Re: [Boost-testing] Testing with libraries that fail to build

From: Jonathan Turkanis (technews_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-06-24 00:09:39

Robert Ramey wrote:
> Libraries that are not header only have special problems regarding
> the tests
>
> a) if he library fails to build - all the tests are marked "fail"
> This is very misleading as a test cannot fail if it is not run.

Marking a test as failed when it fails to build doesn't seem misleading to me,
although it would be convenient if I could tell at a glance whether there was a
compiler error, linker error or runtime failure.

> b) a library may fail to build because of another library fails to
> build. A common case is where the cannot run because the Test library
> fails to build for the indicated toolset.  Again all the tests are
> marked "fail".  An this for failure to build code not even in the
> library being tested !!

I agree this is extremely frustrating. Ideally, failures should be counted as
unresolved issues for a library only if all the prerequisite libraries built
successfully.

Jonathan