1ATF-SH-API(3) BSD Library Functions Manual ATF-SH-API(3)
2
4 atf_add_test_case, atf_check, atf_check_equal, atf_config_get,
5 atf_config_has, atf_expect_death, atf_expect_exit, atf_expect_fail,
6 atf_expect_pass, atf_expect_signal, atf_expect_timeout, atf_fail,
7 atf_get, atf_get_srcdir, atf_pass, atf_require_prog, atf_set, atf_skip,
8 atf_test_case — POSIX shell API to write ATF-based test programs
9
11 atf_add_test_case(name);
12
13 atf_check(command);
14
15 atf_check_equal(expr1, expr2);
16
17 atf_config_get(var_name);
18
19 atf_config_has(var_name);
20
21 atf_expect_death(reason, ...);
22
23 atf_expect_exit(exitcode, reason, ...);
24
25 atf_expect_fail(reason, ...);
26
27 atf_expect_pass();
28
29 atf_expect_signal(signo, reason, ...);
30
31 atf_expect_timeout(reason, ...);
32
33 atf_fail(reason);
34
35 atf_get(var_name);
36
37 atf_get_srcdir();
38
39 atf_pass();
40
41 atf_require_prog(prog_name);
42
43 atf_set(var_name, value);
44
45 atf_skip(reason);
46
47 atf_test_case(name, cleanup);
48
50 ATF provides a simple but powerful interface to easily write test pro‐
51 grams in the POSIX shell language. These are extremely helpful given
52 that they are trivial to write due to the language simplicity and the
53 great deal of available external tools, so they are often ideal to test
54 other applications at the user level.
55
56 Test programs written using this library must be run using the atf-sh(1)
57 interpreter by putting the following on their very first line:
58
59 #! /usr/bin/env atf-sh
60
61 Shell-based test programs always follow this template:
62
63 atf_test_case tc1
64 tc1_head() {
65 ... first test case's header ...
66 }
67 tc1_body() {
68 ... first test case's body ...
69 }
70
71 atf_test_case tc2 cleanup
72 tc2_head() {
73 ... second test case's header ...
74 }
75 tc2_body() {
76 ... second test case's body ...
77 }
78 tc2_cleanup() {
79 ... second test case's cleanup ...
80 }
81
82 ... additional test cases ...
83
84 atf_init_test_cases() {
85 atf_add_test_case tc1
86 atf_add_test_case tc2
87 ... add additional test cases ...
88 }
89
90 Definition of test cases
91 Test cases have an identifier and are composed of three different parts:
92 the header, the body and an optional cleanup routine, all of which are
93 described in atf-test-case(4). To define test cases, one can use the
94 atf_test_case() function, which takes a first parameter specifiying the
95 test case's name and instructs the library to set things up to accept it
96 as a valid test case. The second parameter is optional and, if provided,
97 must be ‘cleanup’; providing this parameter allows defining a cleanup
98 routine for the test case. It is important to note that this function
99 does not set the test case up for execution when the program is run. In
100 order to do so, a later registration is needed through the
101 atf_add_test_case() function detailed in Program initialization.
102
103 Later on, one must define the three parts of the body by providing two or
104 three functions (remember that the cleanup routine is optional). These
105 functions are named after the test case's identifier, and are
106 <id>_head(), <id>_body() and <id>_cleanup.() None of these take parame‐
107 ters when executed.
108
109 Program initialization
110 The test program must define an atf_init_test_cases() function, which is
111 in charge of registering the test cases that will be executed at run time
112 by using the atf_add_test_case() function, which takes the name of a test
113 case as its single parameter. This main function should not do anything
114 else, except maybe sourcing auxiliary source files that define extra
115 variables and functions.
116
117 Configuration variables
118 The test case has read-only access to the current configuration variables
119 through the atf_config_has() and atf_config_get() methods. The former
120 takes a single parameter specifying a variable name and returns a boolean
121 indicating whether the variable is defined or not. The latter can take
122 one or two parameters. If it takes only one, it specifies the variable
123 from which to get the value, and this variable must be defined. If it
124 takes two, the second one specifies a default value to be returned if the
125 variable is not available.
126
127 Access to the source directory
128 It is possible to get the path to the test case's source directory from
129 anywhere in the test program by using the atf_get_srcdir() function. It
130 is interesting to note that this can be used inside atf_init_test_cases()
131 to silently include additional helper files from the source directory.
132
133 Requiring programs
134 Aside from the require.progs meta-data variable available in the header
135 only, one can also check for additional programs in the test case's body
136 by using the atf_require_prog() function, which takes the base name or
137 full path of a single binary. Relative paths are forbidden. If it is
138 not found, the test case will be automatically skipped.
