isc-dhcp/doc/devel/atf.dox

/**
@page tests Testing

@section testsOverview Testing Overview

In DHCP, a unit test exercises a particular piece of code in
isolation. There is a separate unit test per module or API. Each unit
test lives in a directory beneath the code it is designed to exercise.
So, we (will eventually) have:

@verbatim
server/tests/
client/tests/
common/tests/
dhcpctl/tests/
...
@endverbatim

And so on.

Ideally each function would be invoked with every possible type of input, and
each branch of every function would be checked. In practice we try to be a bit
more pragmatic, and target the most basic operations, as well tricky code, and
areas we have seen bugs in the past.

We are using <a href="http://code.google.com/p/kyua/wiki/ATF">ATF (Automated
Test Framework)</a> as a framework to run our unittests.

@section testsAtf ATF unit-tests

ATF stands for Automated Test Framework, and is the framework used for unit
tests in ISC DHCP and BIND9. ATF sources can be downloaded from
http://code.google.com/p/kyua/wiki/ATF . ATF itself must be configured, compiled
and then installed to be available during the DHCP configure procedure.  Please
follow INSTALL file supplied with ATF sources (it's essentially the typical
./configure && make && make install procedure).

The ATF successor, called Kyua, is being developed. As of August 2012, the
latest available release of Kyua is 0.5. It claims to offer feature parity with
ATF. Migration to Kyua may be planned some time in the future, but DHCP uses ATF
for now. Such an upgrade should be done in coordination with BIND. The latest
tested version of ATF that DHCP's unittests were run against is 0.15.

To build the unit-tests, use the following:

@verbatim
$ ./configure --with-atf
$ make
$ make check
@endverbatim

The following syntax is supported as well:
@verbatim
$ ./configure --with-atf=/path/to/your/atf/install
@endverbatim

but it seems to have troubles sometimes detecting ATF installation, at least
with ATF 0.14 and Mac OS X 10.6.8.

Each code directory (e.g. server/) that has unit-tests has a sub-directory
named tests (e.g. server/tests). You can execute "make check" in that
directory to run specific subset of tests.

Unit-tests are grouped into suites, each suite being a separate
executable. The typical way to run tests is:

@verbatim
$ atf-run | atf-report
@endverbatim

atf-run will read the Atffile in the current directory and execute all the tests
specified in it. Using atf-run - rather than calling the test binary directly -
has several major benefits. The main one is that atf-run is able to recover from
test segfault and continue execution from the next case onwards. Another is that
it is possible to specify a timeout for a test. atf-run will kill the test in
case of any infinite loops and will continue running next tests.

It is possible to run atf-run without passing its output to atf-report, but its
output is somewhat convoluted. That is useful in some situations, e.g. when one
wants to see test output.

It is possible to run test binary directly. The only required parameter is the
test case name. The binary will print out a warning that direct binary execution
is not recommended as it won't be able to recover from crash.  However, such an
approach is convenient for running the test under the debugger.

@section testsAtfAdding Adding new unit-tests

There are a small number of unit-tests that are not ATF based. They will be
converted to ATF soon. Please do not use any other frameworks.

Sadly, the DHCP code was not written with unit-testing in mind: often a
non-standard approach is required for writing unit-tests. The existing code
often has many dependencies that make testing a single piece of code awkward to
unit test.  For example, to test hash tables, one needs to also include the
OMAPI code. Rather than significantly refactoring the code (a huge task that
could take months), we decided to link whatever is needed in the tests. If
developing new test suite, it is recommended that you take a look at existing
tests and just copy them as a starting point.


In particular, the following
things should be done for adding new tests:

<b>1. Tests directory.</b> For each code component (server, client, common,
etc.) there should be a tests subdirectory. If it isn't there yet, then it must
be created. This can be done by:

a). Creating the directory:

@verbatim
    $ mkdir $subdir/tests
    $ cvs add tests
@endverbatim

b). Adding the subdirectory to the build system:

    Add to $subdir/Makefile.am:

@verbatim
    SUBDIRS = tests
@endverbatim

    Add to the AC_OUTPUT macro in configure.ac:

@verbatim
    subdir/tests/Makefile
@endverbatim

c. Create a Makefile.am in the new directory, something similar to this:

@verbatim
    AM_CPPFLAGS = -I../..

    check_PROGRAMS = test_foo

    TESTS = test_foo

    test_foo_SOURCES = test_foo.c
    test_foo_LDADD = ../../tests/libt_api.a     # plus others...
@endverbatim

See existing Makefile.am for examples, and the Automake documentation:

    http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/html_node/Tests.html

<b>2. Implement the test.</b> That typically means that you create a new file that will
hold test code. It is recommended you name it (tested_feature_name)_unittest.c
and put the file in specified tests directory.  For example tests related to
hash tables used on the server side should be named
server/tests/hash_unittest.c. If in doubt, it is convenient to name the test
code after the file that holds tested code, e.g. server/mdb6.c is tested in
server/tests/mdb6_unittest.c.

The file server/tests/simple_unittest.c holds a template explaining the basic
layout of the ATF tests.  There may be many test cases in a single *_unittest.c
file. Make sure that you register all your test cases using ATF_TP_ADD_TC()
macro, and try to minimize modifications to the tested code if possible. Keep in
mind that we are using modernized \ref codingGuidelines for test
development. You are advised to also look at atf-c-api(3) man page.

To add a new test, such as when a new module is added or when you want to start
testing existing code, you can copy the server/tests/simple_unittest.c as a new
new file, add the new file as a target in Makefile.am, and begin adding
tests. Reviewing that file is a good idea, even if you decide to write your test
from scratch, as it give you quick overview of the essential capabilities of the
ATF framework (how to write test, how to make checks, pass or fail test
etc.). Do not forget to add your new file to git via "git add
yourtest_unittest.c".

<b>3. Extend Makefile.am</b> to build your test. In particular, add your binary
name to ATF_TESTS. The tests directory will be built only in case where
ATF is enabled, using --with-atf during configure phase.

<b>4. Modify Atffile to include your new test</b>, if needed. Tests in the
specified directory must be registered in Atffile. See server/tests/Atffile for
an example. Currently every executable with name of the form *_unittest will be
executed automatically. If you followed naming convention proposed in a previous
step, your test will be included and will be included automatically.

<b>5. Enjoy your improved confidence in the code</b>, as you can run the tests after
any change you may want to do:

@verbatim
$ make check
@endverbatim

to run all tests for all components. See \ref atfTests section for more details
on running tests.

@section testsAtfCoding ATF Coding Guidelines

As the unit-test code creates an evironment that works under a different
regime than the production code, there are slight differences to standard
coding guidelines. In particular:

- The code is written using C99. Double slash comments are allowed.
- Please do not use tabs. Use 4 spaces for each indent level.

*/