CMake/Testing With CTest: Difference between revisions

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==Introduction==
{{CMake/Template/Moved}}


CTest is a testing tool distributed as a part of CMake. It can be used to
This page has moved [https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/community/wikis/doc/ctest/Testing-With-CTest here].
automate updating (using CVS for example), configuring, building, testing,
performing memory checking, performing coverage, and submitting results to
a [http://www.cdash.org CDash] or  [http://public.kitware.com/Dart Dart]
dashboard system.
 
There are two basic modes of operation for CTest.
 
In the first mode, CMake is used to configure and build a project, using
special commands in the <tt>CMakeLists.txt</tt> file to create tests. CTest
can then be used to execute the tests, and optionally upload their results
to a dashboard server. This is what is handled in this tutorial.
 
In the second mode, CTest runs a script (using the same syntax as
<tt>CMakeLists.txt</tt>) to control the whole process of checking out /
updating source code, configuring and building the project, and running
the tests. This is handled in [[CMake Scripting Of CTest]].
 
==Simple Testing==
 
CMake has support for adding tests to a project:
 
<pre>
enable_testing()
</pre>
 
This adds another build target, which is <tt>test</tt> for Makefile
generators, or <tt>RUN_TESTS</tt> for integrated development environments
(like Visual Studio).
 
From that point on, you can use the <tt>ADD_TEST</tt> command to add tests
to the project:
 
<pre>
add_test( testname Exename arg1 arg2 ... )
</pre>
 
Or, in its longer form:
 
<pre>
add_test(NAME <name> [CONFIGURATIONS [Debug|Release|...]]
        [WORKING_DIRECTORY dir]
        COMMAND <command> [arg1 [arg2 ...]])
</pre>
 
Once you have built the project, you can execute all tests via
 
<pre>
make test
</pre>
 
with Makefile generators, or by rebuilding the <tt>RUN_TESTS</tt> target
in your IDE. Internally this runs CTest to actually perform the testing;
you could just as well execute
 
<pre>
ctest
</pre>
 
in the binary directory of your build.
 
In some projects you will want to set <tt>*_POSTFIX</tt> properties on
executables that will be executed for testing, e.g. to make executables
compiled with debug information distinguishable ("<exename>-debug"). Note
that the shorthand version of <tt>add_test</tt> does ''not'' automatically
append these postfixes to the commands it calls for the test target, i.e.
your test will want to call "<exename>" but the executable is "<exename>-debug",
resulting in an error message. Use the long version of the <tt>add_test()</tt>
in this case, which adds the appropriate <tt>_POSTFIX</tt> to the command name.
 
For more information, check the
[http://www.cmake.org/HTML/Documentation.html CMake Documentation] or run:
 
<pre>
cmake --help-command enable_testing
cmake --help-command add_test
cmake --help-property "<CONFIG>_POSTFIX"
cmake --help-command set_property
</pre>
 
==Dashboards==
 
The next step is to not only execute the tests, but to log their results
and provide them in such a way that they could be reviewed easily.
 
The result of a test run, reformatted for easy review, is called a
"dashboard". A dashboard can be submitted to a central server, like CDash:
 
* [http://http://open.cdash.org/index.php open.cdash.org] and
* [http://my.cdash.org my.cdash.org].
 
There are three types of dashboard submissions:
 
* '''Experimental''' means the current state of the project. An experimental submission can be performed at any time, usually interactively from the current working copy of a developer.
 
* '''Nightly''' is similar to experimental, except that the source tree will be set to the state it was in at a specific nightly time. This ensures that all "nightly" submissions correspond to the state of the project at the same point in time. "Nightly" builds are usually done automatically at a preset time of day.
 
* '''Continuous''' means that the source tree is updated to the latest revision, and a build / test cycle is performed only if any files were actually updated. Like "Nightly" builds, "Continuous" ones are usually done automatically and repeatedly in intervals.
 
===Dashboard Preparation===
 
To enable the creation and submission of dashboards, add the following to your
<tt>CMakeLists.txt</tt>:
 
<pre>
include( CTest )
</pre>
 
This module will automatically call <tt>enable_testing()</tt> (see above), so
you no longer have to do so in your CMake files. It will also add several new
targets to your build.
 
<pre>
* The three main targets:
** Experimental
** Nightly
** Continuous
* For each of the above, targets for the intermediate steps
** ...Start
** ...Update
** ...Configure
** ...Build
** ...Submit
** ...Test
** ...Coverage
** ...MemCheck
** ...Submit
</pre>
 
The intermediate targets are created so you could submit partial test
results, or inspect the results before submitting (or continuing with
more time-consuming steps like MemCheck).
 
