| 1 | <sect1 id="ch02-abouttestsuites">
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| 2 | <title>About the test suites</title>
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| 3 | <?dbhtml filename="abouttestsuites.html" dir="chapter02"?>
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| 4 |
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| 5 | <para>Most packages provide a test suite. Running the test suite for a newly
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| 6 | built package is generally a good idea as it can provide a nice sanity check
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| 7 | that everything compiled correctly. A test suite that passes its set of
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| 8 | checks usually proves that the package is functioning mostly as the developer
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| 9 | intended. It does not, however, guarantee that the package is totally bug
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| 10 | free.</para>
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| 11 |
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| 12 | <para>Some test suites are more important than others. For example, the test
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| 13 | suites for the core toolchain packages -- GCC, Binutils, and Glibc (the C
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| 14 | library) -- are of the utmost importance due to their central role in a
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| 15 | properly functioning system. But be warned, the test suites for GCC and Glibc
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| 16 | can take a very long period of time to complete, especially on slower
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| 17 | hardware.</para>
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| 18 |
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| 19 | <para>Experience has shown us that there is little to be gained from running
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| 20 | the test suites in Chapter 5. There can be no escaping the fact that the host
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| 21 | system always exerts influence on the Chapter 5 tests, often causing weird and
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| 22 | inexplicable failures. Not only that, the tools built in Chapter 5 are
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| 23 | temporary and eventually discarded. For the average reader of this book we
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| 24 | recommend not to run the Chapter 5 test suites. The instructions for running
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| 25 | the Chapter 5 test suites are still provided for the benefit of testers and
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| 26 | developers but they are strictly optional for everyone else.</para>
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| 27 |
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| 28 | <para>As you progress through the book and encounter the build commands to
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| 29 | run the various test suites, we'll guide you on the relative importance of
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| 30 | the test suite in question so that you can decide for yourself whether to
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| 31 | run it or not.</para>
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| 32 |
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| 33 | <note><para>A common problem when running the test suites for Binutils and GCC
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| 34 | is running out of pseudo terminals (PTYs for short). The symptom is an unusually
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| 35 | high number of failing tests. This can happen for any number of reasons. Most
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| 36 | likely is that the host system doesn't have the <emphasis>devpts</emphasis> file
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| 37 | system set up correctly. We'll discuss this in more detail later on in Chapter
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| 38 | 5.</para></note>
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| 39 |
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| 40 | </sect1>
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| 41 |
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