1 lit - LLVM Integrated Tester
2 ============================
9 :program:`lit` [*options*] [*tests*]
14 :program:`lit` is a portable tool for executing LLVM and Clang style test
15 suites, summarizing their results, and providing indication of failures.
16 :program:`lit` is designed to be a lightweight testing tool with as simple a
17 user interface as possible.
19 :program:`lit` should be run with one or more *tests* to run specified on the
20 command line. Tests can be either individual test files or directories to
21 search for tests (see :ref:`test-discovery`).
23 Each specified test will be executed (potentially concurrently) and once all
24 tests have been run :program:`lit` will print summary information on the number
25 of tests which passed or failed (see :ref:`test-status-results`). The
26 :program:`lit` program will execute with a non-zero exit code if any tests
29 By default :program:`lit` will use a succinct progress display and will only
30 print summary information for test failures. See :ref:`output-options` for
31 options controlling the :program:`lit` progress display and output.
33 :program:`lit` also includes a number of options for controlling how tests are
34 executed (specific features may depend on the particular test format). See
35 :ref:`execution-options` for more information.
37 Finally, :program:`lit` also supports additional options for only running a
38 subset of the options specified on the command line, see
39 :ref:`selection-options` for more information.
41 :program:`lit` parses options from the environment variable ``LIT_OPTS`` after
42 parsing options from the command line. ``LIT_OPTS`` is primarily useful for
43 supplementing or overriding the command-line options supplied to :program:`lit`
44 by ``check`` targets defined by a project's build system.
46 Users interested in the :program:`lit` architecture or designing a
47 :program:`lit` testing implementation should see :ref:`lit-infrastructure`.
52 .. option:: -h, --help
54 Show the :program:`lit` help message.
56 .. option:: -j N, --workers=N
58 Run ``N`` tests in parallel. By default, this is automatically chosen to
59 match the number of detected available CPUs.
61 .. option:: --config-prefix=NAME
63 Search for :file:`{NAME}.cfg` and :file:`{NAME}.site.cfg` when searching for
64 test suites, instead of :file:`lit.cfg` and :file:`lit.site.cfg`.
66 .. option:: -D NAME[=VALUE], --param NAME[=VALUE]
68 Add a user defined parameter ``NAME`` with the given ``VALUE`` (or the empty
69 string if not given). The meaning and use of these parameters is test suite
77 .. option:: -q, --quiet
79 Suppress any output except for test failures.
81 .. option:: -s, --succinct
83 Show less output, for example don't show information on tests that pass.
84 Also show a progress bar, unless ``--no-progress-bar`` is specified.
86 .. option:: -v, --verbose
88 Show more information on test failures, for example the entire test output
89 instead of just the test result.
91 .. option:: -vv, --echo-all-commands
93 Echo all commands to stdout, as they are being executed.
94 This can be valuable for debugging test failures, as the last echoed command
95 will be the one which has failed.
96 :program:`lit` normally inserts a no-op command (``:`` in the case of bash)
97 with argument ``'RUN: at line N'`` before each command pipeline, and this
98 option also causes those no-op commands to be echoed to stdout to help you
99 locate the source line of the failed command.
100 This option implies ``--verbose``.
102 .. option:: -a, --show-all
104 Show more information about all tests, for example the entire test
105 commandline and output.
107 .. option:: --no-progress-bar
109 Do not use curses based progress bar.
111 .. option:: --show-unsupported
113 Show the names of unsupported tests.
115 .. option:: --show-xfail
117 Show the names of tests that were expected to fail.
119 .. _execution-options:
124 .. option:: --path=PATH
126 Specify an additional ``PATH`` to use when searching for executables in tests.
130 Run individual tests under valgrind (using the memcheck tool). The
131 ``--error-exitcode`` argument for valgrind is used so that valgrind failures
132 will cause the program to exit with a non-zero status.
134 When this option is enabled, :program:`lit` will also automatically provide a
135 "``valgrind``" feature that can be used to conditionally disable (or expect
136 failure in) certain tests.
