• Home
  • Line#
  • Scopes#
  • Navigate#
  • Raw
  • Download
1lit - LLVM Integrated Tester
2============================
3
4SYNOPSIS
5--------
6
7:program:`lit` [*options*] [*tests*]
8
9DESCRIPTION
10-----------
11
12:program:`lit` is a portable tool for executing LLVM and Clang style test
13suites, summarizing their results, and providing indication of failures.
14:program:`lit` is designed to be a lightweight testing tool with as simple a
15user interface as possible.
16
17:program:`lit` should be run with one or more *tests* to run specified on the
18command line.  Tests can be either individual test files or directories to
19search for tests (see :ref:`test-discovery`).
20
21Each specified test will be executed (potentially in parallel) and once all
22tests have been run :program:`lit` will print summary information on the number
23of tests which passed or failed (see :ref:`test-status-results`).  The
24:program:`lit` program will execute with a non-zero exit code if any tests
25fail.
26
27By default :program:`lit` will use a succinct progress display and will only
28print summary information for test failures.  See :ref:`output-options` for
29options controlling the :program:`lit` progress display and output.
30
31:program:`lit` also includes a number of options for controlling how tests are
32executed (specific features may depend on the particular test format).  See
33:ref:`execution-options` for more information.
34
35Finally, :program:`lit` also supports additional options for only running a
36subset of the options specified on the command line, see
37:ref:`selection-options` for more information.
38
39Users interested in the :program:`lit` architecture or designing a
40:program:`lit` testing implementation should see :ref:`lit-infrastructure`.
41
42GENERAL OPTIONS
43---------------
44
45.. option:: -h, --help
46
47 Show the :program:`lit` help message.
48
49.. option:: -j N, --threads=N
50
51 Run ``N`` tests in parallel.  By default, this is automatically chosen to
52 match the number of detected available CPUs.
53
54.. option:: --config-prefix=NAME
55
56 Search for :file:`{NAME}.cfg` and :file:`{NAME}.site.cfg` when searching for
57 test suites, instead of :file:`lit.cfg` and :file:`lit.site.cfg`.
58
59.. option:: --param NAME, --param NAME=VALUE
60
61 Add a user defined parameter ``NAME`` with the given ``VALUE`` (or the empty
62 string if not given).  The meaning and use of these parameters is test suite
63 dependent.
64
65.. _output-options:
66
67OUTPUT OPTIONS
68--------------
69
70.. option:: -q, --quiet
71
72 Suppress any output except for test failures.
73
74.. option:: -s, --succinct
75
76 Show less output, for example don't show information on tests that pass.
77
78.. option:: -v, --verbose
79
80 Show more information on test failures, for example the entire test output
81 instead of just the test result.
82
83.. option:: --no-progress-bar
84
85 Do not use curses based progress bar.
86
87.. _execution-options:
88
89EXECUTION OPTIONS
90-----------------
91
92.. option:: --path=PATH
93
94 Specify an additional ``PATH`` to use when searching for executables in tests.
95
96.. option:: --vg
97
98 Run individual tests under valgrind (using the memcheck tool).  The
99 ``--error-exitcode`` argument for valgrind is used so that valgrind failures
100 will cause the program to exit with a non-zero status.
101
102 When this option is enabled, :program:`lit` will also automatically provide a
103 "``valgrind``" feature that can be used to conditionally disable (or expect
104 failure in) certain tests.
105
106.. option:: --vg-arg=ARG
107
108 When :option:`--vg` is used, specify an additional argument to pass to
109 :program:`valgrind` itself.
110
111.. option:: --vg-leak
112
113 When :option:`--vg` is used, enable memory leak checks.  When this option is
114 enabled, :program:`lit` will also automatically provide a "``vg_leak``"
115 feature that can be used to conditionally disable (or expect failure in)
116 certain tests.
117
118.. option:: --time-tests
119
120 Track the wall time individual tests take to execute and includes the results
121 in the summary output.  This is useful for determining which tests in a test
122 suite take the most time to execute.  Note that this option is most useful
123 with ``-j 1``.
124
125.. _selection-options:
126
127SELECTION OPTIONS
128-----------------
129
130.. option:: --max-tests=N
131
132 Run at most ``N`` tests and then terminate.
133
134.. option:: --max-time=N
135
136 Spend at most ``N`` seconds (approximately) running tests and then terminate.
137
138.. option:: --shuffle
139
140 Run the tests in a random order.
141
142ADDITIONAL OPTIONS
143------------------
144
145.. option:: --debug
146
147 Run :program:`lit` in debug mode, for debugging configuration issues and
148 :program:`lit` itself.
149
150.. option:: --show-suites
151
152 List the discovered test suites as part of the standard output.
153
154.. option:: --repeat=N
155
156 Run each test ``N`` times.  Currently this is primarily useful for timing
157 tests, other results are not collated in any reasonable fashion.
