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NAME

       aegis test - run tests

SYNOPSIS

       aegis -Test [ option...  ][ name=value ][ file-name...  ]
       aegis -Test -INDependent [ option...  ][ name=value ][ file-name...  ]
       aegis -Test -List [ option...  ]
       aegis -Test -Help

DESCRIPTION

       The aegis -Test command is used to run tests.  If no files are named,
       all relevant tests are run.  By default both automatic and manual tests
       are run.

       You may name directories on the command line, and all relevant tests in
       that directory tree in the change will be run.  It is an error if there
       are no relevant tests.

       Each architecture must be tested separately.  This is because there may
       be subtle problems that are only revealed on some architectures.  Some
       projects may also have different code for different architectures.

       The status of the last test run is remembered so that tests are not run
       if there is no need.  (This does not apply to -REGression tests,
       unfortunately.)  Tests must be re-run if the test previously failed, if
       the test file has changed, if there has been a build, and for each
       architecture.

   name=value
       You can add name=value pairs to the command line, these will be passed
       unchanged to the test command.  Usually on the end of the command line,
       but this can be changed in the project configuration file.

       The -force option results in an implicit force=1 variable being added
       to the list of variable assignments, and thus added to the end of the
       command.  This is of most use when using the batch_test_command filed
       of the project configuration file.

       This may initially look like a development process end-run, allowing
       test scripts to be written so that they give all the right answers
       without actually doing anything.  You have always been able to do this
       with environment variables, so this isn’t anything new.

       It is possible to get all of the variable assignments to turn into
       environment variables by putting $var at the start of the command,
       before the name of the shell, rather than at the default location at
       the end of the command.

   File Name Interpretation
       The aegis program will attempt to determine the project file names from
       the file names given on the command line.  All file names are stored
       within aegis projects as relative to the root of the baseline directory
       tree.  The development directory and the integration directory are
       shadows of this baseline directory, and so these relative names apply
       here, too.  Files named on the command line are first converted to
       absolute paths if necessary.  They are then compared with the baseline
       path, the development directory path, and the integration directory
       path, to determine a baseline-relative name.  It is an error if the
       file named is outside one of these directory trees.

       The -BAse_RElative option may be used to cause relative filenames to be
       interpreted as relative to the baseline path; absolute filenames will
       still be compared with the various paths in order to determine a
       baseline-relative name.

       The relative_filename_preference in the user configuration file may be
       used to modify this default behavior.  See aeuconf(5) for more
       information.

TEST PROCESS

       Each change is required to be accompanied by tests, and those tests are
       required to be run against the built development directory, and they
       must pass.  This ensures that new functionality is accompanied by tests
       to verify its correctness, and bug fixes are accompanied by tests which
       confirm that the bug has been fixed.

   Regression Tests
       Tests are treated as any other source file, and are maintained in the
       baseline and history with all other source files.  The tests which must
       accompany every change accumulate in the project baseline, providing a
       definition of correct function for the baseline.  These accumulated
       tests may be executed using an “aegis -REGression” command, to verify
       that the project will not “regress” as a result of a change.

   Baseline Tests
       Bug fixes are required to have their tests fail against the project
       baseline (in contrast to the development directory).  This ensures that
       the test actually demonstrates the bug in the baseline, as well as
       demonstrating that it is fixed by the change.  New functionality
       trivially fails against the baseline, and so aegis does not attempt to
       guess if a test is a bug fix test or new functionality test, it simply
       requires tests to fail against the baseline.

       This requirement applies both to new tests being created by a change
       and also to tests which have been copied into a change for
       modification.

   Reviewing Tests
       Reviewers may be confident that aegis has enforced the test
       requirements; that a change must have tests, that the change must
       build, that the tests pass against the development directory, and that
       the tests fail against the baseline.  These conditions are enforced by
       aede(1) and the change will not be advanced to the being reviewed state
       until these conditions are met.  Reviewers should thus review tests for
       completeness of coverage of the code in the change, and insensitivity
       to changes in the execution environment (e.g. not date sensitive).
       Reviewers should also use “aegis -list change_details” to verify that a
       change does or does not have testing exemptions.

   Exemptions
       Various test exemptions may be granted by project administrators, see
       aepa(1) and aepattr(5) for more information.  Copying tests into a
       change, or adding new tests to a change, may cancel those exemptions.

TEST COMMAND CONFIGURATION

       The command used to execute tests is defined by the test_command field
       in the project configuration file (see aepconf(5) for more
       information), this defaults to using the Bourne shell if not set.  The
       current directory will be the top of the appropriate directory tree.
       If tests require temporary files, they should create them in /tmp, as a
       test cannot expect to have write permission in the current directory.

       If you want to use a more sophisticated test engine, rather than a
       simple shell script, but this test engine does not return result codes
       suitable for use with aegis, you could wrap it in a shell script which
       re-writes the exit status into the values aegis expects.  You could
       also achieve the same results by writing a more complex test_command in
       the project config file.