138 .. option:: --vg-arg=ARG
140 When :option:`--vg` is used, specify an additional argument to pass to
141 :program:`valgrind` itself.
143 .. option:: --vg-leak
145 When :option:`--vg` is used, enable memory leak checks. When this option is
146 enabled, :program:`lit` will also automatically provide a "``vg_leak``"
147 feature that can be used to conditionally disable (or expect failure in)
150 .. option:: --time-tests
152 Track the wall time individual tests take to execute and includes the results
153 in the summary output. This is useful for determining which tests in a test
154 suite take the most time to execute.
156 .. option:: --ignore-fail
158 Exit with status zero even if some tests fail.
160 .. option:: --no-indirectly-run-check
162 Do not error if a test would not be run if the user had specified the
163 containing directory instead of naming the test directly.
165 .. _selection-options:
170 By default, `lit` will run failing tests first, then run tests in descending
171 execution time order to optimize concurrency.
173 The timing data is stored in the `test_exec_root` in a file named
174 `.lit_test_times.txt`. If this file does not exist, then `lit` checks the
175 `test_source_root` for the file to optionally accelerate clean builds.
177 .. option:: --shuffle
179 Run the tests in a random order, not failing/slowest first.
181 .. option:: --max-failures N
183 Stop execution after the given number ``N`` of failures.
184 An integer argument should be passed on the command line
187 .. option:: --max-tests=N
189 Run at most ``N`` tests and then terminate.
191 .. option:: --max-time=N
193 Spend at most ``N`` seconds (approximately) running tests and then terminate.
194 Note that this is not an alias for :option:`--timeout`; the two are
195 different kinds of maximums.
197 .. option:: --num-shards=M
199 Divide the set of selected tests into ``M`` equal-sized subsets or
200 "shards", and run only one of them. Must be used with the
201 ``--run-shard=N`` option, which selects the shard to run. The environment
202 variable ``LIT_NUM_SHARDS`` can also be used in place of this
203 option. These two options provide a coarse mechanism for partitioning large
204 testsuites, for parallel execution on separate machines (say in a large
207 .. option:: --run-shard=N
209 Select which shard to run, assuming the ``--num-shards=M`` option was
210 provided. The two options must be used together, and the value of ``N``
211 must be in the range ``1..M``. The environment variable
212 ``LIT_RUN_SHARD`` can also be used in place of this option.
214 .. option:: --timeout=N
216 Spend at most ``N`` seconds (approximately) running each individual test.
217 ``0`` means no time limit, and ``0`` is the default. Note that this is not an
218 alias for :option:`--max-time`; the two are different kinds of maximums.
220 .. option:: --filter=REGEXP
222 Run only those tests whose name matches the regular expression specified in
223 ``REGEXP``. The environment variable ``LIT_FILTER`` can be also used in place
224 of this option, which is especially useful in environments where the call
225 to ``lit`` is issued indirectly.
227 .. option:: --filter-out=REGEXP
229 Filter out those tests whose name matches the regular expression specified in
230 ``REGEXP``. The environment variable ``LIT_FILTER_OUT`` can be also used in
231 place of this option, which is especially useful in environments where the
232 call to ``lit`` is issued indirectly.
234 .. option:: --xfail=LIST
236 Treat those tests whose name is in the semicolon separated list ``LIST`` as
237 ``XFAIL``. This can be helpful when one does not want to modify the test
238 suite. The environment variable ``LIT_XFAIL`` can be also used in place of
239 this option, which is especially useful in environments where the call to
240 ``lit`` is issued indirectly.
