Re: [boost] Boost.Test tests require write access in current directory

From: Gennadiy Rozental (rogeeff_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-12-02 14:57:04

"David Abrahams" <dave_at_[hidden]> wrote in message 
news:87lk8fxeq1.fsf_at_grogan.peloton...
>
> In particular, the tests that use output_test_stream supply filenames
> that are interpreted relative to the current working directory.
> That's not the best possible practice, for reasons of "hygiene:" if
> testing Boost causes the Boost tree to be modified, it's hard to be
> sure that one is testing the same thing the next time around.
> Furthermore, it means one can't test from within a read-only copy of
> the Boost sources.  This bit me as I tested from an NFS-mounted
> working copy.
>
> I realize that Boost.Test may not want to depend on something like
> Boost.Filesystem, but it seems to me that any decent testing framework
> has to be able to get ahold of a temporary directory anyway, so maybe
> the ability to create files in /tmp or %TEMP% should be part of the
> library?

I am afraid you misunderstood the purpose of this file. This is not a 
temporary, but a very much permanent pattern file to match against. There 
are 2 mode of test execution. In regular (default) mode the test *reads* 
this file and matched tet output to it's content. User can request to save 
the pattern instead, in which case test does require write access to the 
location of the file, but it's the user who opt where to put it. Usually 
these files are stored somewhere around the test module itself.

Gennadiy