faq.md (31486B)
1 # Googletest FAQ 2 3 <!-- GOOGLETEST_CM0014 DO NOT DELETE --> 4 5 ## Why should test suite names and test names not contain underscore? 6 7 Underscore (`_`) is special, as C++ reserves the following to be used by the 8 compiler and the standard library: 9 10 1. any identifier that starts with an `_` followed by an upper-case letter, and 11 2. any identifier that contains two consecutive underscores (i.e. `__`) 12 *anywhere* in its name. 13 14 User code is *prohibited* from using such identifiers. 15 16 Now let's look at what this means for `TEST` and `TEST_F`. 17 18 Currently `TEST(TestSuiteName, TestName)` generates a class named 19 `TestSuiteName_TestName_Test`. What happens if `TestSuiteName` or `TestName` 20 contains `_`? 21 22 1. If `TestSuiteName` starts with an `_` followed by an upper-case letter (say, 23 `_Foo`), we end up with `_Foo_TestName_Test`, which is reserved and thus 24 invalid. 25 2. If `TestSuiteName` ends with an `_` (say, `Foo_`), we get 26 `Foo__TestName_Test`, which is invalid. 27 3. If `TestName` starts with an `_` (say, `_Bar`), we get 28 `TestSuiteName__Bar_Test`, which is invalid. 29 4. If `TestName` ends with an `_` (say, `Bar_`), we get 30 `TestSuiteName_Bar__Test`, which is invalid. 31 32 So clearly `TestSuiteName` and `TestName` cannot start or end with `_` 33 (Actually, `TestSuiteName` can start with `_` -- as long as the `_` isn't 34 followed by an upper-case letter. But that's getting complicated. So for 35 simplicity we just say that it cannot start with `_`.). 36 37 It may seem fine for `TestSuiteName` and `TestName` to contain `_` in the 38 middle. However, consider this: 39 40 ```c++ 41 TEST(Time, Flies_Like_An_Arrow) { ... } 42 TEST(Time_Flies, Like_An_Arrow) { ... } 43 ``` 44 45 Now, the two `TEST`s will both generate the same class 46 (`Time_Flies_Like_An_Arrow_Test`). That's not good. 47 48 So for simplicity, we just ask the users to avoid `_` in `TestSuiteName` and 49 `TestName`. The rule is more constraining than necessary, but it's simple and 50 easy to remember. It also gives googletest some wiggle room in case its 51 implementation needs to change in the future. 52 53 If you violate the rule, there may not be immediate consequences, but your test 54 may (just may) break with a new compiler (or a new version of the compiler you 55 are using) or with a new version of googletest. Therefore it's best to follow 56 the rule. 57 58 ## Why does googletest support `EXPECT_EQ(NULL, ptr)` and `ASSERT_EQ(NULL, ptr)` but not `EXPECT_NE(NULL, ptr)` and `ASSERT_NE(NULL, ptr)`? 59 60 First of all you can use `EXPECT_NE(nullptr, ptr)` and `ASSERT_NE(nullptr, 61 ptr)`. This is the preferred syntax in the style guide because nullptr does not 62 have the type problems that NULL does. Which is why NULL does not work. 63 64 Due to some peculiarity of C++, it requires some non-trivial template meta 65 programming tricks to support using `NULL` as an argument of the `EXPECT_XX()` 66 and `ASSERT_XX()` macros. Therefore we only do it where it's most needed 67 (otherwise we make the implementation of googletest harder to maintain and more 68 error-prone than necessary). 69 70 The `EXPECT_EQ()` macro takes the *expected* value as its first argument and the 71 *actual* value as the second. It's reasonable that someone wants to write 72 `EXPECT_EQ(NULL, some_expression)`, and this indeed was requested several times. 73 Therefore we implemented it. 74 75 The need for `EXPECT_NE(NULL, ptr)` isn't nearly as strong. When the assertion 76 fails, you already know that `ptr` must be `NULL`, so it doesn't add any 77 information to print `ptr` in this case. That means `EXPECT_TRUE(ptr != NULL)` 78 works just as well. 79 80 If we were to support `EXPECT_NE(NULL, ptr)`, for consistency we'll have to 81 support `EXPECT_NE(ptr, NULL)` as well, as unlike `EXPECT_EQ`, we don't have a 82 convention on the order of the two arguments for `EXPECT_NE`. This means using 83 the template meta programming tricks twice in the implementation, making it even 84 harder to understand and maintain. We believe the benefit doesn't justify the 85 cost. 86 87 Finally, with the growth of the gMock matcher library, we are encouraging people 88 to use the unified `EXPECT_THAT(value, matcher)` syntax more often in tests. One 89 significant advantage of the matcher approach is that matchers can be easily 90 combined to form new matchers, while the `EXPECT_NE`, etc, macros cannot be 91 easily combined. Therefore we want to invest more in the matchers than in the 92 `EXPECT_XX()` macros. 