Re: Testsuite for avr-as

[Hans-Peter Nilsson <hp at bitrange dot com>]

On Tue, 7 Dec 2004, Erik Christiansen wrote:

> G'day,
>
> Unlike other gas implementations, avr-as lacks a formal testsuite. Over
> on the avr-gcc list, a couple of us are seeking to rectify that. Rather
> than go too far with "home-brew" test schemes, we're trying to scrabble
> up the binutils testsuite learning curve.
>
> A bit of poking around in the binutils source distribution shows .s and
> .d files. Is there some doco that we can read, to discover:
>
> a) Preferred method for generating .d files.

Method?  Hah!  The output of either objdump or readelf
redirected, then inspected for sanity and edited to regexpify
the contents.

> b) Rather than further develop our existing prototype test engines, what
>    script does binutils use to bang through the .s/.d pairs?

Something tells me you're not aware how the DejaGNU-based
testsuite (usually) works.  Build binutils, then run "make -k
check" and watch DejaGnu load and execute the various .exp files
and run whatever is said there, usually using stuff from the
installed DejaGnu and gas/testsuite/gas/lib.  (You can do this
for AVR if you want; some tests are generic.)

My favorite is run_dump_test iterating over .d files.  See
gas/testsuite/gas/mmix/mmix.exp.

Sometimes you need to test for proper error message or error
handling.  See gas/testsuite/gas/mmix/mmix-err.exp.  (No .d,
just source files.)

Sometimes you want to just check that the assembly listing looks
about right.  See gas/testsuite/gas/mmix/mmix-list.exp.
Usually the test iterates over ".l" files.

> Oh, a horrible thought: If this is to find its way into the distribution
> one day, then there's likely to be some requirements we should know about.

Good thinking.  Copyright assignment *papers* signed from *all*
contributors. (Hopefully Nick Clifton, head binutils maintainer,
will fill in here with proper references.)

brgds, H-P