Autotools

Unit Tests: Supporting make check

In Chapter 2 we added code to src/Makefile that executes the jupiter program and checks for the proper output string when the user makes the check target. I've duplicated the check target code in Example 5-11.

Example 5-11. The check target

...
check: all
        ./jupiter | grep "Hello from .*jupiter!"
        @echo "*** ALL TESTS PASSED ***"
...

Fortunately, Automake has solid support for unit tests. To add our simple grep test back into the new Automake-generated build system, we can add a few lines to the bottom of src/Makefile.am, as shown in Example 5-12.

Example 5-12. src/Makefile.am: Additional code required to support the check target

bin_PROGRAMS = jupiter
  jupiter_SOURCES = main.c

❶ check_SCRIPTS = greptest.sh
❷ TESTS = ...