93 94 ## I need to test that different implementations of an interface satisfy some common requirements. Should I use typed tests or value-parameterized tests? 95 96 For testing various implementations of the same interface, either typed tests or 97 value-parameterized tests can get it done. It's really up to you the user to 98 decide which is more convenient for you, depending on your particular case. Some 99 rough guidelines: 100 101 * Typed tests can be easier to write if instances of the different 102 implementations can be created the same way, modulo the type. For example, 103 if all these implementations have a public default constructor (such that 104 you can write `new TypeParam`), or if their factory functions have the same 105 form (e.g. `CreateInstance<TypeParam>()`). 106 * Value-parameterized tests can be easier to write if you need different code 107 patterns to create different implementations' instances, e.g. `new Foo` vs 108 `new Bar(5)`. To accommodate for the differences, you can write factory 109 function wrappers and pass these function pointers to the tests as their 110 parameters. 111 * When a typed test fails, the default output includes the name of the type, 112 which can help you quickly identify which implementation is wrong. 113 Value-parameterized tests only show the number of the failed iteration by 114 default. You will need to define a function that returns the iteration name 115 and pass it as the third parameter to INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P to have more 116 useful output. 117 * When using typed tests, you need to make sure you are testing against the 118 interface type, not the concrete types (in other words, you want to make 119 sure `implicit_cast<MyInterface*>(my_concrete_impl)` works, not just that 120 `my_concrete_impl` works). It's less likely to make mistakes in this area 121 when using value-parameterized tests. 122 123 I hope I didn't confuse you more. :-) If you don't mind, I'd suggest you to give 124 both approaches a try. Practice is a much better way to grasp the subtle 125 differences between the two tools. Once you have some concrete experience, you 126 can much more easily decide which one to use the next time. 127 128 ## I got some run-time errors about invalid proto descriptors when using `ProtocolMessageEquals`. Help! 129 130 **Note:** `ProtocolMessageEquals` and `ProtocolMessageEquiv` are *deprecated* 131 now. Please use `EqualsProto`, etc instead. 132 133 `ProtocolMessageEquals` and `ProtocolMessageEquiv` were redefined recently and 134 are now less tolerant of invalid protocol buffer definitions. In particular, if 135 you have a `foo.proto` that doesn't fully qualify the type of a protocol message 136 it references (e.g. `message<Bar>` where it should be `message<blah.Bar>`), you 137 will now get run-time errors like: 138 139 ``` 140 ... descriptor.cc:...] Invalid proto descriptor for file "path/to/foo.proto": 141 ... descriptor.cc:...] blah.MyMessage.my_field: ".Bar" is not defined. 142 ``` 143 144 If you see this, your `.proto` file is broken and needs to be fixed by making 145 the types fully qualified. The new definition of `ProtocolMessageEquals` and 146 `ProtocolMessageEquiv` just happen to reveal your bug. 147 148 ## My death test modifies some state, but the change seems lost after the death test finishes. Why? 149 150 Death tests (`EXPECT_DEATH`, etc) are executed in a sub-process s.t. the 151 expected crash won't kill the test program (i.e. the parent process). As a 152 result, any in-memory side effects they incur are observable in their respective 153 sub-processes, but not in the parent process. You can think of them as running 154 in a parallel universe, more or less. 155 156 In particular, if you use mocking and the death test statement invokes some mock 157 methods, the parent process will think the calls have never occurred. Therefore, 158 you may want to move your `EXPECT_CALL` statements inside the `EXPECT_DEATH` 159 macro. 