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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:: -D NAME, -D NAME=VALUE, --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:: -a, --show-all
84
85 Show more information about all tests, for example the entire test
86 commandline and output.
87
88.. option:: --no-progress-bar
89
90 Do not use curses based progress bar.
91
92.. option:: --show-unsupported
93
94 Show the names of unsupported tests.
95
96.. option:: --show-xfail
97
98 Show the names of tests that were expected to fail.
99
100.. _execution-options:
101
102EXECUTION OPTIONS
103-----------------
104
105.. option:: --path=PATH
106
107 Specify an additional ``PATH`` to use when searching for executables in tests.
108
109.. option:: --vg
110
111 Run individual tests under valgrind (using the memcheck tool).  The
112 ``--error-exitcode`` argument for valgrind is used so that valgrind failures
113 will cause the program to exit with a non-zero status.
114
115 When this option is enabled, :program:`lit` will also automatically provide a
116 "``valgrind``" feature that can be used to conditionally disable (or expect
117 failure in) certain tests.
118
119.. option:: --vg-arg=ARG
120
121 When :option:`--vg` is used, specify an additional argument to pass to
122 :program:`valgrind` itself.
123
124.. option:: --vg-leak
125
126 When :option:`--vg` is used, enable memory leak checks.  When this option is
127 enabled, :program:`lit` will also automatically provide a "``vg_leak``"
128 feature that can be used to conditionally disable (or expect failure in)
129 certain tests.
130
131.. option:: --time-tests
132
133 Track the wall time individual tests take to execute and includes the results
134 in the summary output.  This is useful for determining which tests in a test
135 suite take the most time to execute.  Note that this option is most useful
136 with ``-j 1``.
137
138.. _selection-options:
139
140SELECTION OPTIONS
141-----------------
142
143.. option:: --max-tests=N
144
145 Run at most ``N`` tests and then terminate.
146
147.. option:: --max-time=N
148
149 Spend at most ``N`` seconds (approximately) running tests and then terminate.
150
151.. option:: --shuffle
152
153 Run the tests in a random order.
154
155ADDITIONAL OPTIONS
156------------------
157
158.. option:: --debug
159
160 Run :program:`lit` in debug mode, for debugging configuration issues and
161 :program:`lit` itself.
162
163.. option:: --show-suites
164
165 List the discovered test suites and exit.
166
167.. option:: --show-tests
168
169 List all of the discovered tests and exit.
170
171EXIT STATUS
172-----------
173
174:program:`lit` will exit with an exit code of 1 if there are any FAIL or XPASS
175results.  Otherwise, it will exit with the status 0.  Other exit codes are used
176for non-test related failures (for example a user error or an internal program
177error).
178
179.. _test-discovery:
180
181TEST DISCOVERY
182--------------
183
184The inputs passed to :program:`lit` can be either individual tests, or entire
185directories or hierarchies of tests to run.  When :program:`lit` starts up, the
186first thing it does is convert the inputs into a complete list of tests to run
187as part of *test discovery*.
188
189In the :program:`lit` model, every test must exist inside some *test suite*.
190:program:`lit` resolves the inputs specified on the command line to test suites
191by searching upwards from the input path until it finds a :file:`lit.cfg` or
192:file:`lit.site.cfg` file.  These files serve as both a marker of test suites
193and as configuration files which :program:`lit` loads in order to understand
194how to find and run the tests inside the test suite.
195
196Once :program:`lit` has mapped the inputs into test suites it traverses the
197list of inputs adding tests for individual files and recursively searching for
198tests in directories.
199
200This behavior makes it easy to specify a subset of tests to run, while still
201allowing the test suite configuration to control exactly how tests are
202interpreted.  In addition, :program:`lit` always identifies tests by the test
203suite they are in, and their relative path inside the test suite.  For
204appropriately configured projects, this allows :program:`lit` to provide
205convenient and flexible support for out-of-tree builds.
206
207.. _test-status-results:
208
209TEST STATUS RESULTS
210-------------------
211
212Each test ultimately produces one of the following six results:
213
214**PASS**
215
216 The test succeeded.
217
218**XFAIL**
219
220 The test failed, but that is expected.  This is used for test formats which allow
221 specifying that a test does not currently work, but wish to leave it in the test
222 suite.
