Re: gnulib build/test ?

[Bruno Haible]

Hi Tim,

> Not sure how to build and run the test suite. The README just points me
> to a .texi file which is hardly readable, at least I get a headache
> after ~10s.

I agree. The README should better say to
  $ cd doc
  $ make gnulib.html
  $ xdg-open gnulib.html
or read the manual at
  https://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/manual/gnulib.html

> What else should I try to build + run the test suite ?

You first pick a subset of the Gnulib modules, that you want to work on.
Then you create a testdir for these modules:

$ ./gnulib-tool --create-testdir --dir=../testdir1 --single-configure MODULE1 
[MODULE2...]

This testdir is something you can "./configure CPPFLAGS=-Wall && make && make 
check".

For the set of Gnulib modules:
  - If you don't specify any, it defaults to *all*!
  - There is a script 'posix-modules' that returns the POSIX related modules. 
Use like this:
    $ ./gnulib-tool --create-testdir --dir=../testdir-posix --single-configure 
`./posix-modules`

Note the difference between --dir=../testdir1 and --dir=/tmp/testdir1 : The 
former is on the
same file system as the gnulib checkout, and uses hard links to the .c and .h 
files; therefore
for quick edits of only .h and .c files you can do the edits in the testdir, 
test them
through "make" and "make check", and will usually find them present in the 
gnulib clone.
In the second case, or when you start to edit .m4 files or module descriptions, 
it's useful
to work in the gnulib clone, and repeatedly rerun the commands:
  $ ./gnulib-tool --create-testdir --dir=../testdir2 --single-configure MODULE1 
[MODULE2...]
  $ cd ../testdir2
  $ ./configure CPPFLAGS=-Wall && make && make check

Bruno