<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE chapter SYSTEM "chapter.dtd">
<chapter>
<header>
<copyright>
<year>2004</year><year>2013</year>
<holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
</copyright>
<legalnotice>
The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.
Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
under the License.
</legalnotice>
<title>Common Test Release Notes</title>
<prepared>Peter Andersson</prepared>
<responsible>Peter Andersson</responsible>
<docno></docno>
<approved></approved>
<checked></checked>
<date>2007-12-01</date>
<rev>A</rev>
<file>notes.xml</file>
</header>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.7.3</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Documentation is added for ct_netconfc:send and
ct_netconfc:send_rpc.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11132</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
ct_netconfc:create_subscription only allowed one XML
element inside the 'filter' element. According to RFC5277
it should be allowed to add any number of elements inside
the filter, so this is now corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11166</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The error handler installed by the Common Test hook
cth_log_redirect did not respond to init:stop/1/2. This
has been corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11175 Aux Id: seq12356 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Calling ct:pal/2 or ct:print/2 when Common Test was not
running, would cause an exit. This has been changed and
the string is now simply printed to stdout instead.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11176</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Fixed problem with the cth_log_redirect hook making calls
to an undefined function in ct_logs.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11238</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
When running tests with the 'repeat' option, the Common
Test utility process did not always terminate quickly
enough after a test run, causing the start of the next
run to fail. A monitor is now used to ensure termination
of the utility process after each test run.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11244 Aux Id: seq12396 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Test Server installed an error handler (test_server_h)
only to be able to write the name of the current test
case to stdout whenever it received an error- or progress
report. This functionality was not useful and has been
removed. The built-in Common Test hook, cth_log_redirect,
has instead been improved to now also tag all error- and
progress reports in the log with suite-, group-, and/or
test case name.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11263 Aux Id: seq12251 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
A new log, the "Pre- and Post Test I/O Log", has been
introduced, which makes it possible to capture error- and
progress reports, as well as printouts made with ct:log/2
and ct:pal/2, before and after a test run. (Some minor
improvements of the logging system have been made at the
same time). Links to the new log are found on the Common
Test Framework Log page. The Common Test User's Guide has
been updated with information about the new log and also
with a new section on how to synchronize external
applications with Common Test by means of the CT Hook
init and terminate functions.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11272</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.7.2</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
A design flaw in the generic connection handling in
Common Test made it impossible to implement a connection
handler that could map multiple connection names (i.e.
configuration variable aliases) to single connection
pids. This problem has been solved.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10126 Aux Id: kunagi-178 [89] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
If a telnet connection is hanging, then a call to
ct_telnet:close/1 will time out after 5 seconds and the
connection process is brutally killed. In some cases the
connection would not be unregistered and attempts at
opening a new connection with the same name would make
common_test try to reuse the same connection since it
believed that it was still alive. This has been corrected
- a killed connection is now always unregistered.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10648 Aux Id: seq12212 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Test performance has been improved by means of a cache
for the top level HTML index logs (all_runs.html and
index.html, in the logdir directory). This solves
problems with slow start up times and test execution
times increasing with the number of ct_run directories
stored in logdir. The cached index entries are stored in
RAM during test execution and are saved to file in logdir
(for faster start up times) whenever a test run finishes.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10855</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Testing of the test specification functionality has been
improved and a couple of minor bugs have been discovered
and corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10857</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Links to the top level index files in some HTML footers
had disappeared. This error has been corrected. Also, a
problem with the suite overview log file not being closed
properly has been solved.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11046</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Common Test would, in case of timetrap error, print a
warning in the log if end_per_testcase wasn't implemented
in the suite, even though it's an optional function. This
printout has been removed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11052</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
If it could not be decided which test case a certain log
printout belonged to, the common test framework log was
earlier used. Such printouts are now instead sent to
unexpected_io.log.html in test_server so that there is
only one place to look for "missing" printouts.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10494 Aux Id: kunagi-319 [230] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Make cover smarter about finding source from beam.</p>
<p>
In particular, search using the source path in
module_info if the current heuristic fails.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10902</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Add a variant of ct_slave:start/2 that starts a node with
specified options on the local host.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10920</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Integrate elliptic curve contribution from Andreas
Schultz </p>
<p>
In order to be able to support elliptic curve cipher
suites in SSL/TLS, additions to handle elliptic curve
infrastructure has been added to public_key and crypto.</p>
<p>
This also has resulted in a rewrite of the crypto API to
gain consistency and remove unnecessary overhead. All OTP
applications using crypto has been updated to use the new
API.</p>
<p>
Impact: Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) offers
equivalent security with smaller key sizes than other
public key algorithms. Smaller key sizes result in
savings for power, memory, bandwidth, and computational
cost that make ECC especially attractive for constrained
environments.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11009</p>
</item>
<item>
<p> Postscript files no longer needed for the generation
of PDF files have been removed. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11016</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A link is added from the red error printout in a test
case log (for a failed test case) to the full error
description at the end of the log. The reason for this is
that the error description in the red field is sometimes
truncated at 50 characters in order to keep the log as
short and easy to read as possible.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11044 Aux Id: seq12304 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A new option 'no_prompt_check' is added to
ct_telnet:expect/3. If this option is used, ct_telnet
will not wait for a prompt or a newline before attempting
to match the given pattern.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-11095</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.7.1</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
If an event handler installed in the CT Master event
manager took too long to respond during the termination
phase, CT Master crashed because of a timeout after 5
secs. This would leave the system in a bad state. The
problem has been solved by means of a 30 min timeout
value and if CT Master gets a timeout after that time, it
now kills the event manager and shuts down properly.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10634 Aux Id: kunagi-347 [258] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Printing with any of the ct printout functions from an
event handler installed by Common Test, would cause a
deadlock. This problem has been solved.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10826 Aux Id: seq12250 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Using the force_stop flag/option to interrupt a test run