223
224**XPASS**
225
226 The test succeeded, but it was expected to fail.  This is used for tests which
227 were specified as expected to fail, but are now succeeding (generally because
228 the feature they test was broken and has been fixed).
229
230**FAIL**
231
232 The test failed.
233
234**UNRESOLVED**
235
236 The test result could not be determined.  For example, this occurs when the test
237 could not be run, the test itself is invalid, or the test was interrupted.
238
239**UNSUPPORTED**
240
241 The test is not supported in this environment.  This is used by test formats
242 which can report unsupported tests.
243
244Depending on the test format tests may produce additional information about
245their status (generally only for failures).  See the :ref:`output-options`
246section for more information.
247
248.. _lit-infrastructure:
249
250LIT INFRASTRUCTURE
251------------------
252
253This section describes the :program:`lit` testing architecture for users interested in
254creating a new :program:`lit` testing implementation, or extending an existing one.
255
256:program:`lit` proper is primarily an infrastructure for discovering and running
257arbitrary tests, and to expose a single convenient interface to these
258tests. :program:`lit` itself doesn't know how to run tests, rather this logic is
259defined by *test suites*.
260
261TEST SUITES
262~~~~~~~~~~~
263
264As described in :ref:`test-discovery`, tests are always located inside a *test
265suite*.  Test suites serve to define the format of the tests they contain, the
266logic for finding those tests, and any additional information to run the tests.
267
268:program:`lit` identifies test suites as directories containing ``lit.cfg`` or
269``lit.site.cfg`` files (see also :option:`--config-prefix`).  Test suites are
270initially discovered by recursively searching up the directory hierarchy for
271all the input files passed on the command line.  You can use
272:option:`--show-suites` to display the discovered test suites at startup.
273
274Once a test suite is discovered, its config file is loaded.  Config files
275themselves are Python modules which will be executed.  When the config file is
276executed, two important global variables are predefined:
277
278**lit_config**
279
280 The global **lit** configuration object (a *LitConfig* instance), which defines
281 the builtin test formats, global configuration parameters, and other helper
282 routines for implementing test configurations.
283
284**config**
285
286 This is the config object (a *TestingConfig* instance) for the test suite,
287 which the config file is expected to populate.  The following variables are also
288 available on the *config* object, some of which must be set by the config and
289 others are optional or predefined:
290
291 **name** *[required]* The name of the test suite, for use in reports and
292 diagnostics.
293
294 **test_format** *[required]* The test format object which will be used to
295 discover and run tests in the test suite.  Generally this will be a builtin test
296 format available from the *lit.formats* module.
297
298 **test_source_root** The filesystem path to the test suite root.  For out-of-dir
299 builds this is the directory that will be scanned for tests.
300
301 **test_exec_root** For out-of-dir builds, the path to the test suite root inside
302 the object directory.  This is where tests will be run and temporary output files
303 placed.
304
305 **environment** A dictionary representing the environment to use when executing
306 tests in the suite.
307
308 **suffixes** For **lit** test formats which scan directories for tests, this
309 variable is a list of suffixes to identify test files.  Used by: *ShTest*.
310
311 **substitutions** For **lit** test formats which substitute variables into a test
312 script, the list of substitutions to perform.  Used by: *ShTest*.
313
314 **unsupported** Mark an unsupported directory, all tests within it will be
315 reported as unsupported.  Used by: *ShTest*.
316
317 **parent** The parent configuration, this is the config object for the directory
318 containing the test suite, or None.
319
320 **root** The root configuration.  This is the top-most :program:`lit` configuration in
321 the project.
322
323 **pipefail** Normally a test using a shell pipe fails if any of the commands
324 on the pipe fail. If this is not desired, setting this variable to false
325 makes the test fail only if the last command in the pipe fails.
