---
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'