All this can be disabled by setting the option <tt>BUILD_TESTING</tt> (which
is also added by the CTest module and enabled by default) to OFF / false.
 
The default settings of the module are to submit the dashboard to
[http://www.kitware.com Kitware's]
[http://public.kitware.com/Public/Dashboard/MostRecentResults-Nightly/Dashboard.html Public Dashboard],
where you can register your project for free.
 
In order to submit to some other server, "CTestConfig.cmake" in the top level
directory of your source, and set your own dashboard preferences. If you are
using a CDash server, you can download a preconfigured file from the respective
project page on that server ("Settings" / "Project", tab "Miscellaneous").
 
An example of a CTestConfig.cmake:
 
<pre>
## This file should be placed in the root directory of your project.
## Then modify the CMakeLists.txt file in the root directory of your
## project to incorporate the testing dashboard.
## # The following are required to uses Dart and the Cdash dashboard
##  ENABLE_TESTING()
##  INCLUDE(CTest)
set(CTEST_PROJECT_NAME "MyProject")
set(CTEST_NIGHTLY_START_TIME "01:00:00 UTC")
 
set(CTEST_DROP_METHOD "http")
set(CTEST_DROP_SITE "open.cdash.org")
set(CTEST_DROP_LOCATION "/submit.php?project=MyProject")
set(CTEST_DROP_SITE_CDASH TRUE)
</pre>
 
===Dashboard Creation===
 
Once you have the above in place, you can build one of the targets added
by the CTest module you included. Internally, this calls the CTest command
line client, which you could also call directly instead:
 
<pre>
ctest -D Experimental
</pre>
 
A detailed description of CTest options can be seen by running:
 
<pre>
ctest --help
</pre>
 
A list of the available targets is listed by calling:
 
<pre>
ctest -D help
</pre>
 
===Converting Dart to CTest===
 
CTest is actually a fully [http://www.itk.org/Dart/HTML/Index.shtml Dart]
compatible client, and could submit to any compatible server.
 
To convert existing Dart Client invocations to CTest, find lines like:
 
<pre>
tclsh /location/of/Dart/Source/Client/DashboardManager.tcl DartConfiguration.tcl \
    Nightly Start Update Configure Build Test Submit
</pre>
 
Then convert them to CTest style:
 
<pre>
ctest -D Nightly
</pre>
 
==Advanced CTest==
 
CTest has several additional features that include:
 
# FTP/HTTP/SCP/XMLRPC submission support
# Run individual tests, subset of tests, exclude tests, etc.
# Dynamic analysis using Valgrind or Purify
# Customization of the testing by providing:
#* Custom build error/warning regular expressions
#* Ability to suppress some tests from being tested or memory checked and ability to run subset of tests
#* Ability to run commands before and after tests are run
# Ability to run whole testing process described in a single script
 
===Submission Of Tests===
 
CTest currently supports four methods directly and any other indirectly. Direct methods are HTTP, FTP, SCP and XML-RPC. Both HTTP and FTP methods require extra trigger mechanism, while SCP method relies on the fact that files are on the right place. To set the appropriate submission method, set CTEST_DROP_METHOD variable in CTestConfig.cmake.
 
Example for HTTP submission would be:
<pre>
SET (CTEST_DROP_METHOD http)
SET (CTEST_DROP_SITE "public.kitware.com")
SET (CTEST_DROP_LOCATION "/cgi-bin/HTTPUploadDartFile.cgi")
SET (CTEST_TRIGGER_SITE
    "http://${DROP_SITE}/cgi-bin/Submit-CMake-TestingResults.pl")
</pre>
where ''<nowiki>http://public.kitware.com/cgi-bin/HTTPUploadDartFile.cgi</nowiki>'' is a submit script and ''<nowiki>http://public.kitware.com/cgi-bin/Submit-CMake-TestingResults.pl</nowiki>'' is a trigger script.
 
For FTP submission:
<pre>
SET (CTEST_DROP_METHOD ftp)
SET (CTEST_DROP_SITE "public.kitware.com")
SET (CTEST_DROP_LOCATION "/incoming")
SET (CTEST_DROP_SITE_USER "ftpuser")
SET (CTEST_DROP_SITE_PASSWORD "public")
SET (CTEST_TRIGGER_SITE
    "http://${DROP_SITE}/cgi-bin/Submit-CMake-TestingResults.pl")
</pre>
where ''/incoming'' is a location on the FTP site ''public.kitware.com'' with user ''ftpuser'' and password ''public''. The trigger scrip is the same as with the http submit.
 