caused a crash in Common Test. This problem has been
solved.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10832</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Removed depricated run_test program, use ct_run instead.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9052</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Known Bugs and Problems</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Test case execution time increases with size of test run.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10855</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.7</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Severe errors detected by <c>test_server</c> (e.g. if log
files directories cannot be created) will now be reported
to <c>common_test</c> and noted in the <c>common_test</c>
logs.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9769 Aux Id: kunagi-202 [113] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The earlier undocumented cross cover feature for
accumulating cover data over multiple tests has now been
fixed and documented.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9870 Aux Id: kunagi-206 [117] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
If a busy test case generated lots of error messages,
cth_log_redirect:post_end_per_testcase would crash with a
timeout while waiting for the error logger to finish
handling all error reports. The default timer was 5
seconds. This has now been extended to 5 minutes.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10040 Aux Id: kunagi-173 [84] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>When a test case failed because of a timetrap time
out, the <c>Config</c> data for the case was lost in the
following call to <c>end_per_testcase/2</c>, and also in
calls to the CT Hook function
<c>post_end_per_testcase/4</c>. This problem has been
solved and the <c>Config</c> data is now correctly passed
to the above functions after a timetrap timeout
failure.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10070 Aux Id: kunagi-175 [86] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Some calls to deprecated and removed functions in snmp
are removed from ct_snmp.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10088 Aux Id: kunagi-176 [87] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>In test_server, the same process would supervise the
currently running test case and be group leader (and IO
server) for the test case. Furthermore, when running
parallel test cases, new temporary supervisor/group
leader processes were spawned and the process that was
group leader for sequential test cases would not be
active. That would lead to several problems:</p>
<p>* Processes started by init_per_suite will inherit the
group leader of the init_per_suite process (and that
group leader would not process IO requests when parallel
test cases was running). If later a parallel test case
caused such a processto print using (for example)
io:format/2, the calling would hang.</p>
<p>* Similarly, if a process was spawned from a parallel
test case, it would inherit the temporary group leader
for that parallel test case. If that spawned process
later - when the group of parallel tests have finished -
attempted to print something, its group leader would be
dead and there would be <c>badarg</c> exception.</p>
<p>Those problems have been solved by having group
leaders separate from the processes that supervises the
test cases, and keeping temporary group leader process
for parallel test cases alive until no more process in
the system use them as group leaders.</p>
<p>Also, a new <c>unexpected_io.log</c> log file
(reachable from the summary page of each test suite) has
been introduced. All unexpected IO will be printed into
it(for example, IO to a group leader for a parallel test
case that has finished).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10101 Aux Id: OTP-10125 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Some bugfixes in <c>ct_snmp:</c></p>
<p>
<list> <item> ct_snmp will now use the value of the
'agent_vsns' config variable when setting the 'variables'
parameter to snmp application agent configuration.
Earlier this had to be done separately - i.e. the
supported versions had to be specified twice. </item>
<item> Snmp application failed to write notify.conf since
ct_snmp gave the notify type as a string instead of an
atom. This has been corrected. </item> </list></p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10432</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Some bugfixes in <c>ct_snmp</c>:</p>
<p>
<list> <item> Functions <c>register_users/2</c>,
<c>register_agents/2</c> and <c>register_usm_users/2</c>,
and the corresponding <c>unregister_*/1</c> functions
were not executable. These are corrected/rewritten.
</item> <item> Function <c>update_usm_users/2</c> is
removed, and an unregister function is added instead.
Update can now be done with unregister_usm_users and then
register_usm_users. </item> <item> Functions
<c>unregister_*/2</c> are added, so specific
users/agents/usm users can be unregistered. </item>
<item> Function <c>unload_mibs/1</c> is added for
completeness. </item> <item> Overriding configuration
files did not work, since the files were written in
priv_dir instead of in the configuration dir
(priv_dir/conf). This has been corrected. </item> <item>
Arguments to <c>register_usm_users/2</c> were faulty
documented. This has been corrected. </item> </list></p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10434 Aux Id: kunagi-264 [175] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Faulty exported specs in common test has been corrected
to <c>ct_netconfc:hook_options/0</c> and
<c>inet:hostname/0</c></p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10601</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The netconf client in common_test did not adjust the
window after receiving data. Due to this, the client
stopped receiving data after a while. This has been
corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10646</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>It is now possible to let a test specification include
other test specifications. Included specs can either be
joined with the source spec (and all other joined specs),
resulting in one single test run, or they can be executed
in separate test runs. Also, a start flag/option,
<c>join_specs</c>, has been introduced, to be used in
combination with the <c>spec</c> option. With
<c>join_specs</c>, Common Test can be told to either join
multiple test specifications, or run them separately.
Without <c>join_specs</c>, the latter behaviour is
default. Note that this is a change compared to earlier
versions of Common Test, where specifications could only
be joined. More information can be found in the Running
Tests chapter in the User's Guide (see the Test
Specifications section).</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9881 Aux Id: kunagi-350 [261] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The <c>ct_slave:start/3</c> function now supports an
<c>{env,[{Var,Value}]}</c> option to extend environment
for the slave node.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10469 Aux Id: kunagi-317 [228] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p> Some examples overflowing the width of PDF pages have
been corrected. </p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10665</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Update common test modules to handle unicode <list>
<item> Use UTF-8 encoding for all HTML files, except the
HTML version of the test suite generated with
erl2html2:convert, which will have the same encoding as
the original test suite (.erl) file. </item> <item>
Encode link targets in HTML files with
test_server_ctrl:uri_encode/1. </item> <item> Use unicode
modifier 't' with ~s when appropriate. </item> <item> Use
unicode:characters_to_list and
unicode:characters_to_binary for conversion between
binaries and strings instead of binary_to_list and
list_to_binary. </item> </list></p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10783</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Known Bugs and Problems</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
CT drops error reason when groups/0 crashes.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10631 Aux Id: kunagi-345 [256] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Event handler on a ct_master node causes hanging.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10634 Aux Id: kunagi-347 [258] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
CT fails to open telnet conn after a timetrap timeout.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10648 Aux Id: seq12212 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.6.3.1</title>
<section><title>Known Bugs and Problems</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The following corrections/changes are done in the
cth_surefire hook:</p>
<p>
<list> <item> Earlier there would always be a
'properties' element under the 'testsuites' element. This
would exist even if there were no 'property' element
inside it. This has been changed so if there are no
'property' elements to display, then there will not be a
'properties' element either. </item> <item> The XML file
will now (unless other is specified) be stored in the top
log directory. Earlier, the default directory would be
the current working directory for the erlang node, which
would mostly, but not always, be the top log directory.