139
140 Test case finalization
141 The test case finalizes either when the body reaches its end, at which
142 point the test is assumed to have passed, or at any explicit call to
143 atf_pass(), atf_fail() or atf_skip(). These three functions terminate
144 the execution of the test case immediately. The cleanup routine will be
145 processed afterwards in a completely automated way, regardless of the
146 test case's termination reason.
147
148 atf_pass() does not take any parameters. atf_fail() and atf_skip() take
149 a single string parameter that describes why the test case failed or was
150 skipped, respectively. It is very important to provide a clear error
151 message in both cases so that the user can quickly know why the test did
152 not pass.
153
154 Expectations
155 Everything explained in the previous section changes when the test case
156 expectations are redefined by the programmer.
157
158 Each test case has an internal state called ‘expect’ that describes what
159 the test case expectations are at any point in time. The value of this
160 property can change during execution by any of:
161
162 atf_expect_death(reason, ...)
163 Expects the test case to exit prematurely regardless of the
164 nature of the exit.
165
166 atf_expect_exit(exitcode, reason, ...)
167 Expects the test case to exit cleanly. If exitcode is not ‘-1’,
168 atf-run(1) will validate that the exit code of the test case
169 matches the one provided in this call. Otherwise, the exact
170 value will be ignored.
171
172 atf_expect_fail(reason)
173 Any failure raised in this mode is recorded, but such failures do
174 not report the test case as failed; instead, the test case final‐
175 izes cleanly and is reported as ‘expected failure’; this report
176 includes the provided reason as part of it. If no error is
177 raised while running in this mode, then the test case is reported
178 as ‘failed’.
179
180 This mode is useful to reproduce actual known bugs in tests.
181 Whenever the developer fixes the bug later on, the test case will
182 start reporting a failure, signaling the developer that the test
183 case must be adjusted to the new conditions. In this situation,
184 it is useful, for example, to set reason as the bug number for
185 tracking purposes.
186
187 atf_expect_pass()
188 This is the normal mode of execution. In this mode, any failure
189 is reported as such to the user and the test case is marked as
190 ‘failed’.
191
192 atf_expect_signal(signo, reason, ...)
193 Expects the test case to terminate due to the reception of a sig‐
194 nal. If signo is not ‘-1’, atf-run(1) will validate that the
195 signal that terminated the test case matches the one provided in
196 this call. Otherwise, the exact value will be ignored.
197
198 atf_expect_timeout(reason, ...)
199 Expects the test case to execute for longer than its timeout.
200
201 Helper functions for common checks
202 atf_check([options], command, [args])
203
204 This function wraps the execution of the atf-check tool and makes the
205 test case fail if the tool reports failure. You should always use this
206 function instead of the tool in your scripts. For more details on the
207 parameters of this function, refer to atf-check(1).
208
209 atf_check_equal(expr1, expr2)
210
211 This function takes two expressions, evaluates them and, if their results
212 differ, aborts the test case with an appropriate failure message.
213
215 The following shows a complete test program with a single test case that
216 validates the addition operator:
217
218 atf_test_case addition
219 addition_head() {
220 atf_set "descr" "Sample tests for the addition operator"
221 }
222 addition_body() {
223 atf_check_equal $((0 + 0)) 0
224 atf_check_equal $((0 + 1)) 1
225 atf_check_equal $((1 + 0)) 0
226
227 atf_check_equal $((1 + 1)) 2
228
229 atf_check_equal $((100 + 200)) 300
230 }
231
232 atf_init_test_cases() {
233 atf_add_test_case addition
234 }
235
236 This other example shows how to include a file with extra helper func‐
237 tions in the test program:
238
239 ... definition of test cases ...
240
241 atf_init_test_cases() {
242 . $(atf_get_srcdir)/helper_functions.sh
243
244 atf_add_test_case foo1
245 atf_add_test_case foo2
246 }
247
248 This example demonstrates the use of the very useful atf_check() func‐
249 tion:
250
251 # Check for silent output
252 atf_check -s exit:0 -o empty -e empty 'true'
253
254 # Check for silent output and failure
255 atf_check -s exit:1 -o empty -e empty 'false'
256
257 # Check for known stdout and silent stderr
258 echo foo >expout
259 atf_check -s exit:0 -o file:expout -e empty 'echo foo'
260
261 # Generate a file for later inspection
262 atf_check -s exit:0 -o save:stdout -e empty 'ls'
263 grep foo ls || atf_fail "foo file not found in listing"
264
265 # Or just do the match along the way
266 atf_check -s exit:0 -o match:"^foo$" -e empty 'ls'
267
269 atf-sh(1), atf-test-program(1), atf-test-case(4), atf(7)
270
271BSD October 13, 2013 BSD