For XML-RPC submission (Dart2):
<pre>
SET (CTEST_DROP_METHOD xmlrpc)
SET (CTEST_DROP_SITE "www.na-mic.org:8081")
SET (CTEST_DROP_LOCATION "PublicDashboard")
</pre>
where XML-RPC submission is on the server ''www.na-mic.org'' with the port ''8081''. The project name is ''PublicDashboard''. XML-RPC submission does not require the trigger script.
 
===Running Individual Tests===
 
CTest supports two different ways of specifying subset of tests to run.
 
The first way is to specify the regular expression using -R and -E. -R specifies tests to be included and -E specifies the tests to be removed. For example, when running ctest in show-only mode, where no tests are run, we may see something like:
 
<pre>
Test project
  1/ 13 Testing PythonDataDesc               
  2/ 13 Testing VTKTest                     
  3/ 13 Testing SystemInformation           
  4/ 13 Testing TestVTKWriters               
  5/ 13 Testing TestVTKPython               
  6/ 13 Testing VTKPythonMultiGrid           
  7/ 13 Testing IronImage                   
  8/ 13 Testing IronImageMagic               
  9/ 13 Testing IronImageStrideMagic         
10/ 13 Testing IronRectMagic               
11/ 13 Testing IronRectStrideMagic         
12/ 13 Testing IronStructMagic             
13/ 13 Testing IronStructStrideMagic
</pre>
 
If we now run
 
<pre>
ctest -R Python
</pre>
 
We will only see tests that contain string ''Python'':
 
<pre>
Test project
  1/  3 Testing PythonDataDesc               
  2/  3 Testing TestVTKPython               
  3/  3 Testing VTKPythonMultiGrid
</pre>
 
We can also omit tests using -E, for example:
 
<pre>
ctest -E Iron
</pre>
 
will produce:
 
<pre>
Test project
  1/  6 Testing PythonDataDesc               
  2/  6 Testing VTKTest                     
  3/  6 Testing SystemInformation           
  4/ 6 Testing TestVTKWriters               
  5/ 6 Testing TestVTKPython               
  6/ 6 Testing VTKPythonMultiGrid
</pre>
 
Both -R and -E can be used at the same time.
 
To determine what tests are avilable, you can always run:
 
<pre>
ctest -N
</pre>
 
which will display the list of tests but not actually run them.
 
The second way of specifying tests is using explicit test number option -I:
 
<pre>
ctest -I 3,5
</pre>
 
will run tests:
 
<pre>
Test project
Running tests: 3 4 5
  3/ 13 Testing SystemInformation           
  4/ 13 Testing TestVTKWriters               
  5/ 13 Testing TestVTKPython
</pre>
 
We can also specify stride:
 
<pre>
ctest -I ,,3
</pre>
 
will run tests:
 
<pre>
Test project
Running tests: 1 4 7 10 13
  1/ 13 Testing PythonDataDesc               
  4/ 13 Testing TestVTKWriters               
  7/ 13 Testing IronImage                   
10/ 13 Testing IronRectMagic               
13/ 13 Testing IronStructStrideMagic
</pre>
 
Or run individual tests:
 
<pre>
ctest -I 4,4,,4,7,13
</pre>
 
will run tests:
 
<pre>
Test project
Running tests: 4 7 13
  4/ 13 Testing TestVTKWriters
  7/ 13 Testing IronImage
13/ 13 Testing IronStructStrideMagic
</pre>
 
Make sure that the first and second argument are the index of the first test
 
===Dynamic Analysis===
 
Software development can be significantly hindered when memory leaks are introduced in the code. Both Purify and Valgrind can catch most of them. Setting up both is extremely easy.
 
For example, to setup purify, all you have to do is to add:
 
<pre>
PURIFYCOMMAND:FILEPATH=c:/Progra~1/Rational/common/purify.exe
</pre>
 
To your cmake cache. Same way to setup valgrind, you add:
 
<pre>
MEMORYCHECK_COMMAND:FILEPATH=/home/kitware/local/bin/valgrind
</pre>
 
You can add additional options by specifying MEMORYCHECK_COMMAND_OPTIONS and MEMORYCHECK_SUPPRESSIONS_FILE.
 
