1 This is a collection of tests for GDB. 2 3 The file gdb/README contains basic instructions on how to run the 4 testsuite, while this file documents additional options and controls 5 that are available. The GDB wiki may also have some pages with ideas 6 and suggestions. 7 8 9 Running the Testsuite 10 ********************* 11 12 There are two ways to run the testsuite and pass additional parameters 13 to DejaGnu. The first is to do `make check' in the main build 14 directory and specifying the makefile variable `RUNTESTFLAGS': 15 16 make check RUNTESTFLAGS='GDB=/usr/bin/gdb gdb.base/a2-run.exp' 17 18 The second is to cd to the testsuite directory and invoke the DejaGnu 19 `runtest' command directly. 20 21 cd testsuite 22 make site.exp 23 runtest GDB=/usr/bin/gdb 24 25 (The `site.exp' file contains a handful of useful variables like host 26 and target triplets, and pathnames.) 27 28 Parallel testing 29 **************** 30 31 If not testing with a remote host (in DejaGnu's sense), you can run 32 the GDB test suite in a fully parallel mode. In this mode, each .exp 33 file runs separately and maybe simultaneously. The test suite ensures 34 that all the temporary files created by the test suite do not clash, 35 by putting them into separate directories. This mode is primarily 36 intended for use by the Makefile. 37 38 For GNU make, the Makefile tries to run the tests in parallel mode if 39 any -j option is given. For a non-GNU make, tests are not 40 parallelized. 41 42 If RUNTESTFLAGS is not empty, then by default the tests are 43 serialized. This can be overridden by either using the 44 `check-parallel' target in the Makefile, or by setting FORCE_PARALLEL 45 to any non-empty value: 46 47 make check-parallel RUNTESTFLAGS="--target_board=native-gdbserver" 48 make check RUNTESTFLAGS="--target_board=native-gdbserver" FORCE_PARALLEL=1 49 50 If you want to use runtest directly instead of using the Makefile, see 51 the description of GDB_PARALLEL below. 52 53 Racy testcases 54 ************** 55 56 Sometimes, new testcases are added to the testsuite that are not 57 entirely deterministic, and can randomly pass or fail. We call them 58 "racy testcases", and they can be bothersome when one is comparing 59 different testsuite runs. In order to help identifying them, it is 60 possible to run the tests several times in a row and ask the testsuite 61 machinery to analyze the results. To do that, you need to specify the 62 RACY_ITER environment variable to make: 63 64 make check RACY_ITER=5 -j4 65 66 The value assigned to RACY_ITER represents the number of times you 67 wish to run the tests in sequence (in the example above, the entire 68 testsuite will be executed 5 times in a row, in parallel). It is also 69 possible to check just a specific test: 70 71 make check TESTS='gdb.base/default.exp' RACY_ITER=3 72 73 One can also decide to call the Makefile rules by hand inside the 74 gdb/testsuite directory, e.g.: 75 76 make check-parallel-racy -j4 77 78 In which case the value of the DEFAULT_RACY_ITER variable (inside 79 gdb/testsuite/Makefile.in) will be used to determine how many 80 iterations will be run. 81 82 After running the tests, you shall see a file name 'racy.sum' in the 83 gdb/testsuite directory. You can also inspect the generated *.log and 84 *.sum files by looking into the gdb/testsuite/racy_ouputs directory. 85 86 If you already have *.sum files generated from previous testsuite runs 87 and you would like to analyze them without having to run the testsuite 88 again, you can also use the 'analyze-racy-logs.py' script directly. 89 It is located in the gdb/testsuite/ directory, and it expects a list 90 of two or more *.sum files to be provided as its argument. For 91 example: 92 93 ./gdb/testsuite/analyze-racy-logs.py testsuite-01/gdb.sum \ 94 testsuite-02/gdb.sum testsuite-03/gdb.sum 95 96 The script will output its analysis report to the standard output. 97 98 Re-running Tests Outside The Testsuite 99 ************************************** 100 101 When running a test, the arguments used to run GDB are saved to gdb.cmd and 102 all commands sent to GDB are saved to gdb.in. As well as being a reference 103 of the commands run, they can be used to manually re-run a test by using 104 the gdb.in file as a batch file to a GDB launched with the arguments in the 105 gdb.cmd file, for example: 106 $(cat outputs/gdb.base/store/gdb.cmd) -x outputs/gdb.base/store/gdb.in 107 108 Tests that run GDB multiple times will append .1, .2, .3 etc to the end 109 of each .cmd and .in file. 110 111 When gdbserver is launched as part of a test, a gdbserver.cmd will be created. 