| 1 | <sect1 id="prepare-abouttestsuites">
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| 2 | <title>About the test suites</title>
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| 3 |
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| 4 | <para>Most packages provide a test suite. Running the test suite for a newly
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| 5 | built package is generally a good idea, as it can provide a nice sanity check
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| 6 | that everything compiled correctly. A test suite that passes its set of checks
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| 7 | usually proves that the package is functioning as the developer intended. It
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| 8 | does not, however, guarantee that the package is totally bug free.</para>
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| 9 |
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| 10 | <para>Some test suites are more important than others. For example, the test
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| 11 | suites for the core toolchain packages -- GCC, Binutils, and Glibc -- are of
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| 12 | the utmost importance due to their central role in a properly functioning
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| 13 | system. But be warned, the test suites for GCC and Glibc can take a very long
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| 14 | time to complete, especially on slower hardware.</para>
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| 15 |
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| 16 | <note><para>Experience has shown us that there is little to be gained from running
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| 17 | the test suites in <xref linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/>. There can be no
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| 18 | escaping the fact that the host system always exerts some influence on the
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| 19 | tests in that chapter, often causing weird and inexplicable failures. Not only
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| 20 | that, the tools built in <xref linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/> are
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| 21 | temporary and eventually discarded. For the average reader of this book we
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| 22 | recommend <emphasis>not</emphasis> to run the test suites in <xref
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| 23 | linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/>. The instructions for running those test
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| 24 | suites are still provided for the benefit of testers and developers, but they
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| 25 | are strictly optional for everyone else.</para></note>
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| 26 |
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| 27 | <para>A common problem when running the test suites for Binutils and GCC is
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| 28 | running out of pseudo terminals (PTYs for short). The symptom is a very high
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| 29 | number of failing tests. This can happen for several reasons, but the most
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| 30 | likely cause is that the host system doesn't have the
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| 31 | <emphasis>devpts</emphasis> file system set up correctly. We'll discuss this in
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| 32 | more detail later on in <xref linkend="chapter-temporary-tools"/>.</para>
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| 33 |
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| 34 | <para>Sometimes package test suites will give false failures. You can
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| 35 | consult the LFS Wiki at <ulink url="&wiki-root;"/> to verify that these
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| 36 | failures are normal. This applies to all tests throughout the book.</para>
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| 37 |
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| 38 | </sect1>
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| 39 |
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