Step 5: Installing and Testing — CMake 3.31.6 Documentation

# Step 5: Installing and Testing

## Exercise 1 - Install Rules

Often, it is not enough to only build an executable, it should also be installable. With CMake, we can specify install rules using the `install()` command. Supporting local installations for your builds in CMake is often as simple as specifying an install location and the targets and files to be installed.

### Goal

Install the `Tutorial` executable and the `MathFunctions` library.

### Helpful Materials

- `install()`

### Files to Edit

- `MathFunctions/CMakeLists.txt`

- `CMakeLists.txt`

### Getting Started

The starting code is provided in the `Step5` directory. In this exercise, complete `TODO 1` through `TODO 4`.

First, update `MathFunctions/CMakeLists.txt` to install the `MathFunctions` and `tutorial_compiler_flags` libraries to the `lib` directory. In that same file, specify the install rules needed to install `MathFunctions.h` to the `include` directory.

Then, update the top level `CMakeLists.txt` to install the `Tutorial` executable to the `bin` directory. Lastly, any header files should be installed to the `include` directory. Remember that `TutorialConfig.h` is in the `PROJECT_BINARY_DIR`.

### Build and Run

Make a new directory called `Step5_build`. Run the `cmake` executable or the `cmake-gui` to configure the project and then build it with your chosen build tool.

Then, run the install step by using the `--install` option of the `cmake` command (introduced in 3.15, older versions of CMake must use `make install`) from the command line. This step will install the appropriate header files, libraries, and executables. For example:

    cmake --install .

For multi-configuration tools, don't forget to use the `--config` argument to specify the configuration.

    cmake --install . --config Release

If using an IDE, simply build the `INSTALL` target. You can build the same install target from the command line like the following:

    cmake --build . --target install --config Debug

The CMake variable `CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX` is used to determine the root of where the files will be installed. If using the `cmake --install` command, the installation prefix can be overridden via the `--prefix` argument. For example:

    cmake --install . --prefix "/home/myuser/installdir"

Navigate to the install directory and verify that the installed `Tutorial` runs.

### Solution

The install rules for our project are fairly simple:

- For `MathFunctions`, we want to install the libraries and header file to the `lib` and `include` directories respectively.

- For the `Tutorial` executable, we want to install the executable and configured header file to the `bin` and `include` directories respectively.

So to the end of `MathFunctions/CMakeLists.txt` we add:

TODO 1: Click to show/hide answer
TODO 1: MathFunctions/CMakeLists.txt

    set(installable_libs MathFunctions tutorial_compiler_flags)
    if(TARGET SqrtLibrary)
      list(APPEND installable_libs SqrtLibrary)
    endif()
    install(TARGETS ${installable_libs} DESTINATION lib)

and

TODO 2: Click to show/hide answer
TODO 2: MathFunctions/CMakeLists.txt

    install(FILES MathFunctions.h DESTINATION include)

The install rules for the `Tutorial` executable and configured header file are similar. To the end of the top-level `CMakeLists.txt` we add:

TODO 3,4: Click to show/hide answer
CMakeLists.txt

    install(TARGETS Tutorial DESTINATION bin)
    install(FILES "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/TutorialConfig.h"
      DESTINATION include
      )

That is all that is needed to create a basic local install of the tutorial.

## Exercise 2 - Testing Support

CTest offers a way to easily manage tests for your project. Tests can be added through the `add_test()` command. Although it is not explicitly covered in this tutorial, there is a lot of compatibility between CTest and other testing frameworks such as `GoogleTest`.

### Goal

Create unit tests for our executable using CTest.

### Helpful Materials

- `enable_testing()`

- `add_test()`

- `function()`

- `set_tests_properties()`

- `ctest`

### Files to Edit

- `CMakeLists.txt`

### Getting Started

The starting source code is provided in the `Step5` directory. In this exercise, complete `TODO 5` through `TODO 9`.

First, we need to enable testing. Next, begin adding tests to our project using `add_test()`. We will work through adding 3 simple tests and then you can add additional testing as you see fit.

### Build and Run

Navigate to the build directory and rebuild the application. Then, run the ctest executable: `ctest -N` and `ctest -VV`. For multi-config generators (e.g. Visual Studio), the configuration type must be specified with the `-C <mode>` flag. For example, to run tests in Debug mode use `ctest -C Debug -VV` from the build directory (not the Debug subdirectory!). Release mode would be executed from the same location but with a `-C Release`. Alternatively, build the `RUN_TESTS` target from the IDE.

### Solution

Let's test our application. At the end of the top-level `CMakeLists.txt` file we first need to enable testing with the `enable_testing()` command.

TODO 5: Click to show/hide answer
TODO 5: CMakeLists.txt

    enable_testing()

With testing enabled, we will add a number of basic tests to verify that the application is working correctly. First, we create a test using `add_test()` which runs the `Tutorial` executable with the parameter 25 passed in. For this test, we are not going to check the executable's computed answer. This test will verify that application runs, does not segfault or otherwise crash, and has a zero return value. This is the basic form of a CTest test.

TODO 6: Click to show/hide answer
TODO 6: CMakeLists.txt

    add_test(NAME Runs COMMAND Tutorial 25)

Next, let's use the `PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION` test property to verify that the output of the test contains certain strings. In this case, verifying that the usage message is printed when an incorrect number of arguments are provided.

TODO 7: Click to show/hide answer
TODO 7: CMakeLists.txt

    add_test(NAME Usage COMMAND Tutorial)
    set_tests_properties(Usage
      PROPERTIES PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "Usage:.*number"
      )

The next test we will add verifies the computed value is truly the square root.

TODO 8: Click to show/hide answer
TODO 8: CMakeLists.txt

    add_test(NAME StandardUse COMMAND Tutorial 4)
    set_tests_properties(StandardUse
      PROPERTIES PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION "4 is 2"
      )

This one test is not enough to give us confidence that it will work for all values passed in. We should add more tests to verify this. To easily add more tests, we make a function called `do_test` that runs the application and verifies that the computed square root is correct for given input. For each invocation of `do_test`, another test is added to the project with a name, input, and expected results based on the passed arguments.

TODO 9: Click to show/hide answer
TODO 9: CMakeLists.txt

    function(do_test target arg result)
      add_test(NAME Comp${arg} COMMAND ${target} ${arg})
      set_tests_properties(Comp${arg}
        PROPERTIES PASS_REGULAR_EXPRESSION ${result}
        )
    endfunction()

    # do a bunch of result based tests
    do_test(Tutorial 4 "4 is 2")
    do_test(Tutorial 9 "9 is 3")
    do_test(Tutorial 5 "5 is 2.236")
    do_test(Tutorial 7 "7 is 2.645")
    do_test(Tutorial 25 "25 is 5")
    do_test(Tutorial -25 "-25 is (-nan|nan|0)")
    do_test(Tutorial 0.0001 "0.0001 is 0.01")