112 To re-run these tests, run the contents of gdbserver.cmd in a separate 113 terminal before running gdb, for example: 114 $(cat outputs/gdb.base/store/gdbserver.cmd) 115 Alternatively, if the test is run with GDBSERVER_DEBUG="replay", then this 116 will create a gdbserver.replay file which can be used with the gdbreplay tool, 117 instead of launching gdbserver. 118 119 Running the Performance Tests 120 ***************************** 121 122 GDB Testsuite includes performance test cases, which are not run together 123 with other test cases, because performance test cases are slow and need 124 a quiet system. There are two ways to run the performance test cases. 125 The first is to do `make check-perf' in the main build directory: 126 127 make check-perf RUNTESTFLAGS="solib.exp SOLIB_COUNT=8" 128 129 The second is to cd to the testsuite directory and invoke the DejaGnu 130 `runtest' command directly. 131 132 cd testsuite 133 make site.exp 134 runtest GDB_PERFTEST_MODE=both GDB_PERFTEST_TIMEOUT=4000 --directory=gdb.perf solib.exp SOLIB_COUNT=8 135 136 Only "compile", "run" and "both" are valid to GDB_PERFTEST_MODE. They 137 stand for "compile tests only", "run tests only", and "compile and run 138 tests" respectively. "both" is the default. GDB_PERFTEST_TIMEOUT 139 specify the timeout, which is 3000 in default. The result of 140 performance test is appended in `testsuite/perftest.log'. 141 142 Testsuite Parameters 143 ******************** 144 145 The following parameters are DejaGNU variables that you can set to 146 affect the testsuite run globally. 147 148 GDB 149 150 By default, the testsuite exercises the GDB in the build directory, 151 but you can set GDB to be a pathname to a different version. For 152 instance, 153 154 make check RUNTESTFLAGS=GDB=/usr/bin/gdb 155 156 runs the testsuite on the GDB in /usr/bin. 157 158 GDBSERVER 159 160 You can set GDBSERVER to be a particular GDBserver of interest, so for 161 instance 162 163 make check RUNTESTFLAGS="GDB=/usr/bin/gdb GDBSERVER=/usr/bin/gdbserver" 164 165 checks both the installed GDB and GDBserver. 166 167 GDB_DATA_DIRECTORY 168 169 If you set GDB, then by default the testsuite assumes you are 170 exercising an installed GDB, and thus the testsuite lets GDB use its 171 configured data directory. Otherwise, if you don't set GDB, then by 172 default the tested GDB uses the data directory found under the GDB 173 build directory. You can override this by setting GDB_DATA_DIRECTORY. 174 For instance: 175 176 make check \ 177 RUNTESTFLAGS="GDB=/path/to/other/build/gdb \ 178 GDB_DATA_DIRECTORY=/path/to/other/build/gdb/data-directory" 179 180 INTERNAL_GDBFLAGS 181 182 Command line options passed to all GDB invocations. 183 The default is set in lib/gdb.exp. 184 185 This is actually considered an internal variable, and you 186 won't normally want to change it. However, in some situations, 187 this may be tweaked as a last resort if the testsuite doesn't 188 have direct support for the specifics of your environment. 189 The testsuite does not override a value provided by the user. 190 191 As an example, when testing an installed GDB that has been 192 configured with `--with-system-gdbinit', like by default, 193 you do not want ~/.gdbinit to interfere with tests, but, you 194 may want the system .gdbinit file loaded. As there's no way to 195 ask the testsuite, or GDB, to load the system gdbinit but 196 not ~/.gdbinit, a workaround is then to remove `-nx' from 197 INTERNAL_GDBFLAGS, and point $HOME at a directory without 198 a .gdbinit. For example: 199 200 cd testsuite 201 HOME=`pwd` runtest \ 202 GDB=/usr/bin/gdb \ 203 GDBSERVER=/usr/bin/gdbserver \ 204 INTERNAL_GDBFLAGS="-nw -q -iex 'set height 0' -iex 'set width 0'" 205 206 Note that we do not need to specify '-data-directory' here 207 as we are testing an installed GDB. 208 209 GDB_PARALLEL 210 211 To use parallel testing mode without using the Makefile, set 212 GDB_PARALLEL on the runtest command line to "yes". Before starting 213 the tests, you must ensure that the directories cache, outputs, and 214 temp in the test suite build directory are either empty or have been 215 deleted. cache in particular is used to share data across invocations 216 of runtest, and files there may affect the test results. The Makefile 217 automatically does these deletions. 218 219 FORCE_PARALLEL 220 221 Setting FORCE_PARALLEL to any non-empty value forces parallel testing 222 mode even if RUNTESTFLAGS is not empty. 223 224 FORCE_SEPARATE_MI_TTY 225 226 Setting FORCE_MI_SEPARATE_UI to 1 forces all MI testing to start GDB 227 in console mode, with MI running on a separate TTY, on a secondary UI 228 started with "new-ui". 229 230 GDB_INOTIFY 231 232 For debugging parallel mode, it is handy to be able to see when a test 233 case writes to a file outside of its designated output directory. 234 235 If you have the inotify-tools package installed, you can set the 236 GDB_INOTIFY variable on the runtest command line. This will cause the 237 test suite to watch for parallel-unsafe file creations and report 238 them, both to stdout and in the test suite log file. 239 240 This setting is only meaningful in conjunction with GDB_PARALLEL. 241 242 TESTS 243 244 This variable is used to specify which set of tests to run. 245 It is passed to make (not runtest) and its contents are a space separated 246 list of tests to run. 247 248 If using GNU make then the contents are wildcard-expanded using 249 GNU make's $(wildcard) function. Test paths must be fully specified, 250 relative to the "testsuite" subdirectory. This allows one to run all 251 tests in a subdirectory by passing "gdb.subdir/*.exp", or more simply 252 by using the check-gdb.subdir target in the Makefile. 253 254 If for some strange reason one wanted to run all tests that begin with 255 the letter "d" that is also possible: TESTS="*/d*.exp". 256 257 Do not write */*.exp to specify all tests (assuming all tests are only 258 nested one level deep, which is not necessarily true). This will pick up 259 .exp files in ancillary directories like "lib" and "config". 260 Instead write gdb.*/*.exp. 261 262 Example: 263 264 make -j10 check TESTS="gdb.server/[s-w]*.exp */x*.exp" 265 266 If not using GNU make then the value is passed directly to runtest. 267 If not specified, all tests are run. 268 269 READ1 270 271 This make (not runtest) variable is used to specify whether the 272 testsuite preloads the read1.so library into expect. Any non-empty 273 value means true. See "Race detection" below. 274 275 GDB_TEST_SOCKETHOST 276 277 This variable can provide the hostname/address that should be used 278 when performing GDBserver-related tests. This is useful in some 279 situations, e.g., when you want to test the IPv6 connectivity of GDB 280 and GDBserver, or when using a different hostname/address is needed. 281 For example, to make GDB and GDBserver use IPv6-only connections, you 282 can do: 283 284 make check TESTS="gdb.server/*.exp" RUNTESTFLAGS='GDB_TEST_SOCKETHOST=tcp6:[::1]' 285 286 Note that only a hostname/address can be provided, without a port 287 number. 288 289 TS 290 291 This variable turns on the timestamp printing for each line of "make 292 check". Note that the timestamp will be printed on stdout output 293 only. In other words, there will be no timestamp output on either 294 gdb.sum and gdb.log files. If you would like to enable timestamp 295 printing, you can do: 296 297 make check TS=1 298 299 TS_FORMAT 300 301 You can provide a custom format for timestamp printing with this 302 variable. The format must be a string compatible with "strftime". 303 This variable is only useful when the TS variable is also provided. 304 If you would like to change the output format of the timestamp, you 305 can do: 306 307 make check TS=1 TS_FORMAT='[%b %H:%S]' 308 309 GDB_DEBUG 310 311 When set gdb debug is sent to the file gdb.debug in the test output 312 directory. It should be set to a comma separated list of gdb debug 313 components. 314 For example, to turn on debugging for infrun and target, you can do: 315 316 make check GDB_DEBUG="infrun,target" 317 318 GDBSERVER_DEBUG 319 320 When set gdbserver debug is sent to the a file in the test output directory. 321 It should be set to a comma separated list of the following options: 322 debug - write gdbserver debug to gdbserver.debug. 323 remote - write gdbserver remote debug to gdbserver.debug. 324 replay - write a replay log to the file gdbserver.replay for use 325 with gdbreplay. 326 Alternatively, it can be set to "all" to turn on all the above 327 For example, to turn on gdbserver debugging, you can do: 328 329 make check GDBSERVER_DEBUG="debug,replay" 330 331 GDB_TARGET_USERNAME 332 GDB_HOST_USERNAME 333 334 These settings are only used with the check-all-boards target, and 335 should be the usernames of two separate users on the local machine, 336 both of which the current user can ssh to without a password. 337 338 These users will be used by board files that simulate remote targets 339 by switching to a different user on the same machine. These users 340 will have random files copied into their $HOME directories, so it is a 341 good idea to setup new users just for this purpose. 342 343 Testing All Simple Boards 344 ************************* 345 346 There are a number of boards that ship with GDB that simulate common 347 debug scenarios. For example by sshing to a different user on the 348 local machine and running gdbserver as this alternative user we aim to 349 simulate a true remote debug experience. 350 351 There is a script binutils-gdb/gdb/testssuite/make-check-all.sh which 352 can be used to run a defined set of tests using all of the available 353 simple board files. Support for using this script is also included in 354 GDB's makefile, and can be used as: 355 356 make check-all-boards GDB_TARGET_USERNAME=remote-target \ 357 GDB_HOST_USERNAME=remote-host \ 358 TESTS="gdb.base/break.exp" 359 360 The 'remote-target' and 'remote-host' can be replaced with any user 361 names on the local machine, the only requirements are that the current 362 user must be able to ssh to these users without a password, and these 363 users must be happy to have arbitrary files copied into their $HOME 364 directory. Ideally, these users would be setup just for GDB testing. 365 366 The check-all-boards target requires that TESTS be defined, though it 367 is fine to include multiple tests. 368 369 The results are preserved, and can be found in the directory 370 gdb/testsuite/check-all/. The results are split by the board file 371 used. 372 373 Architecture-specific Parameters 374 ****************************** 375 376 This section documents architecture-specific parameters that can be used with 377 the GDB testsuite. 378 379 - AArch64 (Linux) 380 381 ARM_CC_FOR_TARGET 382 383 The AArch64 ports of GDB and GDBserver support debugging AArch32 384 32-bit programs running on 64-bit state. There are some tests under 385 gdb.multi/ that exercise this particular feature. 386 387 By default, the testsuite tries to find a compiler capable of 388 generating 32-bit executables. If no compiler is found, or if the 389 32-bit executable generated by the found compiler can't be executed 390 correctly, the tests will be marked UNSUPPORTED. The list of 32-bit 391 Arm compiler names the testsuite will try can be found in 392 gdb/testsuite/lib/gdb.exp:arm_cc_for_target. 393 394 You can set ARM_CC_FOR_TARGET to override the search and explicitly 395 specify the compiler to use. This variable should contain the command 396 line for the compiler, including the full path to it, if the compiler 397 is not in $PATH. 398 399 Example: 400 401 make check-gdb TESTS="gdb.multi/multi-arch.exp" RUNTESTFLAGS="ARM_CC_FOR_TARGET=arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc" 402 403 Race detection 404 ************** 405 406 The testsuite includes a mechanism that helps detect test races. 407 408 For example, say the program running under expect outputs "abcd", and 409 a test does something like this: 410 411 expect { 412 "a.*c" { 413 } 414 "b" { 415 } 416 "a" { 417 } 418 } 419 420 Which case happens to match depends on what expect manages to read 421 into its internal buffer in one go. If it manages to read three bytes 422 or more, then the first case matches. If it manages to read two 423 bytes, then the second case matches. If it manages to read only one 424 byte, then the third case matches. 425 426 To help detect these cases, the race detection mechanism preloads a 427 library into expect that forces the `read' system call to always 428 return at most 1 byte. 429 430 To enable this, either pass a non-empty value in the READ1 make 431 variable, or use the check-read1 make target instead of check. 432 433 Example: 434 435 make -j10 check-read1 TESTS="*/paginate-*.exp" 436 437 If you've already built the read1 support code, either via a previous 438 'check-read1' run, or by using "make read1", you can use: 439 440 make -j10 check READ1="1" 441 442 Note: While the intention is to detect races and make otherwise passing tests 443 fail, it can also have the effect of making otherwise failing tests pass. 444 This happens f.i. if the test is trying to match a gdb prompt using an end of 445 input marker "${gdb_prompt} $" and there is output after the gdb prompt. This 446 may either pass or fail in normal operation, but using check-read1 will ensure 447 that it passes. Use check-readmore to detect this type of failure. 448 449 Testsuite Configuration 450 *********************** 451 452 It is possible to adjust the behavior of the testsuite by defining 453 the global variables listed below, either in a `site.exp' file, 454 or in a board file. 455 456 gdb_test_timeout 457 458 Defining this variable changes the default timeout duration used 459 during communication with GDB. More specifically, the global variable 460 used during testing is `timeout', but this variable gets reset to 461 `gdb_test_timeout' at the beginning of each testcase, which ensures 462 that any local change to `timeout' in a testcase does not affect 463 subsequent testcases. 464 465 This global variable comes in handy when the debugger is slower than 466 normal due to the testing environment, triggering unexpected `TIMEOUT' 467 test failures. Examples include when testing on a remote machine, or 468 against a system where communications are slow. 469 470 If not specifically defined, this variable gets automatically defined 471 to the same value as `timeout' during the testsuite initialization. 472 The default value of the timeout is defined in the file 473 `testsuite/config/unix.exp' (at least for Unix hosts; board files may 474 have their own values). 475 476 gdb_reverse_timeout 477 478 Defining this variable changes the default timeout duration when tests 479 under gdb.reverse directory are running. Process record and reverse 480 debugging is so slow that its tests have unexpected `TIMEOUT' test 481 failures. This global variable is useful to bump up the value of 482 `timeout' for gdb.reverse tests and doesn't cause any delay where 483 actual failures happen in the rest of the testsuite. 484 485 486 Board Settings 487 ************** 488 489 DejaGNU includes the concept of a "board file", which specifies 490 testing details for a particular target (which are often bare circuit 491 boards, thus the name). 492 493 In the GDB testsuite specifically, the board file may include a 494 number of "board settings" that test cases may check before deciding 495 whether to exercise a particular feature. For instance, a board 496 lacking any I/O devices, or perhaps simply having its I/O devices 497 not wired up, should set `noinferiorio'. 498 499 Here are the supported board settings: 500 501 gdb,cannot_call_functions 502 503 The board does not support inferior call, that is, invoking inferior 504 functions in GDB. 505 506 gdb,can_reverse 507 508 The board supports reverse execution. 509 510 gdb,no_hardware_watchpoints 511 512 The board does not support hardware watchpoints. 513 514 gdb,nofileio 515 516 GDB is unable to intercept target file operations in remote and 517 perform them on the host. 518 519 gdb,noinferiorio 520 521 The board is unable to provide I/O capability to the inferior. 522 523 gdb,noresults 524 525 A program will not return an exit code or result code (or the value 526 of the result is undefined, and should not be looked at). 527 528 gdb,nosignals 529 530 The board does not support signals. 531 532 gdb,skip_huge_test 533 534 Skip time-consuming tests on the board with slow connection. 535 536 gdb,skip_float_tests 537 538 Skip tests related to floating point. 539 540 gdb,use_precord 541 542 The board supports process record. 543 544 gdb_init_command 545 gdb_init_commands 546 547 Commands to send to GDB every time a program is about to be run. The 548 first of these settings defines a single command as a string. The 549 second defines a TCL list of commands being a string each. The commands 550 are sent one by one in a sequence, first from `gdb_init_command', if any, 551 followed by individual commands from `gdb_init_command', if any, in this 552 list's order. 553 554 gdb_server_prog 555 556 The location of GDBserver. If GDBserver somewhere other than its 557 default location is used in test, specify the location of GDBserver in 558 this variable. The location is a file name for GDBserver, and may be 559 either absolute or relative to the testsuite subdirectory of the build 560 directory. 561 562 in_proc_agent 563 564 The location of the in-process agent (used for fast tracepoints and 565 other special tests). If the in-process agent of interest is anywhere 566 other than its default location, set this variable. The location is a 567 filename, and may be either absolute or relative to the testsuite 568 subdirectory of the build directory. 569 570 noargs 571 572 GDB does not support argument passing for inferior. 573 574 no_long_long 575 576 The board does not support type long long. 577 578 use_cygmon 579 580 The board is running the monitor Cygmon. 581 582 use_gdb_stub 583 584 The tests are running with a GDB stub. 585 586 exit_is_reliable 587 588 Set to true if GDB can assume that letting the program run to end 589 reliably results in program exits being reported as such, as opposed 590 to, e.g., the program ending in an infinite loop or the board 591 crashing/resetting. If not set, this defaults to $use_gdb_stub. In 592 other words, native targets are assumed reliable by default, and 593 remote stubs assumed unreliable. 594 595 gdb,predefined_tsv 596 597 The predefined trace state variables the board has. 598 599 gdb,no_thread_names 600 601 The target doesn't support thread names. 602 603 gdb,pie_flag 604 605 The flag required to force the compiler to produce position-independent 606 executables. 607 608 gdb,pie_ldflag 609 610 The flag required to force the linker to produce position-independent 611 executables. 612 613 gdb,nopie_flag 614 615 The flag required to force the compiler to produce non-position-independent 616 executables. 617 618 gdb,nopie_ldflag 619 620 The flag required to force the linker to produce non-position-independent 621 executables. 622 623 gdb,debug 624 625 When set gdb debug is sent to the file gdb.debug in the test output 626 directory. It should be set to a comma separated list of gdb debug 627 components. For example, to turn on debugging for infrun and target, set to 628 "infrun,target". 629 630 gdbserver,debug 631 632 When set gdbserver debug is sent to the file gdbserver.debug in the test 633 output directory. For valid values see the entry for GDBSERVER_DEBUG. 634 635 Testsuite Organization 636 ********************** 637 638 The testsuite is entirely contained in `gdb/testsuite'. The main 639 directory of the testsuite includes some makefiles and configury, but 640 these are minimal, and used for little besides cleaning up, since the 641 tests themselves handle the compilation of the programs that GDB will 642 run. 643 644 The file `testsuite/lib/gdb.exp' contains common utility procs useful 645 for all GDB tests, while the directory testsuite/config contains 646 configuration-specific files, typically used for special-purpose 647 definitions of procs like `gdb_load' and `gdb_start'. 648 649 The tests themselves are to be found in directories named 650 'testsuite/gdb.* and subdirectories of those. The names of the test 651 files must always end with ".exp". DejaGNU collects the test files by 652 wildcarding in the test directories, so both subdirectories and 653 individual files typically get chosen and run in alphabetical order. 654 655 The following lists some notable types of subdirectories and what they 656 are for. Since DejaGNU finds test files no matter where they are 657 located, and since each test file sets up its own compilation and 658 execution environment, this organization is simply for convenience and 659 intelligibility. 660 661 gdb.base 662 663 This is the base testsuite. The tests in it should apply to all 664 configurations of GDB (but generic native-only tests may live here). 665 The test programs should be in the subset of C that is both valid 666 ANSI/ISO C, and C++. 667 668 gdb.<lang> 669 670 Language-specific tests for any language besides C. Examples are 671 gdb.cp for C++ and gdb.rust for Rust. 672 673 gdb.<platform> 674 675 Non-portable tests. The tests are specific to a specific 676 configuration (host or target), such as eCos. 677 678 gdb.arch 679 680 Architecture-specific tests that are (usually) cross-platform. 681 682 gdb.<subsystem> 683 684 Tests that exercise a specific GDB subsystem in more depth. For 685 instance, gdb.disasm exercises various disassemblers, while 686 gdb.stabs tests pathways through the stabs symbol reader. 687 688 gdb.perf 689 690 GDB performance tests. 691 692 Writing Tests 693 ************* 694 695 In many areas, the GDB tests are already quite comprehensive; you 696 should be able to copy existing tests to handle new cases. Be aware 697 that older tests may use obsolete practices but have not yet been 698 updated. 699 700 You should try to use `gdb_test' whenever possible, since it includes 701 cases to handle all the unexpected errors that might happen. However, 702 it doesn't cost anything to add new test procedures; for instance, 703 gdb.base/exprs.exp defines a `test_expr' that calls `gdb_test' 704 multiple times. 705 706 Only use `send_gdb' and `gdb_expect' when absolutely necessary. Even 707 if GDB has several valid responses to a command, you can use 708 `gdb_test_multiple'. Like `gdb_test', `gdb_test_multiple' recognizes 709 internal errors and unexpected prompts. 710 711 Do not write tests which expect a literal tab character from GDB. On 712 some operating systems (e.g. OpenBSD) the TTY layer expands tabs to 713 spaces, so by the time GDB's output reaches `expect' the tab is gone. 714 715 The source language programs do *not* need to be in a consistent 716 style. Since GDB is used to debug programs written in many different 717 styles, it's worth having a mix of styles in the testsuite; for 718 instance, some GDB bugs involving the display of source lines might 719 never manifest themselves if the test programs used GNU coding style 720 uniformly. 721 722 Some testcase results need more detailed explanation: 723 724 KFAIL 725 726 Use KFAIL for known problem of GDB itself. You must specify the GDB 727 bug report number, as in these sample tests: 728 729 kfail "gdb/13392" "continue to marker 2" 730 731 or 732 733 setup_kfail gdb/13392 "*-*-*" 734 kfail "continue to marker 2" 735 736 737 XFAIL 738 739 Short for "expected failure", this indicates a known problem with the 740 environment. This could include limitations of the operating system, 741 compiler version, and other components. 742 743 This example from gdb.base/attach-pie-misread.exp is a sanity check 744 for the target environment: 745 746 # On x86_64 it is commonly about 4MB. 747 if {$stub_size > 25000000} { 748 xfail "stub size $stub_size is too large" 749 return 750 } 751 752 You should provide bug report number for the failing component of the 753 environment, if such bug report is available, as with this example 754 referring to a GCC problem: 755 756 if {[test_compiler_info {gcc-[0-3]-*}] 757 || [test_compiler_info {gcc-4-[0-5]-*}]} { 758 setup_xfail "gcc/46955" *-*-* 759 } 760 gdb_test "python print ttype.template_argument(2)" "&C::c" 761 762 Note that it is also acceptable, and often preferable, to avoid 763 running the test at all. This is the better option if the limitation 764 is intrinsic to the environment, rather than a bug expected to be 765 fixed in the near future. 766 767 Local vs Remote vs Native 768 ************************* 769 770 It's unfortunately easy to get confused in the testsuite about what's 771 native and what's not, what's remote and what's not. The confusion is 772 caused by the overlap in vocabulary between DejaGnu and GDB. 773 774 From a DejaGnu point of view: 775 776 - native: the host or target board is considered native if the its 777 triplet is the same as the build system's triplet, 778 779 - remote: the host or target board is considered remote if it's 780 running on a different machine, and thus require ssh, for example, 781 to run commands, versus simply running commands directly. 782 783 Note that they are not mutually exclusive, as you can have a remote 784 machine that has the same triplet as the build machine. 785 786 From a GDB point of view: 787 788 - native: when GDB uses system calls such as ptrace to interact 789 directly with processes on the same system its running on, 790 791 - remote: when GDB speaks the RSP (Remote Serial Protocol) with 792 another program doing the ptrace stuff. 793 794 Note that they are mutually exclusive. An inferior can only be either 795 debugged with the native target, or with the remote target a specific 796 time. 797 798 That means that there are cases where the target is not remote for 799 DejaGnu, but is remote for GDB (e.g. running GDBserver on the same 800 machine). 801 802 You can also have a remote target for DejaGnu, but native for GDB 803 (e.g. building on x86 a GDB that runs on ARM and running the 804 testsuite with a remote host). 805 806 Therefore, care must be taken to check for the right kind of remote. 807 Use [is_remote target] to check whether the DejaGnu target board is 808 remote. When what you really want to know is whether GDB is using the 809 remote protocol, because feature X is only available when GDB debugs 810 natively, check gdb_protocol instead. 811