160 161 ## EXPECT_EQ(htonl(blah), blah_blah) generates weird compiler errors in opt mode. Is this a googletest bug? 162 163 Actually, the bug is in `htonl()`. 164 165 According to `'man htonl'`, `htonl()` is a *function*, which means it's valid to 166 use `htonl` as a function pointer. However, in opt mode `htonl()` is defined as 167 a *macro*, which breaks this usage. 168 169 Worse, the macro definition of `htonl()` uses a `gcc` extension and is *not* 170 standard C++. That hacky implementation has some ad hoc limitations. In 171 particular, it prevents you from writing `Foo<sizeof(htonl(x))>()`, where `Foo` 172 is a template that has an integral argument. 173 174 The implementation of `EXPECT_EQ(a, b)` uses `sizeof(... a ...)` inside a 175 template argument, and thus doesn't compile in opt mode when `a` contains a call 176 to `htonl()`. It is difficult to make `EXPECT_EQ` bypass the `htonl()` bug, as 177 the solution must work with different compilers on various platforms. 178 179 `htonl()` has some other problems as described in `//util/endian/endian.h`, 180 which defines `ghtonl()` to replace it. `ghtonl()` does the same thing `htonl()` 181 does, only without its problems. We suggest you to use `ghtonl()` instead of 182 `htonl()`, both in your tests and production code. 183 184 `//util/endian/endian.h` also defines `ghtons()`, which solves similar problems 185 in `htons()`. 186 187 Don't forget to add `//util/endian` to the list of dependencies in the `BUILD` 188 file wherever `ghtonl()` and `ghtons()` are used. The library consists of a 189 single header file and will not bloat your binary. 190 191 ## The compiler complains about "undefined references" to some static const member variables, but I did define them in the class body. What's wrong? 192 193 If your class has a static data member: 194 195 ```c++ 196 // foo.h 197 class Foo { 198 ... 199 static const int kBar = 100; 200 }; 201 ``` 202 203 You also need to define it *outside* of the class body in `foo.cc`: 204 205 ```c++ 206 const int Foo::kBar; // No initializer here. 207 ``` 208 209 Otherwise your code is **invalid C++**, and may break in unexpected ways. In 210 particular, using it in googletest comparison assertions (`EXPECT_EQ`, etc) will 211 generate an "undefined reference" linker error. The fact that "it used to work" 212 doesn't mean it's valid. It just means that you were lucky. :-) 213 214 ## Can I derive a test fixture from another? 215 216 Yes. 217 218 Each test fixture has a corresponding and same named test suite. This means only 219 one test suite can use a particular fixture. Sometimes, however, multiple test 220 cases may want to use the same or slightly different fixtures. For example, you 221 may want to make sure that all of a GUI library's test suites don't leak 222 important system resources like fonts and brushes. 223 224 In googletest, you share a fixture among test suites by putting the shared logic 225 in a base test fixture, then deriving from that base a separate fixture for each 226 test suite that wants to use this common logic. You then use `TEST_F()` to write 227 tests using each derived fixture. 228 229 Typically, your code looks like this: 230 231 ```c++ 232 // Defines a base test fixture. 233 class BaseTest : public ::testing::Test { 234 protected: 235 ... 236 }; 237 238 // Derives a fixture FooTest from BaseTest. 239 class FooTest : public BaseTest { 240 protected: 241 void SetUp() override { 242 BaseTest::SetUp(); // Sets up the base fixture first. 243 ... additional set-up work ... 244 } 245 246 void TearDown() override { 247 ... clean-up work for FooTest ... 248 BaseTest::TearDown(); // Remember to tear down the base fixture 249 // after cleaning up FooTest! 250 } 251 252 ... functions and variables for FooTest ... 253 }; 254 255 // Tests that use the fixture FooTest. 256 TEST_F(FooTest, Bar) { ... } 257 TEST_F(FooTest, Baz) { ... } 258 259 ... additional fixtures derived from BaseTest ... 260 ``` 261 262 If necessary, you can continue to derive test fixtures from a derived fixture. 263 googletest has no limit on how deep the hierarchy can be. 264 265 For a complete example using derived test fixtures, see 266 [sample5_unittest.cc](../samples/sample5_unittest.cc). 