse into other subdirectories reuses this Kyuafile with auto-discovery features. As an example, take a look at src/lib/tests/ whose sole purpose is to install a Kyuafile into /usr/tests/lib/. The goal in this specific case is for /usr/tests/lib/ to be generated entirely from src/lib/. -- $FreeBSD$