[Boost-testing] [ptr_container] memory usage causes problem with regression tests

From: Martin Wille (mw8329_at_[hidden])
Date: 2005-04-10 06:45:12

Hello,

for approximately a week now, I'm experiencing crashes when I run the 
regression tests. Victor told me he also noticed tests consuming unusual 
amounts of memory. I think I now found the culprit: the ptr_container 
test suite. This is the second time I notice the kernel run out of 
memory when once of the ptr_container tests is run. This is a problem 
for running the tests since the kernel then starts to kill processes.
So this needs to get fixed ASAP.

The ptr_set test output is:

*** glibc detected *** free(): invalid pointer: 0x14347b4c ***
Running 1 test case...
unknown location(0): fatal error in "test_set": signal: SIGABRT 
(application abort requested)

*** errors detected in test suite "Pointer Container Test Suite"; see 
standard output for details

We need a way of portably specifying and enforcing time and memory 
limits for tests (it's not the first time I've been hit by tests running 
wild). We also need the authors of tests to make use of that feature, 
once we have it.

I think displaying the time and memory used by a test in the regression 
results would be helpful (requires changes to Boost.Build, too, obviously).

In this special case, it also would have been helpful if absolute times 
were printed in the output of Boost.Build, since all I have is the 
time-stamp from the error messages of the kernel but no way of 
correlating this time-stamp with the regression tests except for 
incidentally looking at the screen when the crashes happen.

Regards,
m