How do you create tests for “make check” with GNU autotools

Question

I\'m using GNU autotools for the build system on a particular project. I want to start writing automated tests for verifcation. I would like to just type \"make check\" to have

Answer 1

To make test run when you issue make check, you need to add them to the TESTS variable

Assuming you've already built the executable that runs the unit tests, you just add the name of the executable to the TESTS variable like this:

TESTS=my-test-executable

It should then be automatically run when you make check, and if the executable returns a non-zero value, it will report that as a test failure. If you have multiple unit test executables, just list them all in the TESTS variable:

TESTS=my-first-test my-second-test my-third-test

and they will all get run.