33.4. TAP Tests

33.4. TAP Tests
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33.4. TAP Tests #

33.4.1. Environment Variables

+ Various tests, particularly the client program tests + under src/bin, use the Perl TAP tools and are run + using the Perl testing program prove. You can pass + command-line options to prove by setting + the make variable PROVE_FLAGS, for example: +

+make -C src/bin check PROVE_FLAGS='--timer'
+

+ See the manual page of prove for more information. +

+ The make variable PROVE_TESTS + can be used to define a whitespace-separated list of paths relative + to the Makefile invoking prove + to run the specified subset of tests instead of the default + t/*.pl. For example: +

+make check PROVE_TESTS='t/001_test1.pl t/003_test3.pl'
+

+ The TAP tests require the Perl module IPC::Run. + This module is available from + CPAN + or an operating system package. + They also require PostgreSQL to be + configured with the option --enable-tap-tests. +

+ Generically speaking, the TAP tests will test the executables in a + previously-installed installation tree if you say make + installcheck, or will build a new local installation tree from + current sources if you say make check. In either + case they will initialize a local instance (data directory) and + transiently run a server in it. Some of these tests run more than one + server. Thus, these tests can be fairly resource-intensive. +

+ It's important to realize that the TAP tests will start test server(s) + even when you say make installcheck; this is unlike + the traditional non-TAP testing infrastructure, which expects to use an + already-running test server in that case. Some PostgreSQL + subdirectories contain both traditional-style and TAP-style tests, + meaning that make installcheck will produce a mix of + results from temporary servers and the already-running test server. +

33.4.1. Environment Variables #

+ Data directories are named according to the test filename, and will be + retained if a test fails. If the environment variable + PG_TEST_NOCLEAN is set, data directories will be + retained regardless of test status. For example, retaining the data + directory regardless of test results when running the + pg_dump tests: +

+PG_TEST_NOCLEAN=1 make -C src/bin/pg_dump check
+

+ This environment variable also prevents the test's temporary directories + from being removed. +

+ Many operations in the test suites use a 180-second timeout, which on slow + hosts may lead to load-induced timeouts. Setting the environment variable + PG_TEST_TIMEOUT_DEFAULT to a higher number will change + the default to avoid this. +

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