CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++unit-testingtestingboostautomated-tests
dbn
dbn

Reputation: 13920

Can I link multiple BOOST unit tests into a single test binary?

I've recently started trying to put a venerable and large (>1 million lines) program under test. There are currently no unit tests. Also, the program is linked as each individual file being linked together - there are no component libraries. Furthermore, the objects are highly interdependent, and it is difficult (impossible?) to link to any object files without linking to at least half of them.

Yes, I know, my life sucks.

I'd like to do some refactoring (obviously), but I'd like to have some tests in place before I start moving things around. My current idea is to compile a single "test program" which runs all of the tests I create. This would drastically simplify the linking issues that I have and let me focus on the real problems. So I have two questions:

Upvotes: 38

Views: 9656

Answers (1)

Lenny
Lenny

Reputation: 484

I guess, this is precisely how to use boost test. I would keep one short main.cpp file consisting of literally 2 lines:

#define BOOST_TEST_MODULE "C++ Unit Tests for MyTangledLibrary"
#include <boost/test/included/unit_test.hpp>

And then I would keep adding test module *.cpp files compiled together into one executable

#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
<< your include files >>

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE(FancyShmancyLogic)

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(TestingIf2x3equals6)
{
  ...
}

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(TestingIf2x2equals4)
{
  ...
}

BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()

Yes, you will be able to compile that main.cpp and all of your modules into one large executable.

Upvotes: 46

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