       It is also possible to write test commands which are able to test more
       than one file at once.  This is controlled by the batch_test_command
       field of the project config file.  In this case, the ${output}
       substitution indicates the name of a file the test command must create,
       in aetest(5) format, to contain the results of the tests run.  This is
       often used on systems with multiple CPUs or the ability to distribute
       jobs across several computers on a network.

   Substitutions
       All of the aesub(5) substitutions are available in the test commands.
       Some of them are of particular note:

       ARCHitecture
               This substitution is replaced by the name of the architecture
               to be tested.

       Search_Path
               This substitution is replaced by a colon separated list of
               absolute paths to search when looking for test support files.

       Search_Path_Executable
               This substitution is replaced by a colon separated list of
               absolute paths to search when looking for executable support
               files (library files and sub-commands).

       Most of the time $Search_Path_Executable are exactly the same.
       However, during “aegis -t -bl” they will be different, with $Seach_Path
       starting at the development directory (the test being run) and
       $Seach_Path_Executable starting at the baseline (the executable being
       run).

   Test Result Codes
       As each test is run (via the test_command field in the project config
       file), aegis determines whether the test succeeded or failed by looking
       at its exit status.  This exit status is mostly as expected for UNIX
       commands.

       Success
           A test should exit 0 to indicate success, i.e. that the specific
           function under test worked as expected.

       Failure
           A test should exit 1 to indicate failure, i.e. that the specific
           function under test did not work as expected.

       No Result
           A test should exit 2 to indicate no result, i.e. that the specific
           function under test could not be exercised because something else
           went wrong.  For example, running out of disk space when creating
           the test input files in the /tmp directory.

       Skipped
           A test should exit 77 to indicate that it was skipped.  This is
           usually to do with the current architecture not being meaningful.
           Whenever possible, use “No Result” instead.  (The value was chosen
           for compatibility with other test systems.)

       Actually, any exit code other than 0, 1 or 77 will be interpreted as
       “no result”.  However, always using 0, 1, 2 or 77 means that if a new
       result code is required by a later release of Aegis your existing tests
       will continue to work.

TEST CORRELATIONS

       The “aegis -Test -SUGgest” command may be used to have aegis suggest
       suitable regression tests for your change, based on the source files in
       your change.  This automatically focuses testing effort to relevant
       tests, reducing the number of regression tests necessary to be
       confident that you have not introduced a bug.

       The test correlations are generated by the “aegis -Integrate_Pass”
       command, which associates each test in the change with each source file
       in the change.  Thus, each source file accumulates a list of tests
       which have been associated with it in the past.  This is not as exact
       as code coverage analysis, but is a reasonable approximation in
       practice.

       The aecp(1) and aenf(1) commands are used to associate files with a
       change.  While they do not actively perform the association, these are
       the files used by aeipass(1) and aet(1) to determine which source files
       are associated with which tests.

   Test Correlation Accuracy
       Assuming that the testing correlations are accurate and that the tests
       are evenly distributed across the function space, there will be a less
       than 1/number chance that a relevant test has not been run by the
       “aegis -Test -SUGgest number” command.  A small amount of noise is
       added to the test weighting, so that unexpected things are sometimes
       tested, and the same tests are not run every time.

       Test correlation accuracy can be improved by ensuring that:

       · Each change should be strongly focused, with no gratuitous file
         inclusions.  This avoids spurious correlations.

       · Each item of new functionality should be added in an individual
         change, rather than several together.  This strongly correlates tests
         with functionality.

       · Each bug should be fixed in an individual change, rather than several
         together.  This strongly correlates tests with functionality.

       · Test correlations will be lost if files are moved.  This is because
         correlations are by name.

       The best way for tests to correlate accurately with source files is
       when a change contains a test and exactly those files relating to the
       functionality under test.  Too many spurious files will weaken the
       usefulness of the testing correlations.

OPTIONS

       The following options are understood:

       -AUTOmatic
               This option may be used to specify automatic tests.  Automatic
               tests require no human assistance.

       -BaseLine
               This option may be used to specify that the project baseline is
               the subject of the command.

       -BAse_RElative
               This option may be used to cause relative filenames to be
               considered relative to the base of the source tree.  See
               aeuconf(5) for the corresponding user preference.

       -CUrrent_RElative
               This option may be used to cause relative filenames to be
               considered relative to the current directory.  This is usually
               the default.  See aeuconf(5) for the corresponding user
               preference.

       -Change number
               This option may be used to specify a particular change within a
               project.  See aegis(1) for a complete description of this
               option.

       -FOrce  This option may be used to specify that all tests should be
               run, even if the status of the last test run indicates that
               there is no need to run a specific test.

       -Help
               This option may be used to obtain more information about how to
               use the aegis program.

       -INDependent
               This option is used to specify that the test is to be run
               independent of any particular change.  If no tests are named,
               all tests in the baseline will be run.

       -List
               This option may be used to obtain a list of suitable subjects
               for this command.  The list may be more general than expected.

       -MANual This option may be used to specify manual tests.  Manual tests
               require some human intervention,  e.g.: confirmation of some
               screen behavior (X11, for instance), or some user action,
               "unplug ethernet cable now".

       -Not_Logging
               This option may be used to disable the automatic logging of
               output and errors to a file.  This is often useful when several
               aegis commands are combined in a shell script.