242 A test name can specified as a file name relative to the test suite directory.
247 LIT_XFAIL="affinity/kmp-hw-subset.c;offloading/memory_manager.cpp"
249 In this case, all of the following tests are treated as ``XFAIL``:
253 libomp :: affinity/kmp-hw-subset.c
254 libomptarget :: nvptx64-nvidia-cuda :: offloading/memory_manager.cpp
255 libomptarget :: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu :: offloading/memory_manager.cpp
257 Alternatively, a test name can be specified as the full test name
258 reported in LIT output. For example, we can adjust the previous
259 example not to treat the ``nvptx64-nvidia-cuda`` version of
260 ``offloading/memory_manager.cpp`` as XFAIL:
264 LIT_XFAIL="affinity/kmp-hw-subset.c;libomptarget :: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu :: offloading/memory_manager.cpp"
266 .. option:: --xfail-not=LIST
268 Do not treat the specified tests as ``XFAIL``. The environment variable
269 ``LIT_XFAIL_NOT`` can also be used in place of this option. The syntax is the
270 same as for :option:`--xfail` and ``LIT_XFAIL``. :option:`--xfail-not` and
271 ``LIT_XFAIL_NOT`` always override all other ``XFAIL`` specifications,
272 including an :option:`--xfail` appearing later on the command line. The
273 primary purpose is to suppress an ``XPASS`` result without modifying a test
274 case that uses the ``XFAIL`` directive.
281 Run :program:`lit` in debug mode, for debugging configuration issues and
282 :program:`lit` itself.
284 .. option:: --show-suites
286 List the discovered test suites and exit.
288 .. option:: --show-tests
290 List all of the discovered tests and exit.
295 :program:`lit` will exit with an exit code of 1 if there are any FAIL or XPASS
296 results. Otherwise, it will exit with the status 0. Other exit codes are used
297 for non-test related failures (for example a user error or an internal program
305 The inputs passed to :program:`lit` can be either individual tests, or entire
306 directories or hierarchies of tests to run. When :program:`lit` starts up, the
307 first thing it does is convert the inputs into a complete list of tests to run
308 as part of *test discovery*.
310 In the :program:`lit` model, every test must exist inside some *test suite*.
311 :program:`lit` resolves the inputs specified on the command line to test suites
312 by searching upwards from the input path until it finds a :file:`lit.cfg` or
313 :file:`lit.site.cfg` file. These files serve as both a marker of test suites
314 and as configuration files which :program:`lit` loads in order to understand
315 how to find and run the tests inside the test suite.
317 Once :program:`lit` has mapped the inputs into test suites it traverses the
318 list of inputs adding tests for individual files and recursively searching for
319 tests in directories.
321 This behavior makes it easy to specify a subset of tests to run, while still
322 allowing the test suite configuration to control exactly how tests are
323 interpreted. In addition, :program:`lit` always identifies tests by the test
324 suite they are in, and their relative path inside the test suite. For
325 appropriately configured projects, this allows :program:`lit` to provide
326 convenient and flexible support for out-of-tree builds.
328 .. _test-status-results:
333 Each test ultimately produces one of the following eight results:
341 The test succeeded after being re-run more than once. This only applies to
342 tests containing an ``ALLOW_RETRIES:`` annotation.
346 The test failed, but that is expected. This is used for test formats which allow
347 specifying that a test does not currently work, but wish to leave it in the test
352 The test succeeded, but it was expected to fail. This is used for tests which
353 were specified as expected to fail, but are now succeeding (generally because
354 the feature they test was broken and has been fixed).
362 The test result could not be determined. For example, this occurs when the test
363 could not be run, the test itself is invalid, or the test was interrupted.
367 The test is not supported in this environment. This is used by test formats
368 which can report unsupported tests.
372 The test was run, but it timed out before it was able to complete. This is
373 considered a failure.
375 Depending on the test format tests may produce additional information about
376 their status (generally only for failures). See the :ref:`output-options`
377 section for more information.
379 .. _lit-infrastructure:
384 This section describes the :program:`lit` testing architecture for users interested in
385 creating a new :program:`lit` testing implementation, or extending an existing one.
387 :program:`lit` proper is primarily an infrastructure for discovering and running
388 arbitrary tests, and to expose a single convenient interface to these
389 tests. :program:`lit` itself doesn't know how to run tests, rather this logic is
390 defined by *test suites*.
395 As described in :ref:`test-discovery`, tests are always located inside a *test
396 suite*. Test suites serve to define the format of the tests they contain, the
397 logic for finding those tests, and any additional information to run the tests.
399 :program:`lit` identifies test suites as directories containing ``lit.cfg`` or
400 ``lit.site.cfg`` files (see also :option:`--config-prefix`). Test suites are
401 initially discovered by recursively searching up the directory hierarchy for
402 all the input files passed on the command line. You can use
403 :option:`--show-suites` to display the discovered test suites at startup.
405 Once a test suite is discovered, its config file is loaded. Config files
406 themselves are Python modules which will be executed. When the config file is
407 executed, two important global variables are predefined:
411 The global **lit** configuration object (a *LitConfig* instance), which defines
412 the builtin test formats, global configuration parameters, and other helper
413 routines for implementing test configurations.
417 This is the config object (a *TestingConfig* instance) for the test suite,
418 which the config file is expected to populate. The following variables are also
419 available on the *config* object, some of which must be set by the config and
420 others are optional or predefined:
422 **name** *[required]* The name of the test suite, for use in reports and
425 **test_format** *[required]* The test format object which will be used to
426 discover and run tests in the test suite. Generally this will be a builtin test
427 format available from the *lit.formats* module.
429 **test_source_root** The filesystem path to the test suite root. For out-of-dir
430 builds this is the directory that will be scanned for tests.
432 **test_exec_root** For out-of-dir builds, the path to the test suite root inside
433 the object directory. This is where tests will be run and temporary output files
436 **environment** A dictionary representing the environment to use when executing
439 **standalone_tests** When true, mark a directory with tests expected to be run
440 standalone. Test discovery is disabled for that directory and
441 *--no-indirectly-run-check* is in effect. *lit.suffixes* and *lit.excludes*
442 must be empty when this variable is true.
444 **suffixes** For **lit** test formats which scan directories for tests, this
445 variable is a list of suffixes to identify test files. Used by: *ShTest*.
447 **substitutions** For **lit** test formats which substitute variables into a test
448 script, the list of substitutions to perform. Used by: *ShTest*.
450 **unsupported** Mark an unsupported directory, all tests within it will be
451 reported as unsupported. Used by: *ShTest*.
453 **parent** The parent configuration, this is the config object for the directory
454 containing the test suite, or None.
456 **root** The root configuration. This is the top-most :program:`lit` configuration in
459 **pipefail** Normally a test using a shell pipe fails if any of the commands
460 on the pipe fail. If this is not desired, setting this variable to false
461 makes the test fail only if the last command in the pipe fails.
463 **available_features** A set of features that can be used in `XFAIL`,
464 `REQUIRES`, and `UNSUPPORTED` directives.
469 Once test suites are located, :program:`lit` recursively traverses the source
470 directory (following *test_source_root*) looking for tests. When :program:`lit`
471 enters a sub-directory, it first checks to see if a nested test suite is
472 defined in that directory. If so, it loads that test suite recursively,
473 otherwise it instantiates a local test config for the directory (see
474 :ref:`local-configuration-files`).
476 Tests are identified by the test suite they are contained within, and the
477 relative path inside that suite. Note that the relative path may not refer to
478 an actual file on disk; some test formats (such as *GoogleTest*) define
479 "virtual tests" which have a path that contains both the path to the actual
480 test file and a subpath to identify the virtual test.
482 .. _local-configuration-files:
484 LOCAL CONFIGURATION FILES
485 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
487 When :program:`lit` loads a subdirectory in a test suite, it instantiates a
488 local test configuration by cloning the configuration for the parent directory
489 --- the root of this configuration chain will always be a test suite. Once the
490 test configuration is cloned :program:`lit` checks for a *lit.local.cfg* file
491 in the subdirectory. If present, this file will be loaded and can be used to
492 specialize the configuration for each individual directory. This facility can
493 be used to define subdirectories of optional tests, or to change other
494 configuration parameters --- for example, to change the test format, or the
495 suffixes which identify test files.
