Test::Alien

Section: User Contributed Perl Documentation (3)
Updated: 2019-04-22
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NAME

Test::Alien - Testing tools for Alien modules  

VERSION

version 1.67  

SYNOPSIS

Test commands that come with your Alien:

 use Test2::V0;
 use Test::Alien;
 use Alien::patch;
 
 alien_ok 'Alien::patch';
 run_ok([ 'patch', '--version' ])
   ->success
   # we only accept the version written
   # by Larry ...
   ->out_like(qr{Larry Wall}); 
 
 done_testing;

Test that your library works with "XS":

 use Test2::V0;
 use Test::Alien;
 use Alien::Editline;
 
 alien_ok 'Alien::Editline';
 my $xs = do { local $/; <DATA> };
 xs_ok $xs, with_subtest {
   my($module) = @_;
   ok $module->version;
 };
 
 done_testing;

 __DATA__
 
 #include "EXTERN.h"
 #include "perl.h"
 #include "XSUB.h"
 #include <editline/readline.h>
 
 const char *
 version(const char *class)
 {
   return rl_library_version;
 }
 
 MODULE = TA_MODULE PACKAGE = TA_MODULE
 
 const char *version(class);
     const char *class;

Test that your library works with FFI::Platypus:

 use Test2::V0;
 use Test::Alien;
 use Alien::LibYAML;
 
 alien_ok 'Alien::LibYAML';
 ffi_ok { symbols => ['yaml_get_version'] }, with_subtest {
   my($ffi) = @_;
   my $get_version = $ffi->function(yaml_get_version => ['int*','int*','int*'] => 'void');
   $get_version->call(\my $major, \my $minor, \my $patch);
   like $major, qr{[0-9]+};
   like $minor, qr{[0-9]+};
   like $patch, qr{[0-9]+};
 };
 
 done_testing;

 

DESCRIPTION

This module provides tools for testing Alien modules. It has hooks to work easily with Alien::Base based modules, but can also be used via the synthetic interface to test non Alien::Base based Alien modules. It has very modest prerequisites.

Prior to this module the best way to test a Alien module was via Test::CChecker. The main downside to that module is that it is heavily influenced by and uses ExtUtils::CChecker, which is a tool for checking at install time various things about your compiler. It was also written before Alien::Base became as stable as it is today. In particular, Test::CChecker does its testing by creating an executable and running it. Unfortunately Perl uses extensions by creating dynamic libraries and linking them into the Perl process, which is different in subtle and error prone ways. This module attempts to test the libraries in the way that they will actually be used, via either "XS" or FFI::Platypus. It also provides a mechanism for testing binaries that are provided by the various Alien modules (for example Alien::gmake and Alien::patch).

Alien modules can actually be useable without a compiler, or without FFI::Platypus (for example, if the library is provided by the system, and you are using FFI::Platypus, or if you are building from source and you are using "XS"), so tests with missing prerequisites are automatically skipped. For example, ``xs_ok'' will automatically skip itself if a compiler is not found, and ``ffi_ok'' will automatically skip itself if FFI::Platypus is not installed.  

FUNCTIONS

 

alien_ok

 alien_ok $alien, $message;
 alien_ok $alien;

Load the given Alien instance or class. Checks that the instance or class conforms to the same interface as Alien::Base. Will be used by subsequent tests. The $alien module only needs to provide these methods in order to conform to the Alien::Base interface:

cflags
String containing the compiler flags
libs
String containing the linker and library flags
dynamic_libs
List of dynamic libraries. Returns empty list if the Alien module does not provide this.
bin_dir
Directory containing tool binaries. Returns empty list if the Alien module does not provide this.

If your Alien module does not conform to this interface then you can create a synthetic Alien module using the ``synthetic'' function.  

synthetic

 my $alien = synthetic \%config;

Create a synthetic Alien module which can be passed into ``alien_ok''. "\%config" can contain these keys (all of which are optional):

cflags
String containing the compiler flags.
cflags_static
String containing the static compiler flags (optional).
libs
String containing the linker and library flags.
libs_static
String containing the static linker flags (optional).
dynamic_libs
List reference containing the dynamic libraries.
bin_dir
Tool binary directory.
runtime_prop
Runtime properties.

See Test::Alien::Synthetic for more details.  

run_ok

 my $run = run_ok $command;
 my $run = run_ok $command, $message;

Runs the given command, falling back on any "Alien::Base#bin_dir" methods provided by Alien modules specified with ``alien_ok''.

