Re: Large number of tests when shell has limited argument list space

[Albert Chin]

On Tue, Feb 06, 2007 at 09:06:42AM +0100, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> * Albert Chin wrote on Tue, Feb 06, 2007 at 05:52:43AM CET:
> > ImageMagick-6.2.9 has a large number of tests. The check-TESTS rule in
> > automake-1.10 is:
> >   check-TESTS: $(TESTS)
> >   ...
> >           list=' $(TESTS) '; \
> 
> > Because AIX 4.3.3 has a small limit on the command buffer, 'make check'
> > returns:
> [...]
> > HP-UX 10.20 also has this problem:
> 
> >   gmake[1]: execvp: /opt/fsw/bash30/bin/bash: Arg list too long
> 
> > What's the best way to solve this? AIX 5.1+ also have this problem.
> > But, we can increase ncargs to work around it.
> 
> I don't see an easy fix inside Automake.  First thing to try is an
> in-tree build (i.e., source tree = build tree), so that paths are
> shortest.  Hmm, nope, you're already using GNU make, so that won't
> help.

I don't know if this is easy, but check-TESTS could be modified to
iterate over more than one $(TESTS) variable:
  check-TESTS: $(TESTS1) $(TESTS2) $(TESTS3) ...
          @failed=0; all=0; xfail=0; xpass=0; skip=0; ws='[        ]'; \
          srcdir=$(srcdir); export srcdir; \
          list=' $(TESTS1) '; \
          if test -n "$$list"; then \
            ...
          fi; \
          list=' $(TESTS2) '; \
          if test -n "$$list"; then \
            ...
          fi; \
          list=' $(TESTS3) '; \
          if test -n "$$list"; then \
            ...
          fi; \
          ...

$(TESTSn) would then be broken up into small enough chunks to avoid
command-line length limitations.

-- 
albert chin (address@hidden)