267 268 ## My compiler complains "void value not ignored as it ought to be." What does this mean? 269 270 You're probably using an `ASSERT_*()` in a function that doesn't return `void`. 271 `ASSERT_*()` can only be used in `void` functions, due to exceptions being 272 disabled by our build system. Please see more details 273 [here](advanced.md#assertion-placement). 274 275 ## My death test hangs (or seg-faults). How do I fix it? 276 277 In googletest, death tests are run in a child process and the way they work is 278 delicate. To write death tests you really need to understand how they work. 279 Please make sure you have read [this](advanced.md#how-it-works). 280 281 In particular, death tests don't like having multiple threads in the parent 282 process. So the first thing you can try is to eliminate creating threads outside 283 of `EXPECT_DEATH()`. For example, you may want to use mocks or fake objects 284 instead of real ones in your tests. 285 286 Sometimes this is impossible as some library you must use may be creating 287 threads before `main()` is even reached. In this case, you can try to minimize 288 the chance of conflicts by either moving as many activities as possible inside 289 `EXPECT_DEATH()` (in the extreme case, you want to move everything inside), or 290 leaving as few things as possible in it. Also, you can try to set the death test 291 style to `"threadsafe"`, which is safer but slower, and see if it helps. 292 293 If you go with thread-safe death tests, remember that they rerun the test 294 program from the beginning in the child process. Therefore make sure your 295 program can run side-by-side with itself and is deterministic. 296 297 In the end, this boils down to good concurrent programming. You have to make 298 sure that there is no race conditions or dead locks in your program. No silver 299 bullet - sorry! 300 301 ## Should I use the constructor/destructor of the test fixture or SetUp()/TearDown()? {#CtorVsSetUp} 302 303 The first thing to remember is that googletest does **not** reuse the same test 304 fixture object across multiple tests. For each `TEST_F`, googletest will create 305 a **fresh** test fixture object, immediately call `SetUp()`, run the test body, 306 call `TearDown()`, and then delete the test fixture object. 307 308 When you need to write per-test set-up and tear-down logic, you have the choice 309 between using the test fixture constructor/destructor or `SetUp()/TearDown()`. 310 The former is usually preferred, as it has the following benefits: 311 312 * By initializing a member variable in the constructor, we have the option to 313 make it `const`, which helps prevent accidental changes to its value and 314 makes the tests more obviously correct. 315 * In case we need to subclass the test fixture class, the subclass' 316 constructor is guaranteed to call the base class' constructor *first*, and 317 the subclass' destructor is guaranteed to call the base class' destructor 318 *afterward*. With `SetUp()/TearDown()`, a subclass may make the mistake of 319 forgetting to call the base class' `SetUp()/TearDown()` or call them at the 320 wrong time. 321 322 You may still want to use `SetUp()/TearDown()` in the following cases: 323 324 * C++ does not allow virtual function calls in constructors and destructors. 325 You can call a method declared as virtual, but it will not use dynamic 326 dispatch, it will use the definition from the class the constructor of which 327 is currently executing. This is because calling a virtual method before the 328 derived class constructor has a chance to run is very dangerous - the 329 virtual method might operate on uninitialized data. Therefore, if you need 330 to call a method that will be overridden in a derived class, you have to use 331 `SetUp()/TearDown()`. 332 * In the body of a constructor (or destructor), it's not possible to use the 333 `ASSERT_xx` macros. Therefore, if the set-up operation could cause a fatal 334 test failure that should prevent the test from running, it's necessary to 335 use `abort` <!-- GOOGLETEST_CM0015 DO NOT DELETE --> and abort the whole test executable, 336 or to use `SetUp()` instead of a constructor. 