$command can be either a string or an array reference.

Only fails if the command cannot be found, or if it is killed by a signal! Returns a Test::Alien::Run object, which you can use to test the exit status, output and standard error.

Always returns an instance of Test::Alien::Run, even if the command could not be found.  

xs_ok

 xs_ok $xs;
 xs_ok $xs, $message;

Compiles, links the given "XS" code and attaches to Perl.

If you use the special module name "TA_MODULE" in your "XS" code, it will be replaced by an automatically generated package name. This can be useful if you want to pass the same "XS" code to multiple calls to "xs_ok" without subsequent calls replacing previous ones.

$xs may be either a string containing the "XS" code, or a hash reference with these keys:

xs
The XS code. This is the only required element.
pxs
Extra ExtUtils::ParseXS arguments passed in as a hash reference.
cbuilder_compile
Extra The ExtUtils::CBuilder arguments passed in as a hash reference.
cbuilder_link
Extra The ExtUtils::CBuilder arguments passed in as a hash reference.
verbose
Spew copious debug information via test note.

You can use the "with_subtest" keyword to conditionally run a subtest if the "xs_ok" call succeeds. If "xs_ok" does not work, then the subtest will automatically be skipped. Example:

 xs_ok $xs, with_subtest {
   # skipped if $xs fails for some reason
   my($module) = @_;
   is $module->foo, 1;
 };

The module name detected during the XS parsing phase will be passed in to the subtest. This is helpful when you are using a generated module name.  

ffi_ok

 ffi_ok;
 ffi_ok \%opt;
 ffi_ok \%opt, $message;

Test that FFI::Platypus works.

"\%opt" is a hash reference with these keys (all optional):

symbols
List references of symbols that must be found for the test to succeed.
ignore_not_found
Ignores symbols that aren't found. This affects functions accessed via FFI::Platypus#attach and FFI::Platypus#function methods, and does not influence the "symbols" key above.
lang
Set the language. Used primarily for language specific native types.

As with ``xs_ok'' above, you can use the "with_subtest" keyword to specify a subtest to be run if "ffi_ok" succeeds (it will skip otherwise). The FFI::Platypus instance is passed into the subtest as the first argument. For example:

 ffi_ok with_subtest {
   my($ffi) = @_;
   is $ffi->function(foo => [] => 'void')->call, 42;
 };

 

helper_ok

 helper_ok $name;
 helper_ok $name, $message;

Tests that the given helper has been defined.  

interpolate_template_is

 interpolate_template_is $template, $string;
 interpolate_template_is $template, $string, $message;
 interpolate_template_is $template, $regex;
 interpolate_template_is $template, $regex, $message;

Tests that the given template when evaluated with the appropriate helpers will match either the given string or regular expression.  

SEE ALSO

Alien
Alien::Base
Alien::Build
alienfile
Test2
Test::Alien::Run
Test::Alien::CanCompile
Test::Alien::CanPlatypus
Test::Alien::Synthetic
 

AUTHOR

Author: Graham Ollis <plicease@cpan.org>

Contributors:

Diab Jerius (DJERIUS)

Roy Storey

Ilya Pavlov

David Mertens (run4flat)

Mark Nunberg (mordy, mnunberg)

Christian Walde (Mithaldu)

Brian Wightman (MidLifeXis)

Zaki Mughal (zmughal)

mohawk (mohawk2, ETJ)

Vikas N Kumar (vikasnkumar)

Flavio Poletti (polettix)

Salvador Fandiño (salva)

Gianni Ceccarelli (dakkar)

Pavel Shaydo (zwon, trinitum)

Kang-min Liu (劉康民, gugod)

Nicholas Shipp (nshp)

Juan Julián Merelo Guervós (JJ)

Joel Berger (JBERGER)

Petr Pisar (ppisar)

Lance Wicks (LANCEW)

Ahmad Fatoum (a3f, ATHREEF)

José Joaquín Atria (JJATRIA)

Duke Leto (LETO)

Shoichi Kaji (SKAJI)

Shawn Laffan (SLAFFAN)

Paul Evans (leonerd, PEVANS)  

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2011-2019 by Graham Ollis.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.


 

Index

NAME
VERSION
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
FUNCTIONS
alien_ok
synthetic
run_ok
xs_ok
ffi_ok
helper_ok
interpolate_template_is
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE