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| >DejaGnu: The GNU Testing Framework</TH |
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| >Overview</H1 |
| ><DIV |
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| ><H1 |
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| ></A |
| >What is DejaGnu ?</H1 |
| ><P |
| ><SPAN |
| CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" |
| >DejaGnu</SPAN |
| > is a framework for |
| testing other programs. Its purpose is to provide a single |
| front end for all tests. Think of it as a custom library of |
| Tcl procedures crafted to support writing a test harness. A |
| <I |
| CLASS="EMPHASIS" |
| >Test Harness</I |
| > is the testing |
| infrastructure that is created to support a specific program |
| or tool. Each program can have multiple testsuites, all |
| supported by a single test harness. DejaGnu is written in |
| <SPAN |
| CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" |
| >Expect</SPAN |
| >, which in turn uses |
| <SPAN |
| CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" |
| >Tcl</SPAN |
| > -- Tool command |
| language. There is more information on Tcl at the <A |
| HREF="http://www.scriptics.com" |
| TARGET="_top" |
| >Scriptics</A |
| > web site and the |
| Expect web site is at <A |
| HREF="http://expect.nist.gov" |
| TARGET="_top" |
| >NIST</A |
| >.</P |
| ><P |
| >Julia Menapace first coined the term ``DejaGnu'' to describe |
| an earlier testing framework at Cygnus Support she had written |
| for <B |
| CLASS="COMMAND" |
| >GDB</B |
| >. When we replaced it with the |
| Expect-based framework, it was like DejaGnu all over again. |
| More importantly, it was also named after my daughter, <A |
| HREF="mailto:deja@welcomehome.org" |
| TARGET="_top" |
| >Deja Snow Savoye</A |
| > |
| (now 13 years old as of September 2003), who was a toddler |
| during DejaGnu's beginnings.</P |
| ><P |
| >DejaGnu offers several advantages for testing:</P |
| ><P |
| ></P |
| ><UL |
| COMPACT="COMPACT" |
| ><LI |
| STYLE="list-style-type: disc" |
| ><P |
| >The flexibility and consistency of the DejaGnu |
| framework make it easy to write tests for any program, with |
| either batch oriented, or interactive programs.</P |
| ></LI |
| ><LI |
| STYLE="list-style-type: disc" |
| ><P |
| >DejaGnu provides a layer of abstraction which |
| allows you to write tests that are portable to any host or |
| target where a program must be tested. For instance, a test |
| for <B |
| CLASS="COMMAND" |
| >GDB</B |
| > can run from any supported host |
| system on any supported target system. DejaGnu runs tests on |
| many single board computers, whose operating software ranges |
| from a simple boot monitor to a real-time OS.</P |
| ></LI |
| ><LI |
| STYLE="list-style-type: disc" |
| ><P |
| >All tests have the same output format. This |
| makes it easy to integrate testing into other software |
| development processes. DejaGnu's output is designed to be |
| parsed by other filtering script and it is also human |
| readable.</P |
| ></LI |
| ><LI |
| STYLE="list-style-type: disc" |
| ><P |
| >Using Tcl and Expect, it's easy to create wrappers |
| for existing testsuites. By incorporating existing tests under |
| DejaGnu, it's easier to have a single set of report analyse |
| programs..</P |
| ></LI |
| ></UL |
| ><P |
| >Running tests requires two things: the testing framework and |
| the testsuites themselves. Tests are usually written in |
| <SPAN |
| CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" |
| >Expect</SPAN |
| > using Tcl, but you can also use |
| a Tcl script to run a testsuite that is not based on |
| <SPAN |
| CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" |
| >Expect</SPAN |
| >. <SPAN |
| CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" |
| >Expect</SPAN |
| > |
| script filenames conventionally use <I |
| CLASS="EMPHASIS" |
| >.exp</I |
| > as a |
| suffix; for example, the main implementation of the DejaGnu test |
| driver is in the file |
| <SPAN |
| CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" |
| >runtest.exp</SPAN |
| >.)</P |
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