</item> <item> The 'hostname' attribute in the
'testsuite' element would earlier never have the correct
value. This has been corrected. </item> <item> The
'errors' attribute in the 'testsuite' element would
earlier display the number of failed testcases. This has
been changed and will now always have the value 0, while
the 'failures' attribute will show the number of failed
testcases. </item> <item> A new attribute 'skipped' is
added to the 'testsuite' element. This will display the
number of skipped testcases. These would earlier be
included in the number of failed test cases. </item>
<item> The total number of tests displayed by the 'tests'
attribute in the 'testsuite' element would earlier
include init/end_per_suite and init/end_per_group. This
is no longer the case. The 'tests' attribute will now
only count "real" test cases. </item> <item> Earlier,
auto skipped test cases would have no value in the 'log'
attribute. This is now corrected. </item> <item> A new
attributes 'log' is added to the 'testsuite' element.
</item> <item> A new option named 'url_base' is added for
this hook. If this option is used, a new attribute named
'url' will be added to the 'testcase' and 'testsuite'
elements. </item> </list></p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10589</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.6.3</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The ct:run_test/1 option 'config' only worked with a
single config file, not a list of files. This has been
fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10495</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
ct_netconfc:close_session sometimes returned
{error,closed} because the ssh connection was closed
(from the server side) before the rpc-reply was received
by the client. This is normal and can not be helped. It
has been corrected so the return will be 'ok' in this
case. Other error situations will still give
{error,Reason}.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10510 Aux Id: kunagi-320 [231] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
ct_netconfc:close_session sometimes returned
{error,closed} or (if the connection was named)
{error,{process_down,Pid,normal}} because the ssh
connection was closed (from the server side) before the
rpc-reply was received by the client. This is normal and
can not be helped. It has been corrected so the return
will be 'ok' in this situation.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10570</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Fix bug where ct:require of same name with same config
would return name_in_use.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10572</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
A new test case group search functionality has been
implemented that makes Common Test search automatically
through the group definitions tree (the return value of
groups/0) and create tests for all paths of nested groups
that match the specification. It also allows for
specifying unique paths to sub groups in order to avoid
execution of unwanted tests. This new feature can be used
whenever starting a test run by means of the ct_run
program, the ct:run_test/1 API function, or a Test
Specification. Details can be found in the Test Case
Group Execution section in the Running Tests chapter.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10466 Aux Id: kunagi-276 [187] </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Known Bugs and Problems</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Restore Config data if lost when test case fails.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10070 Aux Id: kunagi-175 [86] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
IO server error in test_server.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10125 Aux Id: OTP-10101, kunagi-177 [88] </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Faulty connection handling in common_test.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10126 Aux Id: kunagi-178 [89] </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.6.2.1</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The interactive mode (ct_run -shell) would not start
properly. This error has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10414</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.6.2</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
If a CT hook function caused a crash, this could in some
situations cause Common Test to terminate due to an
illegal IO operation. This error has been corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10050 Aux Id: seq12039 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The Common Test documentation states that timetraps are
never active during execution of CT hook functions. This
was only true for post hook functions, not for pre hook
functions. The code for CT hooks has been modified to
behave according to the documentation.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10069</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
If a CT hook function would call the exit/1 or throw/1
BIF (possibly indirectly, e.g. as a result of a timeout
in gen_server:call/3), Common Test would hang. This
problem has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10072 Aux Id: seq12053 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The documentation has been updated with information about
how to deal with chaining of hooks which return
fail/skip.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10077 Aux Id: seq12048 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
When ct_hooks called the id/1 functions of multiple
hooks, it would reverse the order of the hooks and call
the proceeding init/2 calls in the wrong order. This has
been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10135</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The surefire hook now correctly handles autoskipped
initialization and test functions.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10158</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The ct:get_status/0 function failed to report status if a
parallel test case group was running at the time of the
call. This has been fixed and the return value for the
function has been updated. Please see the ct reference
manual for details.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10172</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The support for "silent connections" has been updated to
include ssh. Also, a silent_connections term has been
added to the set of test specification terms.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9625 Aux Id: seq11918 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to specify an arbitrarily large tuple
as the requires config data when using require and
ct:get_config. See the ct:get_config and ct:require
reference manual pages for details about which keys are
allowed.</p>
<p>
This change introduces a backwards incompatability in the
<c>ct:require/2</c> interface. Previously when doing
<c>ct:require(a_name,{key,subkey})</c>, a_name would be
associated with key. This has been changed to that
<c>a_name</c> is associated with <c>subkey</c>. This
change also effects using <c>require</c> in an
suite/group/testcase info function.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9626 Aux Id: seq11920 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The ct_run program now sets the OS process exit status
before it ends. Value 0 indicates a successful test
result, 1 indicates one or more failed or auto-skipped
test cases, and 2 indicates test execution failure.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9865 Aux Id: OTP-10087 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to sort the HTML tables by clicking on
the header elements. In order to reset a sorted table,
the browser window should simply be refreshed. This
feature requires that the browser supports javascript,
and has javascript execution enabled. If the 'ct_run
-basic_html' flag is used, no javascript code is included
in the generated HTML code.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9896 Aux Id: seq12034, OTP-9835 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A netconf client, ct_netconfc, is added to common_test.
