How to use check library with CTest for unit testing in C

Question

I have project in which I want to use check library for unit testing.

My current project is using CMake and has following structure:

.
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── COPYING
├── ChangeLog
├── README
├── src
│   ├── core
│   │   ├── CMakeLists.txt
│   │   └── main.c
│   ├── core-test
│   │   ├── CMakeLists.txt
│   │   └── main.c
│   └── scrypt
└── doc
    └── protocol.txt

In core-test I have unit tests for core module. In scrypt-test I will have tests for scrypt module and so on.

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Does using check with CTest make sense?

If yes: how do I connect unit test that use check to CMake/CTest project? Do I need additional configuration for CTest to interpret results from check-enabled executables?

Answer 1

Using check with CTest is possible, unfortunately not convenient.

When unit tests using check fail they will be counted as a failure in CTest. The problem is, that CTest doesn't show output of application that failed¹. The other downside is that CTest doesn't count individual check tests, so a "single" failed test could mean multiple check tests. I wasn't able to find a way to make CTest interpret check results.

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1. You can force printing of output by creating CTestCustom.cmake file in build directory (the same one in which you run make or ctest) with following contents:

   set (CTEST_CUSTOM_POST_TEST "cat Testing/Temporary/LastTest.log")