337 * If the tear-down operation could throw an exception, you must use 338 `TearDown()` as opposed to the destructor, as throwing in a destructor leads 339 to undefined behavior and usually will kill your program right away. Note 340 that many standard libraries (like STL) may throw when exceptions are 341 enabled in the compiler. Therefore you should prefer `TearDown()` if you 342 want to write portable tests that work with or without exceptions. 343 * The googletest team is considering making the assertion macros throw on 344 platforms where exceptions are enabled (e.g. Windows, Mac OS, and Linux 345 client-side), which will eliminate the need for the user to propagate 346 failures from a subroutine to its caller. Therefore, you shouldn't use 347 googletest assertions in a destructor if your code could run on such a 348 platform. 349 350 ## The compiler complains "no matching function to call" when I use ASSERT_PRED*. How do I fix it? 351 352 If the predicate function you use in `ASSERT_PRED*` or `EXPECT_PRED*` is 353 overloaded or a template, the compiler will have trouble figuring out which 354 overloaded version it should use. `ASSERT_PRED_FORMAT*` and 355 `EXPECT_PRED_FORMAT*` don't have this problem. 356 357 If you see this error, you might want to switch to 358 `(ASSERT|EXPECT)_PRED_FORMAT*`, which will also give you a better failure 359 message. If, however, that is not an option, you can resolve the problem by 360 explicitly telling the compiler which version to pick. 361 362 For example, suppose you have 363 364 ```c++ 365 bool IsPositive(int n) { 366 return n > 0; 367 } 368 369 bool IsPositive(double x) { 370 return x > 0; 371 } 372 ``` 373 374 you will get a compiler error if you write 375 376 ```c++ 377 EXPECT_PRED1(IsPositive, 5); 378 ``` 379 380 However, this will work: 381 382 ```c++ 383 EXPECT_PRED1(static_cast<bool (*)(int)>(IsPositive), 5); 384 ``` 385 386 (The stuff inside the angled brackets for the `static_cast` operator is the type 387 of the function pointer for the `int`-version of `IsPositive()`.) 388 389 As another example, when you have a template function 390 391 ```c++ 392 template <typename T> 393 bool IsNegative(T x) { 394 return x < 0; 395 } 396 ``` 397 398 you can use it in a predicate assertion like this: 399 400 ```c++ 401 ASSERT_PRED1(IsNegative<int>, -5); 402 ``` 403 404 Things are more interesting if your template has more than one parameters. The 405 following won't compile: 406 407 ```c++ 408 ASSERT_PRED2(GreaterThan<int, int>, 5, 0); 409 ``` 410 411 as the C++ pre-processor thinks you are giving `ASSERT_PRED2` 4 arguments, which 412 is one more than expected. The workaround is to wrap the predicate function in 413 parentheses: 414 415 ```c++ 416 ASSERT_PRED2((GreaterThan<int, int>), 5, 0); 417 ``` 418 419 ## My compiler complains about "ignoring return value" when I call RUN_ALL_TESTS(). Why? 420 421 Some people had been ignoring the return value of `RUN_ALL_TESTS()`. That is, 422 instead of 423 424 ```c++ 425 return RUN_ALL_TESTS(); 426 ``` 427 428 they write 429 430 ```c++ 431 RUN_ALL_TESTS(); 432 ``` 433 434 This is **wrong and dangerous**. The testing services needs to see the return 435 value of `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` in order to determine if a test has passed. If your 436 `main()` function ignores it, your test will be considered successful even if it 437 has a googletest assertion failure. Very bad. 438 439 We have decided to fix this (thanks to Michael Chastain for the idea). Now, your 440 code will no longer be able to ignore `RUN_ALL_TESTS()` when compiled with 441 `gcc`. If you do so, you'll get a compiler error. 442 443 If you see the compiler complaining about you ignoring the return value of 444 `RUN_ALL_TESTS()`, the fix is simple: just make sure its value is used as the 445 return value of `main()`. 446 447 But how could we introduce a change that breaks existing tests? Well, in this 448 case, the code was already broken in the first place, so we didn't break it. :-) 449 450 ## My compiler complains that a constructor (or destructor) cannot return a value. What's going on? 451 452 Due to a peculiarity of C++, in order to support the syntax for streaming 453 messages to an `ASSERT_*`, e.g. 454 455 ```c++ 456 ASSERT_EQ(1, Foo()) << "blah blah" << foo; 457 ``` 458 459 we had to give up using `ASSERT*` and `FAIL*` (but not `EXPECT*` and 460 `ADD_FAILURE*`) in constructors and destructors. The workaround is to move the 461 content of your constructor/destructor to a private void member function, or 462 switch to `EXPECT_*()` if that works. This 463 [section](advanced.md#assertion-placement) in the user's guide explains it. 464 465 ## My SetUp() function is not called. Why? 466 467 C++ is case-sensitive. Did you spell it as `Setup()`? 468 469 Similarly, sometimes people spell `SetUpTestSuite()` as `SetupTestSuite()` and 470 wonder why it's never called. 471 472 473 ## I have several test suites which share the same test fixture logic, do I have to define a new test fixture class for each of them? This seems pretty tedious. 474 475 You don't have to. Instead of 476 477 ```c++ 478 class FooTest : public BaseTest {}; 479 480 TEST_F(FooTest, Abc) { ... } 481 TEST_F(FooTest, Def) { ... } 482 483 class BarTest : public BaseTest {}; 484 485 TEST_F(BarTest, Abc) { ... } 486 TEST_F(BarTest, Def) { ... } 487 ``` 488 489 you can simply `typedef` the test fixtures: 490 491 ```c++ 492 typedef BaseTest FooTest; 493 494 TEST_F(FooTest, Abc) { ... } 495 TEST_F(FooTest, Def) { ... } 496 497 typedef BaseTest BarTest; 498 499 TEST_F(BarTest, Abc) { ... } 500 TEST_F(BarTest, Def) { ... } 501 ``` 502 503 ## googletest output is buried in a whole bunch of LOG messages. What do I do? 504 505 The googletest output is meant to be a concise and human-friendly report. If 506 your test generates textual output itself, it will mix with the googletest 507 output, making it hard to read. However, there is an easy solution to this 508 problem. 509 510 Since `LOG` messages go to stderr, we decided to let googletest output go to 511 stdout. This way, you can easily separate the two using redirection. For 512 example: 513 514 ```shell 515 $ ./my_test > gtest_output.txt 516 ``` 517 518 ## Why should I prefer test fixtures over global variables? 519 520 There are several good reasons: 521 522 1. It's likely your test needs to change the states of its global variables. 523 This makes it difficult to keep side effects from escaping one test and 524 contaminating others, making debugging difficult. By using fixtures, each 525 test has a fresh set of variables that's different (but with the same 526 names). Thus, tests are kept independent of each other. 527 2. Global variables pollute the global namespace. 528 3. Test fixtures can be reused via subclassing, which cannot be done easily 529 with global variables. This is useful if many test suites have something in 530 common. 531 532 ## What can the statement argument in ASSERT_DEATH() be? 533 534 `ASSERT_DEATH(*statement*, *regex*)` (or any death assertion macro) can be used 535 wherever `*statement*` is valid. So basically `*statement*` can be any C++ 536 statement that makes sense in the current context. In particular, it can 537 reference global and/or local variables, and can be: 538 539 * a simple function call (often the case), 540 * a complex expression, or 541 * a compound statement. 542 543 Some examples are shown here: 544 545 ```c++ 546 // A death test can be a simple function call. 547 TEST(MyDeathTest, FunctionCall) { 548 ASSERT_DEATH(Xyz(5), "Xyz failed"); 549 } 550 551 // Or a complex expression that references variables and functions. 552 TEST(MyDeathTest, ComplexExpression) { 553 const bool c = Condition(); 554 ASSERT_DEATH((c ? Func1(0) : object2.Method("test")), 555 "(Func1|Method) failed"); 556 } 557 558 // Death assertions can be used any where in a function. In 559 // particular, they can be inside a loop. 560 TEST(MyDeathTest, InsideLoop) { 561 // Verifies that Foo(0), Foo(1), ..., and Foo(4) all die. 562 for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) { 563 EXPECT_DEATH_M(Foo(i), "Foo has \\d+ errors", 564 ::testing::Message() << "where i is " << i); 565 } 566 } 567 568 // A death assertion can contain a compound statement. 569 TEST(MyDeathTest, CompoundStatement) { 570 // Verifies that at lease one of Bar(0), Bar(1), ..., and 571 // Bar(4) dies. 572 ASSERT_DEATH({ 573 for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) { 574 Bar(i); 575 } 576 }, 577 "Bar has \\d+ errors"); 578 } 579 ``` 580 581 gtest-death-test_test.cc contains more examples if you are interested. 582 583 ## I have a fixture class `FooTest`, but `TEST_F(FooTest, Bar)` gives me error ``"no matching function for call to `FooTest::FooTest()'"``. Why? 584 585 Googletest needs to be able to create objects of your test fixture class, so it 586 must have a default constructor. Normally the compiler will define one for you. 587 However, there are cases where you have to define your own: 588 589 * If you explicitly declare a non-default constructor for class `FooTest` 590 (`DISALLOW_EVIL_CONSTRUCTORS()` does this), then you need to define a 591 default constructor, even if it would be empty. 592 * If `FooTest` has a const non-static data member, then you have to define the 593 default constructor *and* initialize the const member in the initializer 594 list of the constructor. (Early versions of `gcc` doesn't force you to 595 initialize the const member. It's a bug that has been fixed in `gcc 4`.) 596 597 ## Why does ASSERT_DEATH complain about previous threads that were already joined? 598 599 With the Linux pthread library, there is no turning back once you cross the line 600 from single thread to multiple threads. The first time you create a thread, a 601 manager thread is created in addition, so you get 3, not 2, threads. Later when 602 the thread you create joins the main thread, the thread count decrements by 1, 603 but the manager thread will never be killed, so you still have 2 threads, which 604 means you cannot safely run a death test. 605 606 The new NPTL thread library doesn't suffer from this problem, as it doesn't 607 create a manager thread. However, if you don't control which machine your test 608 runs on, you shouldn't depend on this. 609 610 ## Why does googletest require the entire test suite, instead of individual tests, to be named *DeathTest when it uses ASSERT_DEATH? 611 612 googletest does not interleave tests from different test suites. That is, it 613 runs all tests in one test suite first, and then runs all tests in the next test 614 suite, and so on. googletest does this because it needs to set up a test suite 615 before the first test in it is run, and tear it down afterwords. Splitting up 616 the test case would require multiple set-up and tear-down processes, which is 617 inefficient and makes the semantics unclean. 618 619 If we were to determine the order of tests based on test name instead of test 620 case name, then we would have a problem with the following situation: 621 622 ```c++ 623 TEST_F(FooTest, AbcDeathTest) { ... } 624 TEST_F(FooTest, Uvw) { ... } 625 626 TEST_F(BarTest, DefDeathTest) { ... } 627 TEST_F(BarTest, Xyz) { ... } 628 ``` 629 630 Since `FooTest.AbcDeathTest` needs to run before `BarTest.Xyz`, and we don't 631 interleave tests from different test suites, we need to run all tests in the 632 `FooTest` case before running any test in the `BarTest` case. This contradicts 633 with the requirement to run `BarTest.DefDeathTest` before `FooTest.Uvw`. 634 635 ## But I don't like calling my entire test suite \*DeathTest when it contains both death tests and non-death tests. What do I do? 636 637 You don't have to, but if you like, you may split up the test suite into 638 `FooTest` and `FooDeathTest`, where the names make it clear that they are 639 related: 640 641 ```c++ 642 class FooTest : public ::testing::Test { ... }; 643 644 TEST_F(FooTest, Abc) { ... } 645 TEST_F(FooTest, Def) { ... } 646 647 using FooDeathTest = FooTest; 648 649 TEST_F(FooDeathTest, Uvw) { ... EXPECT_DEATH(...) ... } 650 TEST_F(FooDeathTest, Xyz) { ... ASSERT_DEATH(...) ... } 651 ``` 652 653 ## googletest prints the LOG messages in a death test's child process only when the test fails. How can I see the LOG messages when the death test succeeds? 654 655 Printing the LOG messages generated by the statement inside `EXPECT_DEATH()` 656 makes it harder to search for real problems in the parent's log. Therefore, 657 googletest only prints them when the death test has failed. 658 659 If you really need to see such LOG messages, a workaround is to temporarily 660 break the death test (e.g. by changing the regex pattern it is expected to 661 match). Admittedly, this is a hack. We'll consider a more permanent solution 662 after the fork-and-exec-style death tests are implemented. 663 664 ## The compiler complains about "no match for 'operator<<'" when I use an assertion. What gives? 665 666 If you use a user-defined type `FooType` in an assertion, you must make sure 667 there is an `std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream&, const FooType&)` function 668 defined such that we can print a value of `FooType`. 669 670 In addition, if `FooType` is declared in a name space, the `<<` operator also 671 needs to be defined in the *same* name space. See https://abseil.io/tips/49 for details. 672 673 ## How do I suppress the memory leak messages on Windows? 674 675 Since the statically initialized googletest singleton requires allocations on 676 the heap, the Visual C++ memory leak detector will report memory leaks at the 677 end of the program run. The easiest way to avoid this is to use the 678 `_CrtMemCheckpoint` and `_CrtMemDumpAllObjectsSince` calls to not report any 679 statically initialized heap objects. See MSDN for more details and additional 680 heap check/debug routines. 681 682 ## How can my code detect if it is running in a test? 683 684 If you write code that sniffs whether it's running in a test and does different 685 things accordingly, you are leaking test-only logic into production code and 686 there is no easy way to ensure that the test-only code paths aren't run by 687 mistake in production. Such cleverness also leads to 688 [Heisenbugs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenbug). Therefore we strongly 689 advise against the practice, and googletest doesn't provide a way to do it. 690 691 In general, the recommended way to cause the code to behave differently under 692 test is [Dependency Injection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_injection). You can inject 693 different functionality from the test and from the production code. Since your 694 production code doesn't link in the for-test logic at all (the 695 [`testonly`](https://docs.bazel.build/versions/master/be/common-definitions.html#common.testonly) attribute for BUILD targets helps to ensure 696 that), there is no danger in accidentally running it. 697 698 However, if you *really*, *really*, *really* have no choice, and if you follow 699 the rule of ending your test program names with `_test`, you can use the 700 *horrible* hack of sniffing your executable name (`argv[0]` in `main()`) to know 701 whether the code is under test. 702 703 ## How do I temporarily disable a test? 704 705 If you have a broken test that you cannot fix right away, you can add the 706 DISABLED_ prefix to its name. This will exclude it from execution. This is 707 better than commenting out the code or using #if 0, as disabled tests are still 708 compiled (and thus won't rot). 709 710 To include disabled tests in test execution, just invoke the test program with 711 the --gtest_also_run_disabled_tests flag. 712 713 ## Is it OK if I have two separate `TEST(Foo, Bar)` test methods defined in different namespaces? 714 715 Yes. 716 717 The rule is **all test methods in the same test suite must use the same fixture 718 class.** This means that the following is **allowed** because both tests use the 719 same fixture class (`::testing::Test`). 720 721 ```c++ 722 namespace foo { 723 TEST(CoolTest, DoSomething) { 724 SUCCEED(); 725 } 726 } // namespace foo 727 728 namespace bar { 729 TEST(CoolTest, DoSomething) { 730 SUCCEED(); 731 } 732 } // namespace bar 733 ``` 734 735 However, the following code is **not allowed** and will produce a runtime error 736 from googletest because the test methods are using different test fixture 737 classes with the same test suite name. 738 739 ```c++ 740 namespace foo { 741 class CoolTest : public ::testing::Test {}; // Fixture foo::CoolTest 742 TEST_F(CoolTest, DoSomething) { 743 SUCCEED(); 744 } 745 } // namespace foo 746 747 namespace bar { 748 class CoolTest : public ::testing::Test {}; // Fixture: bar::CoolTest 749 TEST_F(CoolTest, DoSomething) { 750 SUCCEED(); 751 } 752 } // namespace bar 753 ```