Make sure to run:
 
<pre>
ctest -D NightlyMemoryCheck
</pre>
 
or
 
<pre>
ctest -D NightlyStart
ctest -D NightlyUpdate
ctest -D NightlyConfigure
ctest -D NightlyBuild
ctest -D NightlyTest
ctest -D NightlyMemCheck
ctest -D NightlySubmit
</pre>
 
===Customizing CTest===
 
CTest can be customized by providing CTestCustom.ctest or CTestCustom.cmake file in the ''build'' tree. If both
files exist, CTestCustom.cmake will be preferred. If the CTestCustom.cmake/.ctest file is distributed
with the sources of the project, e.g. CONFIGURE_FILE() can be used to put it in the build tree.
The file may contain any SET command for any CMake variable, but the following ones will be used:
 
{|border="1"
|- bgcolor="#abcdef"
! Variable !! Description
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_ERROR_MATCH || Regular expression for errors during build process
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_ERROR_EXCEPTION || Regular expression for error exceptions during build process
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_WARNING_MATCH || Regular expression for warnings during build process
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_WARNING_EXCEPTION || Regular expression for warning exception during build process
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_MAXIMUM_NUMBER_OF_ERRORS || Maximum number of errors to display
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_MAXIMUM_NUMBER_OF_WARNINGS || Maximum number of warnings to display
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_TESTS_IGNORE || List of tests to ignore during the ''Test'' stage
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_MEMCHECK_IGNORE || List of tests to ignore during the ''MemCheck'' stage
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_PRE_TEST || Command to execute before any tests are run during ''Test'' stage
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_POST_TEST || Command to execute after any tests are run during ''Test'' stage
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_MAXIMUM_PASSED_TEST_OUTPUT_SIZE || Maximum size of passed test output
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_MAXIMUM_FAILED_TEST_OUTPUT_SIZE || Maximum size of failed test output
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_PRE_MEMCHECK || Command to execute before any tests are run during ''MemCheck'' stage
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_POST_MEMCHECK || Command to execute after any tests are run during ''MemCheck'' stage
|-
| CTEST_CUSTOM_COVERAGE_EXCLUDE || Regular expression for excluding files from coverage testing
|-
| CTEST_EXTRA_COVERAGE_GLOB || Report on uncovered files matching this expression
 
|}
 
Example of CTestCustom.cmake file would be:
 
<pre>
SET(CTEST_CUSTOM_MEMCHECK_IGNORE
  ${CTEST_CUSTOM_MEMCHECK_IGNORE}
  TestSetGet
  otherPrint-ParaView
  Example-vtkLocal
  Example-vtkMy
 
  # These tests do not actually run any VTK code
  HeaderTesting-Common
  HeaderTesting-Filtering
  HeaderTesting-Graphics
  HeaderTesting-Imaging
  HeaderTesting-IO
 
  # this one runs python which then runs two
  # program so no memory checking there
  Sockets-image
  )
 
SET(CTEST_CUSTOM_WARNING_MATCH
  ${CTEST_CUSTOM_WARNING_MATCH}
  "{standard input}:[0-9][0-9]*: Warning: "
  )
 
IF("@CMAKE_SYSTEM@" MATCHES "OSF")
  SET(CTEST_CUSTOM_WARNING_EXCEPTION
    ${CTEST_CUSTOM_WARNING_EXCEPTION}
    "XdmfDOM"
    "XdmfExpr"
    "vtkKWApplication"
    "vtkKWObject"
    )
ENDIF("@CMAKE_SYSTEM@" MATCHES "OSF")
 
SET(CTEST_CUSTOM_WARNING_EXCEPTION
  ${CTEST_CUSTOM_WARNING_EXCEPTION}
  "tcl8.4.5/[^/]+/../[^/]+/[^.]+.c[:\"]"
  "tk8.4.5/[^/]+/[^/]+.c[:\"]"
  "VTK/Utilities/vtktiff/"
  "Utilities/vtkmpeg2/"
  "Utilities/hdf5/"
  "xtree.[0-9]+. : warning C4702: unreachable code"
  "warning LNK4221"
  "variable .var_args[2]*. is used before its value is set"
  )
</pre>
 
===CTest Scripting===
 
For an example of how CTest can run the whole testing process described in a
single script, look at how CMake dashboards are created with the
[https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/blob/master/Help/dev/testing.rst CTest -S script].
 
==Conclusion==
 
Performing tests on the project is a great software development practice and can result in significant improvement on the quality of the project. CTest provides a simple and reliable way of performing nightly, continuous, and experimental tests.
 
More information about CTest can be found in
[http://www.kitware.com/products/cmakebook.html Mastering CMake].
 
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