       -PErsevere
               This option may be used to specify that all tests should be
               run, even if some fail.  Defaults to the user’s
               persevere_preference if not specified, see aeuconf(5) for more
               information.

       -No_PErsevere
               This option may be used to specify that the test run should
               stop after the first failure.  Defaults to the user’s
               persevere_preference if not specified, see aeuconf(5) for more
               information.

       -Project name
               This option may be used to select the project of interest.
               When no -Project option is specified, the AEGIS_PROJECT
               environment variable is consulted.  If that does not exist, the
               user’s $HOME/.aegisrc file is examined for a default project
               field (see aeuconf(5) for more information).  If that does not
               exist, when the user is only working on changes within a single
               project, the project name defaults to that project.  Otherwise,
               it is an error.

       -PROGress
               This option may be used to specify that progress messages
               should be issued before each test run or before each batch test
               run in case batch_test_command field specified in project
               config file (see aeuconf(5) for more information).

       -No_PROGress
               This option may be used to specify that progress messages
               should be suppressed.  This is the default.

       -REGression
               This option is used to specify that the regression test suite
               is to be run.  The regression test suite consists of all tests
               in the baseline which do not appear in the change.  It is an
               error if there are no regression tests.  You may not name tests
               on the command line when using the -REGression option.  You may
               name individual tests to be run on the command line, without
               using the -REGression option; if they are not part of the
               change, the tests of the same name in the baseline will be run.

       -SUGgest [ number ]
               The “aegis -Integrate_Pass” command collects test correlation
               statistics when changes are integrated.  This option may be
               used to request that aegis suggest which tests should be run,
               using these testing correlations.  If no number is specified,
               10 tests will be suggested.  This option implies the
               -REGression option.

       -SUGgest_Limit minutes
               This option may be used to limit the number of tests to a
               certain number of minutes.  They will be run from most relevant
               to least relevant.

       -SUGgest_Noise number
               This option may be used to control the amount of noise injected
               into the test selection performed by the -SUGgest option.  The
               number is a percentage of noise to be injected.  Defaults to 10
               if not specified.  The injection of noise ensures that a
               variety of tests are run on subsequent runs, and also some from
               left-field as a sanity check.

       -TERse
               This option may be used to cause listings to produce the bare
               minimum of information.  It is usually useful for shell
               scripts.

       -Verbose
               This option may be used to cause aegis to produce more output.
               By default aegis only produces output on errors.  When used
               with the -List option this option causes column headings to be
               added.

       -Wait   This option may be used to require Aegis commands to wait for
               access locks, if they cannot be obtained immediately.  Defaults
               to the user’s lock_wait_preference if not specified, see
               aeuconf(5) for more information.

       -No_Wait
               This option may be used to require Aegis commands to emit a
               fatal error if access locks cannot be obtained immediately.
               Defaults to the user’s lock_wait_preference if not specified,
               see aeuconf(5) for more information.

       See also aegis(1) for options common to all aegis commands.

       All options may be abbreviated; the abbreviation is documented as the
       upper case letters, all lower case letters and underscores (_) are
       optional.  You must use consecutive sequences of optional letters.

       All options are case insensitive, you may type them in upper case or
       lower case or a combination of both, case is not important.

       For example: the arguments "-project, "-PROJ" and "-p" are all
       interpreted to mean the -Project option.  The argument "-prj" will not
       be understood, because consecutive optional characters were not
       supplied.

       Options and other command line arguments may be mixed arbitrarily on
       the command line, after the function selectors.

       The GNU long option names are understood.  Since all option names for
       aegis are long, this means ignoring the extra leading ’-’.  The
       "--option=value" convention is also understood.

RECOMMENDED ALIAS

       The recommended alias for this command is
       csh%    alias aet ’aegis -t \!* -v’
       sh$     aet(){aegis -t "$@" -v}

ERRORS

       It is an error if the change is not in one of the being developed or
       being integrated states.
       It is an error if the change is not assigned to the current user.
       It is an error if your have no relevant tests and no relevant
       exemption.

EXIT STATUS

       The aegis command will exit with a status of 1 on any error.  The aegis
       command will only exit with a status of 0 if there are no errors.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       See aegis(1) for a list of environment variables which may affect this
       command.  See aepconf(5) for the project configuration file’s project_
       specific field for how to set environment variables for all commands
       executed by Aegis.

SEE ALSO

       aeb(1)  build a change

       aeca(1) modify the attributes of a change

       aedb(1) begin development of a change

       aeib(1) begin integration of a change

       aent(1) add a new test to a change

       aecp(1) copy an existing test into a change

       aepconf(5)
               project configuration file format

       aeuconf(5)
               user configuration file format

COPYRIGHT

       aegis version 4.24.3.D001
       Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
       2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Peter
       Miller

       The aegis program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details use
       the ’aegis -VERSion License’ command.  This is free software and you
       are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; for details
       use the ’aegis -VERSion License’ command.

AUTHOR

       Peter Miller   E-Mail:   millerp@canb.auug.org.au
       /\/\*             WWW:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp/