ctest - CTest Command-Line Reference
- •
- ctest(1)
- Synopsis
- Description
- Options
- Label and Subproject Summary
- Build and Test Mode
- Dashboard Client
- Dashboard Client Steps
- Dashboard Client Modes
- Dashboard Client via CTest Command-Line
- Dashboard Client via CTest Script
- •
- Dashboard Client Configuration
- CTest Start Step
- CTest Update Step
- CTest Configure Step
- CTest Build Step
- CTest Test Step
- CTest Coverage Step
- CTest MemCheck Step
- CTest Submit Step
- Show as JSON Object Model
- Resource Allocation
- Resource Specification File
- RESOURCE_GROUPS Property
- Environment Variables
- •
- See Also
ctest [<options>]
ctest --build-and-test <path-to-source> <path-to-build>
--build-generator <generator> [<options>...]
[--build-options <opts>...] [--test-command <command> [<args>...]]
ctest {-D <dashboard> | -M <model> -T <action> | -S <script> | -SP <script>}
[-- <dashboard-options>...]
The ctest executable is the CMake test driver program.
CMake-generated build trees created for projects that use the
enable_testing() and add_test() commands have testing support.
This program will run the tests and report results.
- -C <cfg>, --build-config
<cfg>
- Choose configuration to test.
Some CMake-generated build trees can have multiple build
configurations in the same tree. This option can be used to specify
which one should be tested. Example configurations are Debug and
Release.
- --progress
- Enable short progress output from tests.
When the output of ctest is being sent directly to a
terminal, the progress through the set of tests is reported by updating
the same line rather than printing start and end messages for each test
on new lines. This can significantly reduce the verbosity of the test
output. Test completion messages are still output on their own line for
failed tests and the final test summary will also still be logged.
This option can also be enabled by setting the environment
variable CTEST_PROGRESS_OUTPUT.
- -V,--verbose
- Enable verbose output from tests.
Test output is normally suppressed and only summary
information is displayed. This option will show all test output.
- -VV,--extra-verbose
- Enable more verbose output from tests.
Test output is normally suppressed and only summary
information is displayed. This option will show even more test
output.
- --debug
- Displaying more verbose internals of CTest.
This feature will result in a large number of output that is
mostly useful for debugging dashboard problems.
- --output-on-failure
- Output anything outputted by the test program if the test should fail.
This option can also be enabled by setting the
CTEST_OUTPUT_ON_FAILURE environment variable
- --stop-on-failure
- Stop running the tests when the first failure happens.
- -F
- Enable failover.
This option allows CTest to resume a test set execution that
was previously interrupted. If no interruption occurred, the -F
option will have no effect.
- -j <jobs>, --parallel
<jobs>
- Run the tests in parallel using the given number of jobs.
This option tells CTest to run the tests in parallel using
given number of jobs. This option can also be set by setting the
CTEST_PARALLEL_LEVEL environment variable.
This option can be used with the PROCESSORS test
property.
See Label and Subproject Summary.
- --resource-spec-file
<file>
- Run CTest with resource allocation enabled, using the resource
specification file specified in <file>.
When ctest is run as a Dashboard Client this
sets the ResourceSpecFile option of the CTest Test
Step.
- --test-load
<level>
- While running tests in parallel (e.g. with -j), try not to start
tests when they may cause the CPU load to pass above a given threshold.
When ctest is run as a Dashboard Client this
sets the TestLoad option of the CTest Test Step.
- -Q,--quiet
- Make CTest quiet.
This option will suppress all the output. The output log file
will still be generated if the --output-log is specified. Options
such as --verbose, --extra-verbose, and --debug are
ignored if --quiet is specified.
- -O <file>, --output-log
<file>
- Output to log file.
This option tells CTest to write all its output to a
<file> log file.
- -N,--show-only[=<format>]
- Disable actual execution of tests.
This option tells CTest to list the tests that would be run
but not actually run them. Useful in conjunction with the -R and
-E options.
<format> can be one of the following values.
- human
- Human-friendly output. This is not guaranteed to be stable. This is the
default.
- json-v1
- Dump the test information in JSON format. See Show as JSON Object
Model.
- -L <regex>,
--label-regex <regex>
- Run tests with labels matching regular expression.
This option tells CTest to run only the tests whose labels
match the given regular expression.
- -R <regex>,
--tests-regex <regex>
- Run tests matching regular expression.
This option tells CTest to run only the tests whose names
match the given regular expression.
- -E <regex>,
--exclude-regex <regex>
- Exclude tests matching regular expression.
This option tells CTest to NOT run the tests whose names match
the given regular expression.
- -LE <regex>,
--label-exclude <regex>
- Exclude tests with labels matching regular expression.
This option tells CTest to NOT run the tests whose labels
match the given regular expression.
- -FA <regex>,
--fixture-exclude-any <regex>
- Exclude fixtures matching <regex> from automatically adding
any tests to the test set.
If a test in the set of tests to be executed requires a
particular fixture, that fixture’s setup and cleanup tests would
normally be added to the test set automatically. This option prevents
adding setup or cleanup tests for fixtures matching the
<regex>. Note that all other fixture behavior is retained,
including test dependencies and skipping tests that have fixture setup
tests that fail.
- -FS <regex>,
--fixture-exclude-setup <regex>
- Same as -FA except only matching setup tests are excluded.
- -FC <regex>,
--fixture-exclude-cleanup <regex>
- Same as -FA except only matching cleanup tests are excluded.
- -D <dashboard>,
--dashboard <dashboard>
- Execute dashboard test.
This option tells CTest to act as a CDash client and perform a
dashboard test. All tests are <Mode><Test>, where
<Mode> can be Experimental, Nightly, and
Continuous, and <Test> can be Start,
Update, Configure, Build, Test,
Coverage, and Submit.
See Dashboard Client.
- -D
<var>:<type>=<value>
- Define a variable for script mode.
Pass in variable values on the command line. Use in
conjunction with -S to pass variable values to a dashboard
script. Parsing -D arguments as variable values is only attempted
if the value following -D does not match any of the known
dashboard types.
- -M <model>, --test-model
<model>
- Sets the model for a dashboard.
This option tells CTest to act as a CDash client where the
<model> can be Experimental, Nightly, and
Continuous. Combining -M and -T is similar to
-D.
See Dashboard Client.
- -T <action>,
--test-action <action>
- Sets the dashboard action to perform.
This option tells CTest to act as a CDash client and perform
some action such as start, build, test etc. See
Dashboard Client Steps for the full list of actions. Combining
-M and -T is similar to -D.
See Dashboard Client.
- -S <script>, --script
<script>
- Execute a dashboard for a configuration.
This option tells CTest to load in a configuration script
which sets a number of parameters such as the binary and source
directories. Then CTest will do what is required to create and run a
dashboard. This option basically sets up a dashboard and then runs
ctest -D with the appropriate options.
See Dashboard Client.
- -SP <script>,
--script-new-process <script>
- Execute a dashboard for a configuration.
This option does the same operations as -S but it will
do them in a separate process. This is primarily useful in cases where
the script may modify the environment and you do not want the modified
environment to impact other -S scripts.
See Dashboard Client.
- -I
[Start,End,Stride,test#,test#|Test file],
--tests-information
- Run a specific number of tests by number.
This option causes CTest to run tests starting at number
Start, ending at number End, and incrementing by
Stride. Any additional numbers after Stride are considered
individual test numbers. Start, End, or Stride can
be empty. Optionally a file can be given that contains the same syntax
as the command line.
- -U, --union
- Take the Union of -I and -R.
When both -R and -I are specified by default the
intersection of tests are run. By specifying -U the union of
tests is run instead.
- --rerun-failed
- Run only the tests that failed previously.
This option tells CTest to perform only the tests that failed
during its previous run. When this option is specified, CTest ignores
all other options intended to modify the list of tests to run
(-L, -R, -E, -LE, -I, etc). In the
event that CTest runs and no tests fail, subsequent calls to CTest with
the --rerun-failed option will run the set of tests that most
recently failed (if any).
- --repeat
<mode>:<n>
- Run tests repeatedly based on the given <mode> up to
<n> times. The modes are:
- until-fail
- Require each test to run <n> times without failing in order
to pass. This is useful in finding sporadic failures in test cases.
- until-pass
- Allow each test to run up to <n> times in order to pass.
Repeats tests if they fail for any reason. This is useful in tolerating
sporadic failures in test cases.
- after-timeout
- Allow each test to run up to <n> times in order to pass.
Repeats tests only if they timeout. This is useful in tolerating sporadic
timeouts in test cases on busy machines.
- --repeat-until-fail
<n>
- Equivalent to --repeat until-fail:<n>.
- --max-width
<width>
- Set the max width for a test name to output.
Set the maximum width for each test name to show in the
output. This allows the user to widen the output to avoid clipping the
test name which can be very annoying.
- --interactive-debug-mode
[0|1]
- Set the interactive mode to 0 or 1.
This option causes CTest to run tests in either an interactive
mode or a non-interactive mode. On Windows this means that in
non-interactive mode, all system debug pop up windows are blocked. In
dashboard mode (Experimental, Nightly, Continuous),
the default is non-interactive. When just running tests not for a
dashboard the default is to allow popups and interactive debugging.
- --no-label-summary
- Disable timing summary information for labels.
This option tells CTest not to print summary information for
each label associated with the tests run. If there are no labels on the
tests, nothing extra is printed.
See Label and Subproject Summary.
- --no-subproject-summary
- Disable timing summary information for subprojects.
This option tells CTest not to print summary information for
each subproject associated with the tests run. If there are no
subprojects on the tests, nothing extra is printed.
See Label and Subproject Summary.
--build-and-test See Build and Test Mode.
- --test-output-size-passed
<size>
- Limit the output for passed tests to <size> bytes.
- --test-output-size-failed
<size>
- Limit the output for failed tests to <size> bytes.
- --overwrite
- Overwrite CTest configuration option.
By default CTest uses configuration options from configuration
file. This option will overwrite the configuration option.
- --force-new-ctest-process
- Run child CTest instances as new processes.
By default CTest will run child CTest instances within the
same process. If this behavior is not desired, this argument will
enforce new processes for child CTest processes.
- --schedule-random
- Use a random order for scheduling tests.
This option will run the tests in a random order. It is
commonly used to detect implicit dependencies in a test suite.
- --submit-index
- Legacy option for old Dart2 dashboard server feature. Do not use.
- --timeout
<seconds>
- Set the default test timeout.
This option effectively sets a timeout on all tests that do
not already have a timeout set on them via the TIMEOUT
property.
- --stop-time
<time>
- Set a time at which all tests should stop running.
Set a real time of day at which all tests should timeout.
Example: 7:00:00 -0400. Any time format understood by the curl
date parser is accepted. Local time is assumed if no timezone is
specified.
- --print-labels
- Print all available test labels.
This option will not run any tests, it will simply print the
list of all labels associated with the test set.
- --no-tests=<[error|ignore]>
- Regard no tests found either as error or ignore it.
If no tests were found, the default behavior of CTest is to
always log an error message but to return an error code in script mode
only. This option unifies the behavior of CTest by either returning an
error code if no tests were found or by ignoring it.
- --help,-help,-usage,-h,-H,/?
- Print usage information and exit.
Usage describes the basic command line interface and its
options.
- --version,-version,/V
[<f>]
- Show program name/version banner and exit.
If a file is specified, the version is written into it. The
help is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-full
[<f>]
- Print all help manuals and exit.
All manuals are printed in a human-readable text format. The
help is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-manual
<man> [<f>]
- Print one help manual and exit.
The specified manual is printed in a human-readable text
format. The help is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-manual-list
[<f>]
- List help manuals available and exit.
The list contains all manuals for which help may be obtained
by using the --help-manual option followed by a manual name. The
help is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-command
<cmd> [<f>]
- Print help for one command and exit.
The cmake-commands(7) manual entry for
<cmd> is printed in a human-readable text format. The help
is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-command-list
[<f>]
- List commands with help available and exit.
The list contains all commands for which help may be obtained
by using the --help-command option followed by a command name.
The help is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-commands
[<f>]
- Print cmake-commands manual and exit.
The cmake-commands(7) manual is printed in a
human-readable text format. The help is printed to a named <f>ile
if given.
- --help-module
<mod> [<f>]
- Print help for one module and exit.
The cmake-modules(7) manual entry for
<mod> is printed in a human-readable text format. The help
is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-module-list
[<f>]
- List modules with help available and exit.
The list contains all modules for which help may be obtained
by using the --help-module option followed by a module name. The
help is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-modules
[<f>]
- Print cmake-modules manual and exit.
The cmake-modules(7) manual is printed in a
human-readable text format. The help is printed to a named <f>ile
if given.
- --help-policy
<cmp> [<f>]
- Print help for one policy and exit.
The cmake-policies(7) manual entry for
<cmp> is printed in a human-readable text format. The help
is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-policy-list
[<f>]
- List policies with help available and exit.
The list contains all policies for which help may be obtained
by using the --help-policy option followed by a policy name. The
help is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-policies
[<f>]
- Print cmake-policies manual and exit.
The cmake-policies(7) manual is printed in a
human-readable text format. The help is printed to a named <f>ile
if given.
- --help-property
<prop> [<f>]
- Print help for one property and exit.
The cmake-properties(7) manual entries for
<prop> are printed in a human-readable text format. The
help is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-property-list
[<f>]
- List properties with help available and exit.
The list contains all properties for which help may be
obtained by using the --help-property option followed by a
property name. The help is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-properties
[<f>]
- Print cmake-properties manual and exit.
The cmake-properties(7) manual is printed in a
human-readable text format. The help is printed to a named <f>ile
if given.
- --help-variable
<var> [<f>]
- Print help for one variable and exit.
The cmake-variables(7) manual entry for
<var> is printed in a human-readable text format. The help
is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-variable-list
[<f>]
- List variables with help available and exit.
The list contains all variables for which help may be obtained
by using the --help-variable option followed by a variable name.
The help is printed to a named <f>ile if given.
- --help-variables
[<f>]
- Print cmake-variables manual and exit.
The cmake-variables(7) manual is printed in a
human-readable text format. The help is printed to a named <f>ile
if given.
CTest prints timing summary information for each LABEL and
subproject associated with the tests run. The label time summary will not
include labels that are mapped to subprojects.
When the PROCESSORS test property is set, CTest will
display a weighted test timing result in label and subproject summaries. The
time is reported with sec*proc instead of just sec.
The weighted time summary reported for each label or subproject
j is computed as:
Weighted Time Summary for Label/Subproject j =
sum(raw_test_time[j,i] * num_processors[j,i], i=1...num_tests[j])
for labels/subprojects j=1...total
where:
- raw_test_time[j,i]: Wall-clock time for the i test for the
j label or subproject
- num_processors[j,i]: Value of the CTest PROCESSORS property
for the i test for the j label or subproject
- num_tests[j]: Number of tests associated with the j label or
subproject
- total: Total number of labels or subprojects that have at least one
test run
Therefore, the weighted time summary for each label or subproject
represents the amount of time that CTest gave to run the tests for each
label or subproject and gives a good representation of the total expense of
the tests for each label or subproject when compared to other labels or
subprojects.
For example, if SubprojectA showed 100 sec*proc and
SubprojectB showed 10 sec*proc, then CTest allocated
approximately 10 times the CPU/core time to run the tests for
SubprojectA than for SubprojectB (e.g. so if effort is going
to be expended to reduce the cost of the test suite for the whole project,
then reducing the cost of the test suite for SubprojectA would likely
have a larger impact than effort to reduce the cost of the test suite for
SubprojectB).
CTest provides a command-line signature to configure (i.e. run
cmake on), build, and/or execute a test:
ctest --build-and-test <path-to-source> <path-to-build>
--build-generator <generator>
[<options>...]
[--build-options <opts>...]
[--test-command <command> [<args>...]]
The configure and test steps are optional. The arguments to this
command line are the source and binary directories. The
--build-generator option must be provided to use
--build-and-test. If --test-command is specified then that
will be run after the build is complete. Other options that affect this mode
include:
- --build-target
- Specify a specific target to build.
If left out the all target is built.
- --build-nocmake
- Run the build without running cmake first.
Skip the cmake step.
- --build-run-dir
- Specify directory to run programs from.
Directory where programs will be after it has been
compiled.
- --build-two-config
- Run CMake twice.
- --build-exe-dir
- Specify the directory for the executable.
- --build-generator
- Specify the generator to use. See the cmake-generators(7)
manual.
- --build-generator-platform
- Specify the generator-specific platform.
- --build-generator-toolset
- Specify the generator-specific toolset.
- --build-project
- Specify the name of the project to build.
- --build-makeprogram
- Specify the explicit make program to be used by CMake when configuring and
building the project. Only applicable for Make and Ninja based
generators.
- --build-noclean
- Skip the make clean step.
- --build-config-sample
- A sample executable to use to determine the configuration that should be
used. e.g. Debug, Release etc.
- --build-options
- Additional options for configuring the build (i.e. for CMake, not for the
build tool). Note that if this is specified, the --build-options
keyword and its arguments must be the last option given on the command
line, with the possible exception of --test-command.
- --test-command
- The command to run as the test step with the --build-and-test
option. All arguments following this keyword will be assumed to be part of
the test command line, so it must be the last option given.
- --test-timeout
- The time limit in seconds
CTest can operate as a client for the CDash software
quality dashboard application. As a dashboard client, CTest performs a
sequence of steps to configure, build, and test software, and then submits
the results to a CDash server. The command-line signature used to
submit to CDash is:
ctest (-D <dashboard> | -M <model> -T <action> | -S <script> | -SP <script>)
[-- <dashboard-options>...]
Options for Dashboard Client include:
- --group
<group>
- Specify what group you’d like to submit results to
Submit dashboard to specified group instead of default one. By
default, the dashboard is submitted to Nightly, Experimental, or
Continuous group, but by specifying this option, the group can be
arbitrary.
This replaces the deprecated option --track. Despite
the name change its behavior is unchanged.
- -A <file>, --add-notes
<file>
- Add a notes file with submission.
This option tells CTest to include a notes file when
submitting dashboard.
- --tomorrow-tag
- Nightly or Experimental starts with next day tag.
This is useful if the build will not finish in one day.
- Submit extra files to the dashboard.
This option will submit extra files to the dashboard.
- --http1.0
- Submit using HTTP 1.0.
This option will force CTest to use HTTP 1.0 to submit
files to the dashboard, instead of HTTP 1.1.
- --no-compress-output
- Do not compress test output when submitting.
This flag will turn off automatic compression of test output.
Use this to maintain compatibility with an older version of CDash which
doesn’t support compressed test output.
CTest defines an ordered list of testing steps of which some or
all may be run as a dashboard client:
- Start
- Start a new dashboard submission to be composed of results recorded by the
following steps. See the CTest Start Step section below.
- Update
- Update the source tree from its version control repository. Record the old
and new versions and the list of updated source files. See the CTest
Update Step section below.
- Configure
- Configure the software by running a command in the build tree. Record the
configuration output log. See the CTest Configure Step section
below.
- Build
- Build the software by running a command in the build tree. Record the
build output log and detect warnings and errors. See the CTest Build
Step section below.
- Test
- Test the software by loading a CTestTestfile.cmake from the build
tree and executing the defined tests. Record the output and result of each
test. See the CTest Test Step section below.
- Coverage
- Compute coverage of the source code by running a coverage analysis tool
and recording its output. See the CTest Coverage Step section
below.
- MemCheck
- Run the software test suite through a memory check tool. Record the test
output, results, and issues reported by the tool. See the CTest
MemCheck Step section below.
- Submit
- Submit results recorded from other testing steps to the software quality
dashboard server. See the CTest Submit Step section below.
CTest defines three modes of operation as a dashboard client:
- Nightly
- This mode is intended to be invoked once per day, typically at night. It
enables the Start, Update, Configure, Build,
Test, Coverage, and Submit steps by default. Selected
steps run even if the Update step reports no changes to the source
tree.
- Continuous
- This mode is intended to be invoked repeatedly throughout the day. It
enables the Start, Update, Configure, Build,
Test, Coverage, and Submit steps by default, but
exits after the Update step if it reports no changes to the source
tree.
- Experimental
- This mode is intended to be invoked by a developer to test local changes.
It enables the Start, Configure, Build, Test,
Coverage, and Submit steps by default.
CTest can perform testing on an already-generated build tree. Run
the ctest command with the current working directory set to the build
tree and use one of these signatures:
ctest -D <mode>[<step>]
ctest -M <mode> [ -T <step> ]...
The <mode> must be one of the above Dashboard
Client Modes, and each <step> must be one of the above
Dashboard Client Steps.
CTest reads the Dashboard Client Configuration settings
from a file in the build tree called either CTestConfiguration.ini or
DartConfiguration.tcl (the names are historical). The format of the
file is:
# Lines starting in '#' are comments.
# Other non-blank lines are key-value pairs.
<setting>: <value>
where <setting> is the setting name and
<value> is the setting value.
In build trees generated by CMake, this configuration file is
generated by the CTest module if included by the project. The module
uses variables to obtain a value for each setting as documented with the
settings below.
CTest can perform testing driven by a cmake-language(7)
script that creates and maintains the source and build tree as well as
performing the testing steps. Run the ctest command with the current
working directory set outside of any build tree and use one of these
signatures:
ctest -S <script>
ctest -SP <script>
The <script> file must call CTest Commands commands
to run testing steps explicitly as documented below. The commands obtain
Dashboard Client Configuration settings from their arguments or from
variables set in the script.
The Dashboard Client Steps may be configured by named
settings as documented in the following sections.
Start a new dashboard submission to be composed of results
recorded by the following steps.
In a CTest Script, the ctest_start() command runs
this step. Arguments to the command may specify some of the step settings.
The command first runs the command-line specified by the
CTEST_CHECKOUT_COMMAND variable, if set, to initialize the source
directory.
Configuration settings include:
- BuildDirectory
- The full path to the project build tree.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY
- CTest module variable: PROJECT_BINARY_DIR
- SourceDirectory
- The full path to the project source tree.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_SOURCE_DIRECTORY
- CTest module variable: PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR
In a CTest Script, the ctest_update() command runs
this step. Arguments to the command may specify some of the step
settings.
Configuration settings to specify the version control tool
include:
- BZRCommand
- bzr command-line tool to use if source tree is managed by
Bazaar.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_BZR_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: none
- BZRUpdateOptions
- Command-line options to the BZRCommand when updating the
source.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_BZR_UPDATE_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: none
- CVSCommand
- cvs command-line tool to use if source tree is managed by CVS.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_CVS_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: CVSCOMMAND
- CVSUpdateOptions
- Command-line options to the CVSCommand when updating the
source.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_CVS_UPDATE_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: CVS_UPDATE_OPTIONS
- GITCommand
- git command-line tool to use if source tree is managed by Git.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_GIT_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: GITCOMMAND
The source tree is updated by git fetch followed by git
reset --hard to the FETCH_HEAD. The result is the same as git
pull except that any local modifications are overwritten. Use
GITUpdateCustom to specify a different approach.
- GITInitSubmodules
- If set, CTest will update the repository’s submodules before
updating.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_GIT_INIT_SUBMODULES
- CTest module variable: CTEST_GIT_INIT_SUBMODULES
- GITUpdateCustom
- Specify a custom command line (as a semicolon-separated list) to run in
the source tree (Git work tree) to update it instead of running the
GITCommand.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_GIT_UPDATE_CUSTOM
- CTest module variable: CTEST_GIT_UPDATE_CUSTOM
- GITUpdateOptions
- Command-line options to the GITCommand when updating the
source.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_GIT_UPDATE_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: GIT_UPDATE_OPTIONS
- HGCommand
- hg command-line tool to use if source tree is managed by
Mercurial.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_HG_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: none
- HGUpdateOptions
- Command-line options to the HGCommand when updating the
source.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_HG_UPDATE_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: none
- P4Client
- Value of the -c option to the P4Command.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_P4_CLIENT
- CTest module variable: CTEST_P4_CLIENT
- P4Command
- p4 command-line tool to use if source tree is managed by
Perforce.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_P4_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: P4COMMAND
- P4Options
- Command-line options to the P4Command for all invocations.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_P4_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: CTEST_P4_OPTIONS
- P4UpdateCustom
- Specify a custom command line (as a semicolon-separated list) to run in
the source tree (Perforce tree) to update it instead of running the
P4Command.
- CTest Script variable: none
- CTest module variable: CTEST_P4_UPDATE_CUSTOM
- P4UpdateOptions
- Command-line options to the P4Command when updating the
source.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_P4_UPDATE_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: CTEST_P4_UPDATE_OPTIONS
- SVNCommand
- svn command-line tool to use if source tree is managed by
Subversion.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_SVN_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: SVNCOMMAND
- SVNOptions
- Command-line options to the SVNCommand for all invocations.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_SVN_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: CTEST_SVN_OPTIONS
- SVNUpdateOptions
- Command-line options to the SVNCommand when updating the
source.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_SVN_UPDATE_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: SVN_UPDATE_OPTIONS
- UpdateCommand
- Specify the version-control command-line tool to use without detecting the
VCS that manages the source tree.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_UPDATE_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: <VCS>COMMAND when
UPDATE_TYPE is <vcs>, else UPDATE_COMMAND
- UpdateOptions
- Command-line options to the UpdateCommand.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_UPDATE_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: <VCS>_UPDATE_OPTIONS when
UPDATE_TYPE is <vcs>, else UPDATE_OPTIONS
- UpdateType
- Specify the version-control system that manages the source tree if it
cannot be detected automatically. The value may be bzr, cvs,
git, hg, p4, or svn.
- CTest Script variable: none, detected from source tree
- CTest module variable: UPDATE_TYPE if set, else
CTEST_UPDATE_TYPE
- UpdateVersionOnly
- Specify that you want the version control update command to only discover
the current version that is checked out, and not to update to a different
version.
- •
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_UPDATE_VERSION_ONLY
- UpdateVersionOverride
- Specify the current version of your source tree.
When this variable is set to a non-empty string, CTest will
report the value you specified rather than using the update command to
discover the current version that is checked out. Use of this variable
supersedes UpdateVersionOnly. Like UpdateVersionOnly,
using this variable tells CTest not to update the source tree to a
different version.
- •
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_UPDATE_VERSION_OVERRIDE
Additional configuration settings include:
- NightlyStartTime
- In the Nightly dashboard mode, specify the “nightly start
time”. With centralized version control systems (cvs and
svn), the Update step checks out the version of the software
as of this time so that multiple clients choose a common version to test.
This is not well-defined in distributed version-control systems so the
setting is ignored.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_NIGHTLY_START_TIME
- CTest module variable: NIGHTLY_START_TIME if set, else
CTEST_NIGHTLY_START_TIME
In a CTest Script, the ctest_configure() command
runs this step. Arguments to the command may specify some of the step
settings.
Configuration settings include:
- ConfigureCommand
- Command-line to launch the software configuration process. It will be
executed in the location specified by the BuildDirectory
setting.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_CONFIGURE_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: CMAKE_COMMAND followed by
PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR
- LabelsForSubprojects
- Specify a semicolon-separated list of labels that will be treated as
subprojects. This mapping will be passed on to CDash when configure, test
or build results are submitted.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_LABELS_FOR_SUBPROJECTS
- CTest module variable: CTEST_LABELS_FOR_SUBPROJECTS
See Label and Subproject Summary.
In a CTest Script, the ctest_build() command runs
this step. Arguments to the command may specify some of the step
settings.
Configuration settings include:
- DefaultCTestConfigurationType
- When the build system to be launched allows build-time selection of the
configuration (e.g. Debug, Release), this specifies the
default configuration to be built when no -C option is given to the
ctest command. The value will be substituted into the value of
MakeCommand to replace the literal string
${CTEST_CONFIGURATION_TYPE} if it appears.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_CONFIGURATION_TYPE
- CTest module variable: DEFAULT_CTEST_CONFIGURATION_TYPE,
initialized by the CMAKE_CONFIG_TYPE environment variable
- LabelsForSubprojects
- Specify a semicolon-separated list of labels that will be treated as
subprojects. This mapping will be passed on to CDash when configure, test
or build results are submitted.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_LABELS_FOR_SUBPROJECTS
- CTest module variable: CTEST_LABELS_FOR_SUBPROJECTS
See Label and Subproject Summary.
- MakeCommand
- Command-line to launch the software build process. It will be executed in
the location specified by the BuildDirectory setting.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_BUILD_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: MAKECOMMAND, initialized by the
build_command() command
- UseLaunchers
- For build trees generated by CMake using one of the Makefile Generators or
the Ninja generator, specify whether the CTEST_USE_LAUNCHERS
feature is enabled by the CTestUseLaunchers module (also included
by the CTest module). When enabled, the generated build system
wraps each invocation of the compiler, linker, or custom command line with
a “launcher” that communicates with CTest via environment
variables and files to report granular build warning and error
information. Otherwise, CTest must “scrape” the build output
log for diagnostics.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_USE_LAUNCHERS
- CTest module variable: CTEST_USE_LAUNCHERS
In a CTest Script, the ctest_test() command runs
this step. Arguments to the command may specify some of the step
settings.
Configuration settings include:
- ResourceSpecFile
- Specify a resource specification file.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE
- CTest module variable: CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE
See Resource Allocation for more information.
- LabelsForSubprojects
- Specify a semicolon-separated list of labels that will be treated as
subprojects. This mapping will be passed on to CDash when configure, test
or build results are submitted.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_LABELS_FOR_SUBPROJECTS
- CTest module variable: CTEST_LABELS_FOR_SUBPROJECTS
See Label and Subproject Summary.
- TestLoad
- While running tests in parallel (e.g. with -j), try not to start
tests when they may cause the CPU load to pass above a given
threshold.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_TEST_LOAD
- CTest module variable: CTEST_TEST_LOAD
- TimeOut
- The default timeout for each test if not specified by the TIMEOUT
test property.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_TEST_TIMEOUT
- CTest module variable: DART_TESTING_TIMEOUT
In a CTest Script, the ctest_coverage() command runs
this step. Arguments to the command may specify some of the step
settings.
Configuration settings include:
- CoverageCommand
- Command-line tool to perform software coverage analysis. It will be
executed in the location specified by the BuildDirectory
setting.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_COVERAGE_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: COVERAGE_COMMAND
- Specify command-line options to the CoverageCommand tool.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_COVERAGE_EXTRA_FLAGS
- CTest module variable: COVERAGE_EXTRA_FLAGS
These options are the first arguments passed to
CoverageCommand.
In a CTest Script, the ctest_memcheck() command runs
this step. Arguments to the command may specify some of the step
settings.
Configuration settings include:
- MemoryCheckCommand
- Command-line tool to perform dynamic analysis. Test command lines will be
launched through this tool.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_MEMORYCHECK_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: MEMORYCHECK_COMMAND
- MemoryCheckCommandOptions
- Specify command-line options to the MemoryCheckCommand tool. They
will be placed prior to the test command line.
- CTest Script variable:
CTEST_MEMORYCHECK_COMMAND_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: MEMORYCHECK_COMMAND_OPTIONS
- MemoryCheckType
- Specify the type of memory checking to perform.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_MEMORYCHECK_TYPE
- CTest module variable: MEMORYCHECK_TYPE
- MemoryCheckSanitizerOptions
- Specify options to sanitizers when running with a sanitize-enabled
build.
- CTest Script variable:
CTEST_MEMORYCHECK_SANITIZER_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: MEMORYCHECK_SANITIZER_OPTIONS
- MemoryCheckSuppressionFile
- Specify a file containing suppression rules for the
MemoryCheckCommand tool. It will be passed with options appropriate
to the tool.
- CTest Script variable:
CTEST_MEMORYCHECK_SUPPRESSIONS_FILE
- CTest module variable: MEMORYCHECK_SUPPRESSIONS_FILE
Additional configuration settings include:
- BoundsCheckerCommand
- Specify a MemoryCheckCommand that is known to be command-line
compatible with Bounds Checker.
- CTest Script variable: none
- CTest module variable: none
- PurifyCommand
- Specify a MemoryCheckCommand that is known to be command-line
compatible with Purify.
- CTest Script variable: none
- CTest module variable: PURIFYCOMMAND
- ValgrindCommand
- Specify a MemoryCheckCommand that is known to be command-line
compatible with Valgrind.
- CTest Script variable: none
- CTest module variable: VALGRIND_COMMAND
- ValgrindCommandOptions
- Specify command-line options to the ValgrindCommand tool. They will
be placed prior to the test command line.
- CTest Script variable: none
- CTest module variable: VALGRIND_COMMAND_OPTIONS
- DrMemoryCommand
- Specify a MemoryCheckCommand that is known to be a command-line
compatible with DrMemory.
- CTest Script variable: none
- CTest module variable: DRMEMORY_COMMAND
- DrMemoryCommandOptions
- Specify command-line options to the DrMemoryCommand tool. They will
be placed prior to the test command line.
- CTest Script variable: none
- CTest module variable: DRMEMORY_COMMAND_OPTIONS
In a CTest Script, the ctest_submit() command runs
this step. Arguments to the command may specify some of the step
settings.
Configuration settings include:
- BuildName
- Describe the dashboard client platform with a short string. (Operating
system, compiler, etc.)
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_BUILD_NAME
- CTest module variable: BUILDNAME
- CDashVersion
- Legacy option. Not used.
- CTest Script variable: none, detected from server
- CTest module variable: CTEST_CDASH_VERSION
- CTestSubmitRetryCount
- Specify a number of attempts to retry submission on network failure.
- CTest Script variable: none, use the ctest_submit()
RETRY_COUNT option.
- CTest module variable: CTEST_SUBMIT_RETRY_COUNT
- CTestSubmitRetryDelay
- Specify a delay before retrying submission on network failure.
- CTest Script variable: none, use the ctest_submit()
RETRY_DELAY option.
- CTest module variable: CTEST_SUBMIT_RETRY_DELAY
- CurlOptions
- Specify a semicolon-separated list of options to control the Curl library
that CTest uses internally to connect to the server. Possible options are
CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER_OFF and
CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST_OFF.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_CURL_OPTIONS
- CTest module variable: CTEST_CURL_OPTIONS
- DropLocation
- Legacy option. When SubmitURL is not set, it is constructed from
DropMethod, DropSiteUser, DropSitePassword,
DropSite, and DropLocation.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_DROP_LOCATION
- CTest module variable: DROP_LOCATION if set, else
CTEST_DROP_LOCATION
- DropMethod
- Legacy option. When SubmitURL is not set, it is constructed from
DropMethod, DropSiteUser, DropSitePassword,
DropSite, and DropLocation.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_DROP_METHOD
- CTest module variable: DROP_METHOD if set, else
CTEST_DROP_METHOD
- DropSite
- Legacy option. When SubmitURL is not set, it is constructed from
DropMethod, DropSiteUser, DropSitePassword,
DropSite, and DropLocation.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_DROP_SITE
- CTest module variable: DROP_SITE if set, else
CTEST_DROP_SITE
- DropSitePassword
- Legacy option. When SubmitURL is not set, it is constructed from
DropMethod, DropSiteUser, DropSitePassword,
DropSite, and DropLocation.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_DROP_SITE_PASSWORD
- CTest module variable: DROP_SITE_PASSWORD if set, else
CTEST_DROP_SITE_PASWORD
- DropSiteUser
- Legacy option. When SubmitURL is not set, it is constructed from
DropMethod, DropSiteUser, DropSitePassword,
DropSite, and DropLocation.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_DROP_SITE_USER
- CTest module variable: DROP_SITE_USER if set, else
CTEST_DROP_SITE_USER
- IsCDash
- Legacy option. Not used.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_DROP_SITE_CDASH
- CTest module variable: CTEST_DROP_SITE_CDASH
- ScpCommand
- Legacy option. Not used.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_SCP_COMMAND
- CTest module variable: SCPCOMMAND
- Site
- Describe the dashboard client host site with a short string. (Hostname,
domain, etc.)
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_SITE
- CTest module variable: SITE, initialized by the
site_name() command
- SubmitURL
- The http or https URL of the dashboard server to send the
submission to.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_SUBMIT_URL
- CTest module variable: SUBMIT_URL if set, else
CTEST_SUBMIT_URL
- TriggerSite
- Legacy option. Not used.
- CTest Script variable: CTEST_TRIGGER_SITE
- CTest module variable: TRIGGER_SITE if set, else
CTEST_TRIGGER_SITE
When the --show-only=json-v1 command line option is given,
the test information is output in JSON format. Version 1.0 of the JSON
object model is defined as follows:
- kind
- The string “ctestInfo”.
- version
- A JSON object specifying the version components. Its members are
- major
- A non-negative integer specifying the major version component.
- minor
- A non-negative integer specifying the minor version component.
- backtraceGraph
- JSON object representing backtrace information with the following
members:
- commands
- List of command names.
- files
- List of file names.
- nodes
- List of node JSON objects with members:
- command
- Index into the commands member of the backtraceGraph.
- file
- Index into the files member of the backtraceGraph.
- line
- Line number in the file where the backtrace was added.
- parent
- Index into the nodes member of the backtraceGraph
representing the parent in the graph.
- tests
- A JSON array listing information about each test. Each entry is a JSON
object with members:
- name
- Test name.
- config
- Configuration that the test can run on. Empty string means any
config.
- command
- List where the first element is the test command and the remaining
elements are the command arguments.
- backtrace
- Index into the nodes member of the backtraceGraph.
- properties
- Test properties. Can contain keys for each of the supported test
properties.
CTest provides a mechanism for tests to specify the resources that
they need in a fine-grained way, and for users to specify the resources
availiable on the running machine. This allows CTest to internally keep
track of which resources are in use and which are free, scheduling tests in
a way that prevents them from trying to claim resources that are not
available.
When the resource allocation feature is used, CTest will not
oversubscribe resources. For example, if a resource has 8 slots, CTest will
not run tests that collectively use more than 8 slots at a time. This has
the effect of limiting how many tests can run at any given time, even if a
high -j argument is used, if those tests all use some slots from the
same resource. In addition, it means that a single test that uses more of a
resource than is available on a machine will not run at all (and will be
reported as Not Run).
A common use case for this feature is for tests that require the
use of a GPU. Multiple tests can simultaneously allocate memory from a GPU,
but if too many tests try to do this at once, some of them will fail to
allocate, resulting in a failed test, even though the test would have
succeeded if it had the memory it needed. By using the resource allocation
feature, each test can specify how much memory it requires from a GPU,
allowing CTest to schedule tests in a way that running several of these
tests at once does not exhaust the GPU’s memory pool.
Please note that CTest has no concept of what a GPU is or how much
memory it has, nor does it have any way of communicating with a GPU to
retrieve this information or perform any memory management. CTest simply
keeps track of a list of abstract resource types, each of which has a
certain number of slots available for tests to use. Each test specifies the
number of slots that it requires from a certain resource, and CTest then
schedules them in a way that prevents the total number of slots in use from
exceeding the listed capacity. When a test is executed, and slots from a
resource are allocated to that test, tests may assume that they have
exclusive use of those slots for the duration of the test’s
process.
The CTest resource allocation feature consists of two inputs:
- The resource specification file, described below, which describes
the resources available on the system.
- The RESOURCE_GROUPS property of tests, which describes the
resources required by the test.
When CTest runs a test, the resources allocated to that test are
passed in the form of a set of environment variables as described
below. Using this information to decide which resource to connect to is left
to the test writer.
The RESOURCE_GROUPS property tells CTest what resources a
test expects to use grouped in a way meaningful to the test. The test itself
must read the environment variables to determine which resources have
been allocated to each group. For example, each group may correspond to a
process the test will spawn when executed.
Note that even if a test specifies a RESOURCE_GROUPS
property, it is still possible for that to test to run without any resource
allocation (and without the corresponding environment variables) if
the user does not pass a resource specification file. Passing this file,
either through the --resource-spec-file command-line argument or the
RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE argument to ctest_test(), is what activates
the resource allocation feature. Tests should check the
CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_COUNT environment variable to find out whether
or not resource allocation is activated. This variable will always (and
only) be defined if resource allocation is activated. If resource allocation
is not activated, then the CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_COUNT variable will
not exist, even if it exists for the parent ctest process. If a test
absolutely must have resource allocation, then it can return a failing exit
code or use the SKIP_RETURN_CODE or SKIP_REGULAR_EXPRESSION
properties to indicate a skipped test.