500 :program:`lit` allows patterns to be substituted inside RUN commands. It also
501 provides the following base set of substitutions, which are defined in
504 ======================= ==============
506 ======================= ==============
507 %s source path (path to the file currently being run)
508 %S source dir (directory of the file currently being run)
510 %{pathsep} path separator
511 %t temporary file name unique to the test
512 %basename_t The last path component of %t but without the ``.tmp`` extension
513 %T parent directory of %t (not unique, deprecated, do not use)
515 %/s %s but ``\`` is replaced by ``/``
516 %/S %S but ``\`` is replaced by ``/``
517 %/p %p but ``\`` is replaced by ``/``
518 %/t %t but ``\`` is replaced by ``/``
519 %/T %T but ``\`` is replaced by ``/``
520 %{/s:regex_replacement} %/s but escaped for use in the replacement of a ``s@@@`` command in sed
521 %{/S:regex_replacement} %/S but escaped for use in the replacement of a ``s@@@`` command in sed
522 %{/p:regex_replacement} %/p but escaped for use in the replacement of a ``s@@@`` command in sed
523 %{/t:regex_replacement} %/t but escaped for use in the replacement of a ``s@@@`` command in sed
524 %{/T:regex_replacement} %/T but escaped for use in the replacement of a ``s@@@`` command in sed
525 %:s On Windows, %/s but a ``:`` is removed if its the second character.
526 Otherwise, %s but with a single leading ``/`` removed.
527 %:S On Windows, %/S but a ``:`` is removed if its the second character.
528 Otherwise, %S but with a single leading ``/`` removed.
529 %:p On Windows, %/p but a ``:`` is removed if its the second character.
530 Otherwise, %p but with a single leading ``/`` removed.
531 %:t On Windows, %/t but a ``:`` is removed if its the second character.
532 Otherwise, %t but with a single leading ``/`` removed.
533 %:T On Windows, %/T but a ``:`` is removed if its the second character.
534 Otherwise, %T but with a single leading ``/`` removed.
535 ======================= ==============
537 Other substitutions are provided that are variations on this base set and
538 further substitution patterns can be defined by each test module. See the
539 modules :ref:`local-configuration-files`.
541 By default, substitutions are expanded exactly once, so that if e.g. a
542 substitution ``%build`` is defined in top of another substitution ``%cxx``,
543 ``%build`` will expand to ``%cxx`` textually, not to what ``%cxx`` expands to.
544 However, if the ``recursiveExpansionLimit`` property of the ``TestingConfig``
545 is set to a non-negative integer, substitutions will be expanded recursively
546 until that limit is reached. It is an error if the limit is reached and
547 expanding substitutions again would yield a different result.
549 More detailed information on substitutions can be found in the
550 :doc:`../TestingGuide`.
552 TEST RUN OUTPUT FORMAT
553 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
555 The :program:`lit` output for a test run conforms to the following schema, in
556 both short and verbose modes (although in short mode no PASS lines will be
557 shown). This schema has been chosen to be relatively easy to reliably parse by
558 a machine (for example in buildbot log scraping), and for other tools to
561 Each test result is expected to appear on a line that matches:
565 <result code>: <test name> (<progress info>)
567 where ``<result-code>`` is a standard test result such as PASS, FAIL, XFAIL,
568 XPASS, UNRESOLVED, or UNSUPPORTED. The performance result codes of IMPROVED and
569 REGRESSED are also allowed.
571 The ``<test name>`` field can consist of an arbitrary string containing no
574 The ``<progress info>`` field can be used to report progress information such
575 as (1/300) or can be empty, but even when empty the parentheses are required.
577 Each test result may include additional (multiline) log information in the
582 <log delineator> TEST '(<test name>)' <trailing delineator>
586 where ``<test name>`` should be the name of a preceding reported test, ``<log
587 delineator>`` is a string of "*" characters *at least* four characters long
588 (the recommended length is 20), and ``<trailing delineator>`` is an arbitrary
591 The following is an example of a test run output which consists of four tests A,
592 B, C, and D, and a log message for the failing test C:
599 ******************** TEST 'C' FAILED ********************
600 Test 'C' failed as a result of exit code 1.
607 The :program:`lit` distribution contains several example implementations of
608 test suites in the *ExampleTests* directory.