326
327TEST DISCOVERY
328~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
329
330Once test suites are located, :program:`lit` recursively traverses the source
331directory (following *test_source_root*) looking for tests.  When :program:`lit`
332enters a sub-directory, it first checks to see if a nested test suite is
333defined in that directory.  If so, it loads that test suite recursively,
334otherwise it instantiates a local test config for the directory (see
335:ref:`local-configuration-files`).
336
337Tests are identified by the test suite they are contained within, and the
338relative path inside that suite.  Note that the relative path may not refer to
339an actual file on disk; some test formats (such as *GoogleTest*) define
340"virtual tests" which have a path that contains both the path to the actual
341test file and a subpath to identify the virtual test.
342
343.. _local-configuration-files:
344
345LOCAL CONFIGURATION FILES
346~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
347
348When :program:`lit` loads a subdirectory in a test suite, it instantiates a
349local test configuration by cloning the configuration for the parent directory
350--- the root of this configuration chain will always be a test suite.  Once the
351test configuration is cloned :program:`lit` checks for a *lit.local.cfg* file
352in the subdirectory.  If present, this file will be loaded and can be used to
353specialize the configuration for each individual directory.  This facility can
354be used to define subdirectories of optional tests, or to change other
355configuration parameters --- for example, to change the test format, or the
356suffixes which identify test files.
357
358PRE-DEFINED SUBSTITUTIONS
359~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
360
361:program:`lit` provides various patterns that can be used with the RUN command.
362These are defined in TestRunner.py.
363
364 ========== ==============
365  Macro      Substitution
366 ========== ==============
367 %s         source path (path to the file currently being run)
368 %S         source dir (directory of the file currently being run)
369 %p         same as %S
370 %{pathsep} path separator
371 %t         temporary file name unique to the test
372 %T         temporary directory unique to the test
373 %%         %
374 %/s        same as %s but replace all / with \\
375 %/S        same as %S but replace all / with \\
376 %/p        same as %p but replace all / with \\
377 %/t        same as %t but replace all / with \\
378 %/T        same as %T but replace all / with \\
379 ========== ==============
380
381Further substitution patterns might be defined by each test module.
382See the modules :ref:`local-configuration-files`.
383
384More information on the testing infrastucture can be found in the
385:doc:`../TestingGuide`.
386
387TEST RUN OUTPUT FORMAT
388~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
389
390The :program:`lit` output for a test run conforms to the following schema, in
391both short and verbose modes (although in short mode no PASS lines will be
392shown).  This schema has been chosen to be relatively easy to reliably parse by
393a machine (for example in buildbot log scraping), and for other tools to
394generate.
395
396Each test result is expected to appear on a line that matches:
397
398.. code-block:: none
399
400  <result code>: <test name> (<progress info>)
401
402where ``<result-code>`` is a standard test result such as PASS, FAIL, XFAIL,
403XPASS, UNRESOLVED, or UNSUPPORTED.  The performance result codes of IMPROVED and
404REGRESSED are also allowed.
405
406The ``<test name>`` field can consist of an arbitrary string containing no
407newline.
408
409The ``<progress info>`` field can be used to report progress information such
410as (1/300) or can be empty, but even when empty the parentheses are required.
411
412Each test result may include additional (multiline) log information in the
413following format:
414
415.. code-block:: none
416
417  <log delineator> TEST '(<test name>)' <trailing delineator>
418  ... log message ...
419  <log delineator>
420
421where ``<test name>`` should be the name of a preceding reported test, ``<log
422delineator>`` is a string of "*" characters *at least* four characters long
423(the recommended length is 20), and ``<trailing delineator>`` is an arbitrary
424(unparsed) string.
425
426The following is an example of a test run output which consists of four tests A,
427B, C, and D, and a log message for the failing test C:
428
429.. code-block:: none
430
431  PASS: A (1 of 4)
432  PASS: B (2 of 4)
433  FAIL: C (3 of 4)
434  ******************** TEST 'C' FAILED ********************
435  Test 'C' failed as a result of exit code 1.
436  ********************
437  PASS: D (4 of 4)
438
439LIT EXAMPLE TESTS
440~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
441
442The :program:`lit` distribution contains several example implementations of
443test suites in the *ExampleTests* directory.
444
445SEE ALSO
446--------
447
448valgrind(1)
449