158
159EXIT STATUS
160-----------
161
162:program:`lit` will exit with an exit code of 1 if there are any FAIL or XPASS
163results.  Otherwise, it will exit with the status 0.  Other exit codes are used
164for non-test related failures (for example a user error or an internal program
165error).
166
167.. _test-discovery:
168
169TEST DISCOVERY
170--------------
171
172The inputs passed to :program:`lit` can be either individual tests, or entire
173directories or hierarchies of tests to run.  When :program:`lit` starts up, the
174first thing it does is convert the inputs into a complete list of tests to run
175as part of *test discovery*.
176
177In the :program:`lit` model, every test must exist inside some *test suite*.
178:program:`lit` resolves the inputs specified on the command line to test suites
179by searching upwards from the input path until it finds a :file:`lit.cfg` or
180:file:`lit.site.cfg` file.  These files serve as both a marker of test suites
181and as configuration files which :program:`lit` loads in order to understand
182how to find and run the tests inside the test suite.
183
184Once :program:`lit` has mapped the inputs into test suites it traverses the
185list of inputs adding tests for individual files and recursively searching for
186tests in directories.
187
188This behavior makes it easy to specify a subset of tests to run, while still
189allowing the test suite configuration to control exactly how tests are
190interpreted.  In addition, :program:`lit` always identifies tests by the test
191suite they are in, and their relative path inside the test suite.  For
192appropriately configured projects, this allows :program:`lit` to provide
193convenient and flexible support for out-of-tree builds.
194
195.. _test-status-results:
196
197TEST STATUS RESULTS
198-------------------
199
200Each test ultimately produces one of the following six results:
201
202**PASS**
203
204 The test succeeded.
205
206**XFAIL**
207
208 The test failed, but that is expected.  This is used for test formats which allow
209 specifying that a test does not currently work, but wish to leave it in the test
210 suite.
211
212**XPASS**
213
214 The test succeeded, but it was expected to fail.  This is used for tests which
215 were specified as expected to fail, but are now succeeding (generally because
216 the feature they test was broken and has been fixed).
217
218**FAIL**
219
220 The test failed.
221
222**UNRESOLVED**
223
224 The test result could not be determined.  For example, this occurs when the test
225 could not be run, the test itself is invalid, or the test was interrupted.
226
227**UNSUPPORTED**
228
229 The test is not supported in this environment.  This is used by test formats
230 which can report unsupported tests.
231
232Depending on the test format tests may produce additional information about
233their status (generally only for failures).  See the :ref:`output-options`
234section for more information.
235
236.. _lit-infrastructure:
237
238LIT INFRASTRUCTURE
239------------------
240
241This section describes the :program:`lit` testing architecture for users interested in
242creating a new :program:`lit` testing implementation, or extending an existing one.
243
244:program:`lit` proper is primarily an infrastructure for discovering and running
245arbitrary tests, and to expose a single convenient interface to these
246tests. :program:`lit` itself doesn't know how to run tests, rather this logic is
247defined by *test suites*.
248
249TEST SUITES
250~~~~~~~~~~~
251
252As described in :ref:`test-discovery`, tests are always located inside a *test
253suite*.  Test suites serve to define the format of the tests they contain, the
254logic for finding those tests, and any additional information to run the tests.
255
256:program:`lit` identifies test suites as directories containing ``lit.cfg`` or
257``lit.site.cfg`` files (see also :option:`--config-prefix`).  Test suites are
258initially discovered by recursively searching up the directory hierarchy for
259all the input files passed on the command line.  You can use
260:option:`--show-suites` to display the discovered test suites at startup.
261
262Once a test suite is discovered, its config file is loaded.  Config files
263themselves are Python modules which will be executed.  When the config file is
264executed, two important global variables are predefined:
265
266**lit**
267
268 The global **lit** configuration object (a *LitConfig* instance), which defines
269 the builtin test formats, global configuration parameters, and other helper
270 routines for implementing test configurations.
271
272**config**
273
274 This is the config object (a *TestingConfig* instance) for the test suite,
275 which the config file is expected to populate.  The following variables are also
276 available on the *config* object, some of which must be set by the config and
277 others are optional or predefined:
278
279 **name** *[required]* The name of the test suite, for use in reports and
280 diagnostics.
281
282 **test_format** *[required]* The test format object which will be used to
283 discover and run tests in the test suite.  Generally this will be a builtin test
284 format available from the *lit.formats* module.
285
286 **test_source_root** The filesystem path to the test suite root.  For out-of-dir
287 builds this is the directory that will be scanned for tests.