The resource specification file is a JSON file which is passed to
CTest, either on the ctest(1) command line as
--resource-spec-file, or as the RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE argument of
ctest_test(). If a dashboard script is used and
RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE is not specified, the value of
CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE in the dashboard script is used instead. If
--resource-spec-file, RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE, and
CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE in the dashboard script are not specified,
the value of CTEST_RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE in the CMake build is used
instead. If none of these are specified, no resource spec file is used.
The resource specification file must be a JSON object. All
examples in this document assume the following resource specification
file:
{
"version": {
"major": 1,
"minor": 0
},
"local": [
{
"gpus": [
{
"id": "0",
"slots": 2
},
{
"id": "1",
"slots": 4
},
{
"id": "2",
"slots": 2
},
{
"id": "3"
}
],
"crypto_chips": [
{
"id": "card0",
"slots": 4
}
]
}
]
}
The members are:
- version
- An object containing a major integer field and a minor
integer field. Currently, the only supported version is major 1,
minor 0. Any other value is an error.
- local
- A JSON array of resource sets present on the system. Currently, this array
is restricted to being of size 1.
Each array element is a JSON object with members whose names
are equal to the desired resource types, such as gpus. These
names must start with a lowercase letter or an underscore, and
subsequent characters can be a lowercase letter, a digit, or an
underscore. Uppercase letters are not allowed, because certain platforms
have case-insensitive environment variables. See the Environment
Variables section below for more information. It is recommended that
the resource type name be the plural of a noun, such as gpus or
crypto_chips (and not gpu or crypto_chip.)
Please note that the names gpus and crypto_chips
are just examples, and CTest does not interpret them in any way. You are
free to make up any resource type you want to meet your own
requirements.
The value for each resource type is a JSON array consisting of
JSON objects, each of which describe a specific instance of the
specified resource. These objects have the following members:
- id
- A string consisting of an identifier for the resource. Each character in
the identifier can be a lowercase letter, a digit, or an underscore.
Uppercase letters are not allowed.
Identifiers must be unique within a resource type. However,
they do not have to be unique across resource types. For example, it is
valid to have a gpus resource named 0 and a
crypto_chips resource named 0, but not two gpus
resources both named 0.
Please note that the IDs 0, 1, 2,
3, and card0 are just examples, and CTest does not
interpret them in any way. You are free to make up any IDs you want to
meet your own requirements.
- slots
- An optional unsigned number specifying the number of slots available on
the resource. For example, this could be megabytes of RAM on a GPU, or
cryptography units available on a cryptography chip. If slots is
not specified, a default value of 1 is assumed.
In the example file above, there are four GPUs with ID’s 0
through 3. GPU 0 has 2 slots, GPU 1 has 4, GPU 2 has 2, and GPU 3 has a
default of 1 slot. There is also one cryptography chip with 4 slots.
RESOURCE_GROUPS Property
See RESOURCE_GROUPS for a description of this property.
Once CTest has decided which resources to allocate to a test, it
passes this information to the test executable as a series of environment
variables. For each example below, we will assume that the test in question
has a RESOURCE_GROUPS property of
2,gpus:2;gpus:4,gpus:1,crypto_chips:2.
The following variables are passed to the test process:
- CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_COUNT
- The total number of groups specified by the RESOURCE_GROUPS
property. For example:
- •
- CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_COUNT=3
This variable will only be defined if ctest(1) has been
given a --resource-spec-file, or if ctest_test() has been
given a RESOURCE_SPEC_FILE. If no resource specification file has
been given, this variable will not be defined.
- CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_<num>
- The list of resource types allocated to each group, with each item
separated by a comma. <num> is a number from zero to
CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_COUNT minus one.
CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_<num> is defined for each
<num> in this range. For example:
- CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_0=gpus
- CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_1=gpus
- CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_2=crypto_chips,gpus
- CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_<num>_<resource-type>
- The list of resource IDs and number of slots from each ID allocated to
each group for a given resource type. This variable consists of a series
of pairs, each pair separated by a semicolon, and with the two items in
the pair separated by a comma. The first item in each pair is id:
followed by the ID of a resource of type <resource-type>, and
the second item is slots: followed by the number of slots from that
resource allocated to the given group. For example:
- CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_0_GPUS=id:0,slots:2
- CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_1_GPUS=id:2,slots:2
- CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_2_GPUS=id:1,slots:4;id:3,slots:1
- CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_2_CRYPTO_CHIPS=id:card0,slots:2
In this example, group 0 gets 2 slots from GPU 0, group 1
gets 2 slots from GPU 2, and group 2 gets 4 slots from GPU 1,
1 slot from GPU 3, and 2 slots from cryptography chip
card0.
<num> is a number from zero to
CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_COUNT minus one. <resource-type> is
the name of a resource type, converted to uppercase.
CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_<num>_<resource-type> is defined for
the product of each <num> in the range listed above and each
resource type listed in CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_<num>.
Because some platforms have case-insensitive names for environment
variables, the names of resource types may not clash in a case-insensitive
environment. Because of this, for the sake of simplicity, all resource types
must be listed in all lowercase in the resource specification file
and in the RESOURCE_GROUPS property, and they are converted to all
uppercase in the
CTEST_RESOURCE_GROUP_<num>_<resource-type> environment
variable.
The following resources are available to get help using CMake:
- Home Page
- https://cmake.org
The primary starting point for learning about CMake.
- Online Documentation
and Community Resources
- https://cmake.org/documentation
Links to available documentation and community resources may
be found on this web page.
- Discourse
Forum
- https://discourse.cmake.org
The Discourse Forum hosts discussion and questions about
CMake.
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