Re: Autotest: using $abs_srcdir with m4_include

[Nathaniel D. Sizemore]

On Apr 27, 2006, at 2:37 PM, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> > then the testsuite.at file in myProject/tests/ would have the
> > following lines:
> >
> > m4_include([$abs_srcdir/type1/testsuite.at])
>
> That won't work: m4_include is a macro which requires M4 literals, as
> they will be used at the time m4 is run.  Since you're likely to  
> create
> the testsuite in the source tree anway (right?), you could just
>   m4_include([type1/testsuite.at])

Ralf, Noah -- thanks for confirming my understanding about how  
Autotest is working.  Unfortunately, Ralf hit the issue directly; my  
reason for wanting to use $abs_srcdir in the m4_include() macro is  
that I *want* to build the tests out of place, and not in the source  
tree.  Otherwise, I agree with both of you that simply expanding the  
path as you describe would work.

> Alternatively, you could just list all the input files to `autom4te
> --language=autotest' on the command line (in order).

Ah, I didn't think of that.  Just tested this, and it seems to be a  
good way of being able to build and run the tests out of place.   
Thanks for the tip!

> I agree the whole business is tricky to understand at first; for
> example, some of the arguments of AT_CHECK are already used at M4 time
> for optimization of the code that is put into the test suite.

Agreed, but overall I think the system is fairly easy to use.  I'll  
add this trick to my notes on using Autotest -- once I'm done with  
this project for work, I'm hoping to add some more documentation for  
Autotest, so users don't have to ask the same questions I have.

--
Nathaniel D. Sizemore, Technical Staff
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