288
289 **test_exec_root** For out-of-dir builds, the path to the test suite root inside
290 the object directory.  This is where tests will be run and temporary output files
291 placed.
292
293 **environment** A dictionary representing the environment to use when executing
294 tests in the suite.
295
296 **suffixes** For **lit** test formats which scan directories for tests, this
297 variable is a list of suffixes to identify test files.  Used by: *ShTest*.
298
299 **substitutions** For **lit** test formats which substitute variables into a test
300 script, the list of substitutions to perform.  Used by: *ShTest*.
301
302 **unsupported** Mark an unsupported directory, all tests within it will be
303 reported as unsupported.  Used by: *ShTest*.
304
305 **parent** The parent configuration, this is the config object for the directory
306 containing the test suite, or None.
307
308 **root** The root configuration.  This is the top-most :program:`lit` configuration in
309 the project.
310
311 **on_clone** The config is actually cloned for every subdirectory inside a test
312 suite, to allow local configuration on a per-directory basis.  The *on_clone*
313 variable can be set to a Python function which will be called whenever a
314 configuration is cloned (for a subdirectory).  The function should takes three
315 arguments: (1) the parent configuration, (2) the new configuration (which the
316 *on_clone* function will generally modify), and (3) the test path to the new
317 directory being scanned.
318
319 **pipefail** Normally a test using a shell pipe fails if any of the commands
320 on the pipe fail. If this is not desired, setting this variable to false
321 makes the test fail only if the last command in the pipe fails.
322
323TEST DISCOVERY
324~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
325
326Once test suites are located, :program:`lit` recursively traverses the source
327directory (following *test_source_root*) looking for tests.  When :program:`lit`
328enters a sub-directory, it first checks to see if a nested test suite is
329defined in that directory.  If so, it loads that test suite recursively,
330otherwise it instantiates a local test config for the directory (see
331:ref:`local-configuration-files`).
332
333Tests are identified by the test suite they are contained within, and the
334relative path inside that suite.  Note that the relative path may not refer to
335an actual file on disk; some test formats (such as *GoogleTest*) define
336"virtual tests" which have a path that contains both the path to the actual
337test file and a subpath to identify the virtual test.
338
339.. _local-configuration-files:
340
341LOCAL CONFIGURATION FILES
342~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
343
344When :program:`lit` loads a subdirectory in a test suite, it instantiates a
345local test configuration by cloning the configuration for the parent direction
346--- the root of this configuration chain will always be a test suite.  Once the
347test configuration is cloned :program:`lit` checks for a *lit.local.cfg* file
348in the subdirectory.  If present, this file will be loaded and can be used to
349specialize the configuration for each individual directory.  This facility can
350be used to define subdirectories of optional tests, or to change other
351configuration parameters --- for example, to change the test format, or the
352suffixes which identify test files.
353
354TEST RUN OUTPUT FORMAT
355~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
356
357The :program:`lit` output for a test run conforms to the following schema, in
358both short and verbose modes (although in short mode no PASS lines will be
359shown).  This schema has been chosen to be relatively easy to reliably parse by
360a machine (for example in buildbot log scraping), and for other tools to
361generate.
362
363Each test result is expected to appear on a line that matches:
364
365.. code-block:: none
366
367  <result code>: <test name> (<progress info>)
368
369where ``<result-code>`` is a standard test result such as PASS, FAIL, XFAIL,
370XPASS, UNRESOLVED, or UNSUPPORTED.  The performance result codes of IMPROVED and
371REGRESSED are also allowed.
372
373The ``<test name>`` field can consist of an arbitrary string containing no
374newline.
375
376The ``<progress info>`` field can be used to report progress information such
377as (1/300) or can be empty, but even when empty the parentheses are required.
378
379Each test result may include additional (multiline) log information in the
380following format:
381
382.. code-block:: none
383
384  <log delineator> TEST '(<test name>)' <trailing delineator>
385  ... log message ...
386  <log delineator>
387
388where ``<test name>`` should be the name of a preceding reported test, ``<log
389delineator>`` is a string of "*" characters *at least* four characters long
390(the recommended length is 20), and ``<trailing delineator>`` is an arbitrary
391(unparsed) string.
392
393The following is an example of a test run output which consists of four tests A,
394B, C, and D, and a log message for the failing test C:
395
396.. code-block:: none
397
398  PASS: A (1 of 4)
399  PASS: B (2 of 4)
400  FAIL: C (3 of 4)
401  ******************** TEST 'C' FAILED ********************
402  Test 'C' failed as a result of exit code 1.
403  ********************
404  PASS: D (4 of 4)
405
406LIT EXAMPLE TESTS
407~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
408
409The :program:`lit` distribution contains several example implementations of
410test suites in the *ExampleTests* directory.
411
412SEE ALSO
413--------
414
415valgrind(1)
416