It supports basic netconf functionality over SSH. In
order to allow testing of both success and failure cases,
it is intentionally written to allow non-standard
behavior.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10025</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The test specification term {define,Constant,Value} has
been introduced, which makes it possible to replace
constant names (atom()) with values (term()) in arbitrary
test specification terms. The 'define' makes the (now
deprecated) 'alias' term obsolete. More details,
including examples, can be found in the Test
Specifications chapter in the Common Test User's Guide.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10049</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Verbosity levels for log printouts has been added. This
makes it possible to specify preferred verbosity for
different categories of log printouts, as well as general
printouts (such as standard IO), to allow control over
which strings get printed and which get ignored. New
versions of the Common Test logging functions, ct:log,
ct:pal and ct:print, have been introduced, with a new
Importance argument added. The Importance value is
compared to the verbosity level at runtime. More
information can be found in the chapter about Logging in
the Common Test User's Guide.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10067 Aux Id: seq12050 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The return values of ct:run_test/1 and ct:run_testspec/1
have been changed from an uninformative 'ok' (independent
of the test outcome) to a value,
{Ok,Failed,{UserSkipped,AutoSkipped}} (all integers),
that presents the final test case result, or a value,
{error,Reason}, that informs about fatal test execution
failure. See details in the reference manual for ct.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10087 Aux Id: OTP-9865 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The test specification syntax has been updated with new
and missing terms, such as 'define', 'verbosity',
'auto_compile', 'stylesheet', 'silent_connections',
'basic_html' and 'release_shell'. See the Test
Specification chapter in the Common Test User's Guide for
details.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10089 Aux Id: OTP-10049 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to pause execution of a test case, by
calling the ct:break/1/2 function. Execution is resumed
with a call to ct:continue/0/1. Break/continue also works
for test cases executing in parallel. See the ct
reference manual for details.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10127</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to send user defined events from a
testcase which will be picked up by the installed event
handler.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10157</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A new start option, release_shell, for ct:run_test/1, has
been added, which makes Common Test release the shell
process after the test suite compilation phase is
finished. For details, see the Running Tests chapter in
the User's Guide.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10248 Aux Id: OTP-10127 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.6.1</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Common Test adds the test suite directories to the code
path before executing the tests. These directories should
also be removed from the code path at the end of the test
run, which, prior to this fix, was not performed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9595</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
An entry is now created in the index.html file (i.e. the
overview file for the test run) for each repeated test
during a test run. This was previously not the case. Note
that in the top level (logdir) index file, however, only
the last test result is listed. For example, given the
test spec:
[{merge_tests,false},{dirs,"test1"},{dirs,"test1"}]. In
the index file for the test run (under
Logdir/ct_run.Node.Date.Time), both tests are listed. In
the top level index file (under Logdir), only the last
test is listed (one has to find the previous results
through the all_runs.html file).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9634 Aux Id: seq11924 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
After a test case timeout or abortion, the
end_per_testcase function executes on a new dedicated
process. The group leader for this process should be set
to the IO server for the test case, which was not done
properly. The result of this error was that no warnings
about end_per_testcase failing or timing out were ever
printed in the test case log. Also, help functions such
as e.g. test_server:stop_node/1, attempting to
synchronize with the IO server, would hang. The fault has
been corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9666</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The ct:get_status/0 function would cause the calling
process to receive 'DOWN' messages if no tests were
running at the time of the call. This bug has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9830 Aux Id: seq11975 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A deadlock situation could occur if Common Test is
forwarding error_handler printouts to Test Server at the
same time a new test case is starting. This error has
been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9894</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A link to the ct_run program is now created, as expected,
in the installation bin directory (default
/usr/local/bin) during 'make install'.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9898</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Using the repeat, duration or until option with
ct:run_test/1, would cause an infinite loop. This has
been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9899</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Two or more test cases executing in parallel and printing
to screen at the same time with ct:pal/2/3 or
ct:print/2/3 could write into each other's "slots" and
create a mess of mixed strings. In order to avoid this,
only a single IO message is now ever sent per printout
call.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9900 Aux Id: OTP-9904 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
When a test case was killed because of a timetrap
timeout, the current location (suite, case and line) was
not printed correctly in the log files. This has been
corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9930 Aux Id: seq12002 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The wrong exit location was printed in the log file when
ct:fail/1 or ct_fail/2 was called.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9933 Aux Id: seq12002 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Test Server and Common Test would add new error handlers
with each test run and fail to remove previously added
ones. In the case of Test Server, this would only happen
if SASL was not running on the test node. This has been
fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9941 Aux Id: seq12009 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
If a test case process was terminated due to an exit
signal from a linked process, Test Server failed to
report the correct name of the suite and case to the
framework. This has been corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9958 Aux Id: OTP-9855 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
When starting a test with ct_run and adding a directory
to the code path using -pa or -pz (preceding -erl_args),
Common Test would delete any existing directory in the
code path with the same base name (see
filename:basename/1) as the directory being added. This
has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9964</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
If passing two or more directories with the same base
name (see filename:basename/1) to Common Test with ct_run
-pa, only one of the directories would actually be added.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9975 Aux Id: seq12019 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Configuration data required by the group info function
was deleted before the call to post_end_per_group, which
made it impossible for the hook function to read and use
the data in question. This has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9989</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Disabling built-in hooks in a test specification was
ignored, this has now been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10009</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Various typographical errors corrected in documentation
for common_test, driver, erl_driver and windows
installation instructions. (Thanks to Tuncer Ayaz)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-10037</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
A new optional feature has been introduced that enables
Common Test to generate priv_dir directory names that are
unique for each test case or config function. The name of
the option/flag is 'create_priv_dir' and it can be set to
value 'auto_per_run' (which is the default, existing,
behaviour), or 'auto_per_tc' or 'manual_per_tc'. If
'auto_per_tc' is used, Test Server creates a dedicated
priv_dir automatically for each test case (which can be
very expensive in case of many and/or repeated cases). If
'manual_per_tc' is used, the user needs to create the
priv_dir explicitly by calling the new function
ct:make_priv_dir/0.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9659 Aux Id: seq11930 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A column for test case group name has been added to the
suite overview HTML log file.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9730 Aux Id: seq11952 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to use the post_end_per_testcase CT
hook function to print a comment for a test case in the
overview log file, even if the test case gets killed by a
timetrap or unknown exit signal, or if the
end_per_testcase function times out.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9855 Aux Id: seq11979 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The pre- and post CT hook functions are now always called
for all configuration functions, even for configuration
functions that are not implemented in the test suite.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9880 Aux Id: seq11993 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Common Test will now print error information (with a time
stamp) in the test case log file immediately when a test
case fails. This makes it easier to see when, in time,
the fault actually occured, and aid the job of locating
relevant trace and debug printouts in the log.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9904 Aux Id: seq11985, OTP-9900 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Test Server has been modified to check the SASL
errlog_type parameter when receiving an error logger
event, so that it doesn't print reports of type that the
user has disabled.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9955 Aux Id: seq12013 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The test specification term 'skip_groups' was implemented
in Common Test v1.6. It was never documented however,
which has now been attended to. Please see the Test
Specifications chapter in the User's Guide for
information.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9972</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The Common Test Master has been updated to use a CSS
style sheet for the html log files.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9973</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
If the init_per_group/2 and end_per_group/2 functions are
not implemented in the test suite, Common Test calls it's
own local init- and end functions - previously named
ct_init_per_group/2 and ct_end_per_group/2 - when a group
is executed. These functions have been renamed
init_per_group/2 and end_per_group/2 respectively. Note
that this may affect any user event handler identifying
events by the old names.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9986 Aux Id: OTP-9992 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
By specifying a user defined function ({M,F,A} or fun) as
timetrap value, either by means of an info function or by
calling ct:timetrap/1, it is now possible to set a
timetrap that will be triggered when the user function
returns.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9988 Aux Id: OTP-9501, seq11894 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
If the optional configuration functions init_per_suite/1
and end_per_suite/1 are not implemented in the test
suite, local Common Test versions of these functions are
called instead, and will be displayed in the overview log
file. Any printouts made by the pre- or
post_init_per_suite and pre- or post_end_per_suite hook
functions are saved in the log files for these functions.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9992</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A hook has been added to common test which outputs
surefire XML for usage together with CI tools such as
Jenkins. To enable the hook pass '-ct_hooks cth_surefire'
to ct_run. See the CTH documentation for more details.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9995</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.6</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
A Getting Started chapter has been added to the Common
Test User's Guide.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9156</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The test case group info function has been implemented in
Common Test. Before execution of a test case group, a
call is now made to <c>TestSuite:group(GroupName)</c>.
The function returns a list of test properties, e.g. to
specify timetrap values, require configuration data, etc
(analogue to the test suite- and test case info
function). The scope of the properties set by
<c>group(GroupName)</c> is all test cases and sub-groups
of group <c>GroupName</c>.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9235</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Common Test hooks are now in a final supported version.
The Common Test hooks allow you to abstract out
initialization behaviour that is common to multiple test
suites into one place and also extend the behaviour of a
suite without changing the suite itself. For more
information see the Common Test user's guide.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9449</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A new built-in common test hook has been added which
captures error_logger and SASL event and prints them in
the testcase log. To disable this (and any other built-in
hooks) pass 'enable_builtin_hooks false' to common test.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9543</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Common Test now calls info functions also for the
<c>init/end_per_suite/1</c> and
<c>init/end_per_group/2</c> configuration functions.
These can be used e.g. to set timetraps and require
external configuration data relevant only for the
configuration functions in question (without affecting
properties set for groups and test cases in the suite).
The info function for <c>init/end_per_suite(Config)</c>
is <c>init/end_per_suite()</c>, and for
<c>init/end_per_group(GroupName,Config)</c> it's
<c>init/end_per_group(GroupName)</c>. Info functions can
not be used with <c>init/end_per_testcase(TestCase,
Config)</c>, since these configuration functions execute
on the test case process and will use the same properties
as the test case (i.e. properties set by the test case
info function, <c>TestCase()</c>).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9569</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It's now possible to read the full name of the test case
log file during execution. One way to do this is to
lookup it up as value of the key <c>tc_logfile</c> in the
test case <c>Config</c> list (which means it can also be
read by a pre- or post Common Test hook function). The
data is also sent with the event
<c>#event{name=tc_logfile,data={{Suite,Func},LogFileName}}</c>,
and can be read by any installed event handler.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9676 Aux Id: seq11941 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The look of the HTML log files generated by Common Test
and Test Server has been improved (and made easier to
customize) by means of a CSS file.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9706</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Functions ct:fail(Format, Args) and ct:comment(Format,
Args) have been added in order to make printouts of
formatted error and comment strings easier (no need for
the user to call io_lib:format/2 explicitly).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9709 Aux Id: seq11951 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The order in which ct hooks are executed for cleanup
hooks (i.e. *_end_per_* hooks) has been reversed.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9774 Aux Id: seq11913 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Printouts to stdout may be captured during test case
execution. This is useful in order to e.g. read and parse
tty printouts from the SUT during test case execution (if
necessary, say, to determine the outcome of the test).
The capturing session is started with
<c>ct:capture_start/0</c>, and stopped with
<c>ct:capture_stop/0</c>. The list of buffered strings is
read and purged with <c>ct:capture_get/0/1</c>. It's
possible to filter out printouts made with
<c>ct:log/2/3</c> and <c>ct:pal/2/3</c> from the captured
list of strings. This is done by calling
<c>capture_get/1</c> with a list of log categories to
exclude.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9775</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The syntax for specifying test case groups in the all/0
list has been extended to include execution properties
for both groups and sub-groups. The properties specified
in all/0 for a group overrides the properties specified
in the group declaration (in groups/0). The main purpose
of this extension is to make it possible to run the same
set of tests, but with different properties, without
having to declare copies of the group in question. Also,
the same syntax may be used in test specifications in
order to change properties of groups at the time of
execution, without having to edit the test suite. Please
see the User's Guide for details and examples.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9809 Aux Id: OTP-9235 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Known Bugs and Problems</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Fix problems in CT/TS due to line numbers in exceptions.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9203</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.5.5</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
An error in how comments are colored in the test suite
overview html log file has been corrected. As result, a
new framework callback function, format_comment/1, has
been introduced.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9237</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Automatically generated init- and end-configuration
functions for test case groups caused incorrect execution
order of test cases. This has been corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9369</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
If multiple directories were specified with the 'logdir'
flag/option, Common Test would crash. This has been fixed
so that an error is properly reported instead.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9370</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
If ct:log/2 was called with bad arguments, this could
cause the Common Test IO handling process to crash. This
fault has been corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9371 Aux Id: OTP-8933 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A bug has been fixed that made Test Server call the
end_tc/3 framework function with an incorrect module name
as first argument.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9379 Aux Id: seq11863 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
If a timetrap timeout occured during execution of of a
function in a lib module (i.e. a function called directly
or indirectly from a test case), the Suite argument in
the end_tc/3 framework callback function would not
correctly contain the name of the test suite, but the lib
module. (This would only happen if the lib module was
compiled with ct.hrl included). This error has been
solved.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9398</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Corrections of the vts mode. It will now report errors
(about e.g. incorrect config files) instead of crashing
or hanging. Furthermore, the requirement that the test
directory name must have a "_test" suffix has been
removed. Also, a workaround has been implemented for the
limitation that the file browser (in many web browsers)
will only return the basic file name, not the full
directory path (which made it impossible to have config
files in other directories than the main test directory).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9429</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Add a proplist() type</p>
<p>
Recently I was adding specs to an API and found that
there is no canonical proplist() type defined. (Thanks to
Ryan Zezeski)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9499</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to use the 'step' flag/option to run
the debugger for test suites that contain test case
groups. This previously caused Common Test to crash. If
'step config' is specified, breakpoints are now also
automatically set on init_per_group and end_per_group.
Note that breakpoints are always set automatically on
test case functions and this is true also for grouped
cases.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9518 Aux Id: OTP-8933 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The test index page was not refreshed at the start of
each test suite which made it impossible to follow test
execution by means of refreshing the browser window (no
links to follow). This has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9520 Aux Id: OTP-8933 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
If a test suite would start with a test case group
defined without the init_per_group/2 and end_per_group/2
function, init_per_suite/1 would not execute initially
and logging of the test run would fail. This error has
been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9584</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The "Missing Suites" link from the top level index page
was incorrect and has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9592</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Various corrections and updates to improve the handling
and reporting of errors.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8933</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The dir and suite start option can now be used in
combination. E.g. executing my_SUITE in directory
my_tests can either be specified as "ct_run -suite
my_tests/my_SUITE" or as "ct_run -dir my_tests -suite
my_SUITE". Furthermore, the specification:
ct:run_test([{suite,["./my_SUITE"]},{testcase,t1}]) is
now interpreted as
ct:run_test([{suite,"./my_SUITE"},{testcase,t1}]), i.e.
only testcase t1 in test suite my_SUITE - not all cases -
will be executed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9155</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A new option, 'logopts', has been introduced, to make it
possible to modify some aspects of the logging behaviour
in Common Test (or Test Server). For example, whenever an
io printout is made, test_server adds newline (\n) to the
end of the output string. This may not always be a
preferred action and can therefore be disabled by means
of "ct_run ... -logopts no_nl" (or ct:run_test([...,
{logopts,[no_nl]}])). A new framework callback function,
get_logopts/0, has been introduced (see the ct_framework
module for details).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9372 Aux Id: OTP-9396 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A new option, 'logopts', has been introduced, to make it
possible to modify some aspects of the logging behaviour
in Common Test (or Test Server). For example, if the html
version of the test suite source code should not be
generated during the test run (and consequently be
unavailable in the log file system), the feature may be
disabled by means of "ct_run ... -logopts no_src" (or
ct:run_test([..., {logopts,[no_src]}])). A new framework
callback function, get_logopts/0, has been introduced
(see the ct_framework module for details).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9396 Aux Id: seq11869, OTP-9372 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
CT Hooks can now be assigned a priority. The priority of
a CTH determines when it should execute in relation to
other CTHs. The CTH with the lowest priority will be
executed first, CTHs with equal priority will be executed
in the order which they were installed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9445</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to use a tuple {M,F,A}, or a fun, as
timetrap specification in the suite info function or test
case info functions. The function must return a valid
timeout value, as documented in the common_test man page
and in the User's Guide.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9501 Aux Id: seq11894 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A new built-in common test hook has been added which
captures error_logger and SASL event and prints them in
the testcase log. To disable this (and any other built-in
hooks) pass 'enable_builtin_hooks false' to common test.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9543</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Common Test now has the possibility to have built-in
hooks which are started by default when any test is run.
To disable built-in hooks pass 'enable_builtin_hooks
false' to common test. See the common test hooks
documentation for more details.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9564</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.5.4</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
It was previously not possible to use timetrap value
'infinity' with ct:timetrap/1. This has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9159</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The Common Test VTS mode has been updated to be able to
report test results of suites that include test case
groups (when it would previously crash).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9195</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Common Test now refreshes the very top level index.html
page at the start of each individual test in a test run,
so that progress of the ongoing test can be tracked by
following the link to its overview page.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9210 Aux Id: OTP-9054 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A bug that made it impossible to cancel the previous
timetrap when calling ct:timetrap/1 has been corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9233 Aux Id: OTP-9159 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Fix bug which would make cth's to not be removed when out
of scope when adding a cth in suite/0 and crashing in
pre_init_per_suite.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9264</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to return a tuple {fail,Reason} from
init_per_testcase/2. The result is that the associated
test case gets logged as failed without ever executing.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9160 Aux Id: seq11502 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Common Test now accepts, but ignores, empty test case
group specifications.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9161</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.5.3</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Added an option to test specs which allow the execution
of tests as is, instead of doing merging of tests on the
same "level". See the merge_tests directive the test
specification documentation.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-9026 Aux Id: seq11768 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Alpha release of Common Test Hooks (CTH). CTHs allow the
users of common test to abtract out common behaviours
from test suites in a much more elegant and flexible way
than was possible before. Note that the addition of this
feature may introduce minor changes in the undocumented
behaviour of the interface inbetween common_test and
test_server.</p>
<p>
*** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8851</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.5.2</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Updated ct:get_status documentation to describe
no_tests_running return value.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8895 Aux Id: seq11701 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Fixed race condition test failures in the test suites
testing common test's parallel groups feature.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8921</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The include directive of testspecs now work when used on
a remote node.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8935 Aux Id: seq11731 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
ct:parse_table can now handle multiline sql rows</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8907 Aux Id: seq11702 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The run_test executable has been renamed to the less
generic ct_run to better work with other applications.
run_test will remain until R16B at which point it will be
removed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8936</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.5.1</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Returning {return_group_result,failed} from end_per_group
in a group that is part of a sequence, did not cause the
proceeding cases (or groups) to get skipped. This has
been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8753 Aux Id: seq11644 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
ct:install now works as the documentation describes.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8818 Aux Id: seq-11666 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Common Test has been updated to handle start options and
test specification terms for test case groups (and test
cases in groups). Also, an option named 'label', has been
added that associates the test run with a name that
Common Test prints in the overview HTML logs.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8725 Aux Id: OTP-8727 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Andrey Pampukha has been added to the AUTHORS file. Thank
you Andrey for your work on configuration data handling,
Large Scale Testing improvements, and other useful
updates and fixes.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8803</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The Configuration Data chapter in the User's Guide has
been updated.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8804</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Milliseconds are now included in timestamps in Common
Test log entries. (Thanks to Tomas Johansson.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8808</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.5</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Process calls using monitors in Common Test would not
clear the inbox of remaining DOWN messages. This has been
fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8621 Aux Id: seq11560 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible for the user to provide specific
callback modules that handle test configuration data, so
that data on arbitray form can be accessed (e.g. by
reading files or by communicating with a configuration
server process). Two default callback modules have been
introduced in Common Test: ct_config_plain and
ct_config_xml. The former is used to handle the
traditional Common Test configuration files (with terms
on key-value tuple form) and the latter to handle
configuration data on XML representation.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8485</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to execute test suites that are not
necessarily available on the local file system, but have
been loaded on the test node in advance (e.g. sent as
binaries from a remote node and loaded by RPC). A
requirement is that the no_auto_compile (or
{auto_compile,false}) parameter has been set.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8490 Aux Id: seq11500 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Test Server will now call the end_per_testcase/2 function
even if the test case has been terminated explicitly
(with abort_current_testcase/1), or after a timetrap
timeout. Under these circumstances the return value of
end_per_testcase is completely ignored. Therefore the
function will not be able to change the reason for test
case termination by returning {fail,Reason}, nor will it
be able to save data with {save_config,Data}.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8500 Aux Id: seq11521 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to use the test specification term
'init' to start Common Test nodes automatically, as well
as have initial function calls evaluated on the nodes. A
default callback module for the 'init' term, ct_slave,
has been introduced to enable Common Test Master to
perform host login and node startup operations over ssh.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8570</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The run_test script has been replaced by a program (with
the same name) which can be executed without explicit
installation. The start flags are the same as for the
legacy start script.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8650</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Previously, a repeat property of a test case group
specified the number of times the group should be
repeated after the main test run. I.e. {repeat,N} would
case the group to execute 1+N times. To be consistent
with the behaviour of the run_test repeat option, this
has been changed. N now specifies the absolute number of
executions instead.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8689 Aux Id: seq11502 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
With the run_test -erl_args option, it's possible to
divide the options on the run_test command line into ones
that Common Test should process (those preceding
-erl_args, and ones it should ignore (those succeeding
-erl_args). Options preceding -erl_args that Common Test
doesn't recognize are also ignored (i.e. the same
behaviour as earlier versions of Common Test).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8690 Aux Id: OTP-8650 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Directories added with -pa or -pz in the pre-erl_args
part of the run_test command line will be converted from
relative to absolute, this to avoid problems loading user
modules when Common Test switches working directory
during the test run.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8691 Aux Id: OTP-8650 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The timetrap handling has been made more user
controllable by means of new start options and new ct
interface functions. With the 'multiply_timetraps' start
option, it's possible to specify a value which all
timetrap timeout values get multiplied by. This is useful
e.g. to extend the timetraps temporarily while running
cover or trace. The 'scale_timetraps' start option
switches on or off the Test Server timetrap scaling
feature (which tries to detect if the tests may benefit
from extended timetraps, e.g. due to running certain test
tools, and performs the scaling automatically).
Furthermore, the ct:timetrap/1 function has been
introduced, which makes it possible to set/reset
timetraps during test execution. Also, a ct:sleep/1
function is now available, which takes the timetrap
parameters into account when calculating the time to
suspend the process.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8693</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A new run_test start option, event_handler_init, has been
added that takes a start argument which gets passed to
the init function of the event handler.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8694</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.4.7</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The auto compilation feature of Common Test did not
recognize if a header file included in a test suite was
modified (if the dir start flag/option was used). This
has been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8396 Aux Id: seq11488, OTP-8311 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The tc_status value in the Config list for a test case
that has failed because of a timetrap timeout, has
changed from {tc_status,timeout} to
{tc_status,timetrap_timeout}.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8302</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>The documentation is now possible to build in an open
source environment after a number of bugs are fixed and
some features are added in the documentation build
process. </p>
<p>- The arity calculation is updated.</p>
<p>- The module prefix used in the function names for
bif's are removed in the generated links so the links
will look like
"http://www.erlang.org/doc/man/erlang.html#append_element-2"
instead of
"http://www.erlang.org/doc/man/erlang.html#erlang:append_element-2".</p>
<p>- Enhanced the menu positioning in the html
documentation when a new page is loaded.</p>
<p>- A number of corrections in the generation of man
pages (thanks to Sergei Golovan)</p>
<p>- The legal notice is taken from the xml book file so
OTP's build process can be used for non OTP
applications.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8343</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to include the <c>ct.hrl</c> using the
-include_lib directive. (Thanks to Fred Hebert.)</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8379</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The telnet client in Common Test sent [IAC,DO,NOP] to the
server in attempt to keep the connection alive. This is
not a valid sequence according to the standard, and some
telnet servers would terminate the connection because of
it. The client has been changed to send [IAC,NOP] every
10 secs instead, which should be a valid sequence. The
client does not negotiate this type of "keep alive"
message with the server, and if it causes problems, the
user may disable the keep alive feature by adding
{keep_alive,false} to the telnet configuration data for
the server/connection. Please see the ct_telnet and
unix_telnet manual pages for details.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8450 Aux Id: OTP-8311 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.4.6</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
If the init_per_testcase/2 function fails, the test case
now gets marked and counted as auto skipped, not user
skipped (which would previously happen).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8289</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The documentation is now built with open source tools
(xsltproc and fop) that exists on most platforms. One
visible change is that the frames are removed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8201</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
For a failed test case, the tc_done event is supposed to
report info on the form {failed,Error}. Only Error was
reported, however, which has now been fixed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8235 Aux Id: seq-11414 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to fail a test case from the
end_per_testcase/2 function, by returning {fail,Reason}.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8284</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to fail a test case by having the
end_tc/3 framework function return {fail,Reason} for the
test case.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8285</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The test_server framework API (e.g. the end_tc/3
function) has been modified. See the test_server_ctrl
documentation for details.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8286 Aux Id: OTP-8285, OTP-8287 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Various updates of the test events have been implemented.
The data field for some events, such as tc_done and
tc_auto_skip has been modified to make pattern matching
on the data easier and more consistent. Also the order in
which some events are received has been altered. E.g. the
tc_auto_skip event for a test case now comes after the
tc_done for the failed configuration function (not
before) which makes more sense. Note that no new events
have been added and that the event record remains
unchanged.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8287 Aux Id: OTP-8235 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The marquee used for test names on the all_runs.html page
has been removed on request. Note that the test name
field has the full text string in a title tag, which is
displayed when hovering the mouse pointer over it (i.e.
if the web browser supports title tags).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8288</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to refresh the top level index files
in an arbitrary log directory by specifying a
{refresh_logs,LogDir} tuple in the ct:run_test/1 options
list. Also the -refresh_logs flag for the run_test script
has been extended to take an optional LogDir argument,
i.e. -refresh_logs [LogDir]. If no LogDir is specified,
current working directory is assumed, unless the log
directory is set with the -logdir flag.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8290</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It was previously required that test suites were located
under a test object (or OTP application) sub-directory
named "test" (or under a directory named
"<testobject>_test"). This has been changed so that
Common Test now looks for suites primarily in a test
sub-directory only if the directory exists. Otherwise it
will assume the suites are stored in the same directory
the user specifies with e.g. the 'dir' start flag/option.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8294</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.4.5</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The Common Test logger process crashed if a test case in
a sequence (declared with sequences/0) failed. This fault
has been corrected.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8089 Aux Id: seq11334 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Various updates and fixes in Common Test and Test Server.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8045 Aux Id: OTP-8089,OTP-8105,OTP-8163 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Errors in coverage data collection and analysis were
difficult to detect. The logging has been improved so
that more information about e.g. imported and missing
modules is printed to the html log files.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8163 Aux Id: seq11374 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The Common Test HTML overview pages have been improved.
It is now possible to see if a test case has been skipped
explicitly or because a configuration function has
failed. Also, the history page (all_runs.html) now has
scrolling text displaying the test names. The old format
(showing names as a truncated string) can still be
generated by means of the flag/option 'basic_html'.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-8177</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.4.2</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Various corrections and improvements of Common Test and
Test Server.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7981</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.4.1</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Minor updates and corrections.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7897</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.4</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
A support client module for SSH and SFTP, ct_ssh, has
been introduced in Common Test.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7838</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Test case groups have been introduced. With this feature
it's possible to execute groups (possibly nested) of test
cases, each group wrapped with a call to function
init_per_group/2 and end_per_group/2. Group definitions
are done by means of the new call-back function groups/0,
which should return a list of definitions. A group
definition contains a name tag, a list of properties and
a list of test cases (including possible nested group
definitions). The properties make it possible to execute
test cases in parallel, in sequence and in shuffled
order. It is also possible to repeat test cases according
to different criterias. The properties can be combined,
making it possible to e.g. repeat a conf case a certain
number of times and execute the test cases in different
(random) order every time. Available properties are:
parallel, sequence, shuffle, repeat, repeat_until_all_ok,
repeat_until_any_ok, repeat_until_any_fail and
repeat_until_all_fail. Please see the Common Test User's
Guide for details.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7839 Aux Id: OTP-7511 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible to use DES3 encrypted configuration
files with Common Test.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7842 Aux Id: OTP-7838 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
In previous versions of Common Test, only one FTP
connection could be opened per configuration target name.
This has been updated so that multiple connections may be
opened. The possibility to use named connections is still
supported.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7853 Aux Id: OTP-7838 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The Erlang mode for Emacs has been updated with new and
modified skeletons for Common Test and TS. Syntax for
test case groups in Common Test (and conf cases with
properties in TS) has been added and a new minimal Common
Test suite skeleton has been introduced.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7856</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.3.6</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
When running a test which includes all suites in a test
directory, if the auto compilation would fail for one
suite, all following suites would be excluded from the
test. This was an unwanted behaviour and has been
corrected. Now all suites will always be compiled and
only the failing ones excluded from the test (and logged
as missing).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7750 Aux Id: OTP-7803 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
The step functionality in Common Test (based on
interaction with Debugger) was broken. This has been
fixed, and some new step features have also been added.
Please see the Common Test User's Guide for details.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7800 Aux Id: seq11106 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible for the user to specify include
directories that Common Test will pass along to the
compiler when suite and help modules are being compiled
(which Common Test performs automatically before running
tests).</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7803 Aux Id: OTP-7750 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.3.5</title>
<section><title>Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
If the Erlang runtime system was started without access
to an erlang shell (e.g. -noshell), compilation errors
would cause a crash in the Common Test application.
Without access to a shell, Common Test can not prompt the
user to choose to continue or abort the test session, but
must assume that the session should proceed.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7749 Aux Id: seq11175, seq11180 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible for the Common Test user to disable
the auto-compile feature. This is done by specifying the
run_test flag -no_auto_compile, or the ct:run_test/1
option {auto_compile,false}.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7663</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A new function, ct:get_config/3, has been added to Common
Test that makes it possible to - if a particular config
variable has been defined in multiple config files -
return all matching values for the variable. The order of
the elements in the returned list is the same as the
specified order of the config files.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7758 Aux Id: seq11158 </p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Because a telnet connection was always identified by a
config variable alias, it was impossible to open multiple
connections using the same telnet host data entry in the
config file. This limitation has been removed by making
it possible to associate a connection with handle value
only (i.e. multiple connections may be opened using the
same config variable). See ct_telnet:open/4 for details.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7781</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
A new syntax for defining default config data values has
been introduced. In previous versions of Common Test, to
define and access a default value for a config variable
(in the suite info- or test case info function), an alias
name had to be used. With the new syntax you may define
default values without reference to aliases, like this:
{default_config,VarName,DefaultValue}. Please see the
User's Guide for more info.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7782</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
In previous versions of Common Test, whenever a config
variable got associated with a name (by means of a
require statement), the config variable name was replaced
with the new name. This introduced unwanted dependencies
between test cases (e.g. if one test case would introduce
a new name, the following test cases could no longer
access the config data by means of the original
variable). This functionality has now been updated so
that when new names are introduced with require, they
become aliases (references) instead of replacements.
Hence, config data elements can always, at any time, be
accessed by means of the original config variable names.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7783</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.3.4</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Common Test now uses the re application instead of the
previous rx driver to perform regular expression matching
on telnet strings. Since re works on all supported
operating systems, it is now possible to run telnet
sessions also on platforms such as e.g. Windows (which
was not the case with the previous rx driver). Note that
the rx driver is obsolete from now on, and will be
removed from Common Test after OTP R12B.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7528</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.3.3</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
Various updates and improvements, plus some minor bug
fixes, have been implemented in Common Test and Test
Server.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7112</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
It is now possible, by means of the new function
ct:abort_current_testcase/1 or
test_server_ctrl:abort_current_testcase/1, to abort the
currently executing test case.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7518 Aux Id: OTP-7112 </p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.3.2</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The configure test of the rx lib in Common Test was not
performed during the general OTP application
configuration phase. This made e.g. autoconf impossible.
This has been changed to correspond with the normal OTP
build procedure.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7379</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>Common_Test 1.3.1</title>
<section><title>Improvements and New Features</title>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The rx library, included with common_test, failed to
build on on some architectures because the -fPIC compiler
option was missing.</p>
<p>
Own Id: OTP-7111</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</section>
<section><title>common_test 1.3.0</title>
</section>
</chapter>
