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2 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>31.1. Running the Tests</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets Vsnapshot" /><link rel="prev" href="regress.html" title="Chapter 31. Regression Tests" /><link rel="next" href="regress-evaluation.html" title="31.2. Test Evaluation" /></head><body id="docContent" class="container-fluid col-10"><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">31.1. Running the Tests</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="regress.html" title="Chapter 31. Regression Tests">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="regress.html" title="Chapter 31. Regression Tests">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Chapter 31. Regression Tests</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 18.0 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="regress-evaluation.html" title="31.2. Test Evaluation">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr /></div><div class="sect1" id="REGRESS-RUN"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">31.1. Running the Tests <a href="#REGRESS-RUN" class="id_link">#</a></h2></div></div></div><div class="toc"><dl class="toc"><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="regress-run.html#REGRESS-RUN-TEMP-INST">31.1.1. Running the Tests Against a Temporary Installation</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="regress-run.html#REGRESS-RUN-EXISTING-INST">31.1.2. Running the Tests Against an Existing Installation</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="regress-run.html#REGRESS-ADDITIONAL">31.1.3. Additional Test Suites</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="regress-run.html#REGRESS-RUN-LOCALE">31.1.4. Locale and Encoding</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="regress-run.html#REGRESS-RUN-CUSTOM-SETTINGS">31.1.5. Custom Server Settings</a></span></dt><dt><span class="sect2"><a href="regress-run.html#REGRESS-RUN-EXTRA-TESTS">31.1.6. Extra Tests</a></span></dt></dl></div><p>
3 The regression tests can be run against an already installed and
4 running server, or using a temporary installation within the build
5 tree. Furthermore, there is a <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">parallel</span>”</span> and a
6 <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">sequential</span>”</span> mode for running the tests. The
7 sequential method runs each test script alone, while the
8 parallel method starts up multiple server processes to run groups
9 of tests in parallel. Parallel testing adds confidence that
10 interprocess communication and locking are working correctly.
11 Some tests may run sequentially even in the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">parallel</span>”</span>
12 mode in case this is required by the test.
13 </p><div class="sect2" id="REGRESS-RUN-TEMP-INST"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">31.1.1. Running the Tests Against a Temporary Installation <a href="#REGRESS-RUN-TEMP-INST" class="id_link">#</a></h3></div></div></div><p>
14 To run the parallel regression tests after building but before installation,
16 </p><pre class="screen">
19 in the top-level directory. (Or you can change to
20 <code class="filename">src/test/regress</code> and run the command there.)
21 Tests which are run in parallel are prefixed with <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">+</span>”</span>, and
22 tests which run sequentially are prefixed with <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">-</span>”</span>.
23 At the end you should see something like:
24 </p><pre class="screen">
25 <code class="computeroutput">
26 # All 213 tests passed.
29 or otherwise a note about which tests failed. See <a class="xref" href="regress-evaluation.html" title="31.2. Test Evaluation">Section 31.2</a> below before assuming that a
30 <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">failure</span>”</span> represents a serious problem.
32 Because this test method runs a temporary server, it will not work
33 if you did the build as the root user, since the server will not start as
34 root. Recommended procedure is not to do the build as root, or else to
35 perform testing after completing the installation.
37 If you have configured <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> to install
38 into a location where an older <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>
39 installation already exists, and you perform <code class="literal">make check</code>
40 before installing the new version, you might find that the tests fail
41 because the new programs try to use the already-installed shared
42 libraries. (Typical symptoms are complaints about undefined symbols.)
43 If you wish to run the tests before overwriting the old installation,
44 you'll need to build with <code class="literal">configure --disable-rpath</code>.
45 It is not recommended that you use this option for the final installation,
48 The parallel regression test starts quite a few processes under your
49 user ID. Presently, the maximum concurrency is twenty parallel test
50 scripts, which means forty processes: there's a server process and a
51 <span class="application">psql</span> process for each test script.
52 So if your system enforces a per-user limit on the number of processes,
53 make sure this limit is at least fifty or so, else you might get
54 random-seeming failures in the parallel test. If you are not in
55 a position to raise the limit, you can cut down the degree of parallelism
56 by setting the <code class="literal">MAX_CONNECTIONS</code> parameter. For example:
57 </p><pre class="screen">
58 make MAX_CONNECTIONS=10 check
60 runs no more than ten tests concurrently.
61 </p></div><div class="sect2" id="REGRESS-RUN-EXISTING-INST"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">31.1.2. Running the Tests Against an Existing Installation <a href="#REGRESS-RUN-EXISTING-INST" class="id_link">#</a></h3></div></div></div><p>
62 To run the tests after installation (see <a class="xref" href="installation.html" title="Chapter 17. Installation from Source Code">Chapter 17</a>),
63 initialize a data directory and start the
64 server as explained in <a class="xref" href="runtime.html" title="Chapter 18. Server Setup and Operation">Chapter 18</a>, then type:
65 </p><pre class="screen">
68 or for a parallel test:
69 </p><pre class="screen">
70 make installcheck-parallel
72 The tests will expect to contact the server at the local host and the
73 default port number, unless directed otherwise by <code class="envar">PGHOST</code> and
74 <code class="envar">PGPORT</code> environment variables. The tests will be run in a
75 database named <code class="literal">regression</code>; any existing database by this name
78 The tests will also transiently create some cluster-wide objects, such as
79 roles, tablespaces, and subscriptions. These objects will have names
80 beginning with <code class="literal">regress_</code>. Beware of
81 using <code class="literal">installcheck</code> mode with an installation that has
82 any actual global objects named that way.
83 </p></div><div class="sect2" id="REGRESS-ADDITIONAL"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">31.1.3. Additional Test Suites <a href="#REGRESS-ADDITIONAL" class="id_link">#</a></h3></div></div></div><p>
84 The <code class="literal">make check</code> and <code class="literal">make installcheck</code> commands
85 run only the <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">core</span>”</span> regression tests, which test built-in
86 functionality of the <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> server. The source
87 distribution contains many additional test suites, most of them having
88 to do with add-on functionality such as optional procedural languages.
90 To run all test suites applicable to the modules that have been selected
91 to be built, including the core tests, type one of these commands at the
92 top of the build tree:
93 </p><pre class="screen">
95 make installcheck-world
97 These commands run the tests using temporary servers or an
98 already-installed server, respectively, just as previously explained
99 for <code class="literal">make check</code> and <code class="literal">make installcheck</code>. Other
100 considerations are the same as previously explained for each method.
101 Note that <code class="literal">make check-world</code> builds a separate instance
102 (temporary data directory) for each tested module, so it requires more
103 time and disk space than <code class="literal">make installcheck-world</code>.
105 On a modern machine with multiple CPU cores and no tight operating-system
106 limits, you can make things go substantially faster with parallelism.
107 The recipe that most PostgreSQL developers actually use for running all
108 tests is something like
109 </p><pre class="screen">
110 make check-world -j8 >/dev/null
112 with a <code class="option">-j</code> limit near to or a bit more than the number
113 of available cores. Discarding <span class="systemitem">stdout</span>
114 eliminates chatter that's not interesting when you just want to verify
115 success. (In case of failure, the <span class="systemitem">stderr</span>
116 messages are usually enough to determine where to look closer.)
118 Alternatively, you can run individual test suites by typing
119 <code class="literal">make check</code> or <code class="literal">make installcheck</code> in the appropriate
120 subdirectory of the build tree. Keep in mind that <code class="literal">make
121 installcheck</code> assumes you've installed the relevant module(s), not
122 only the core server.
124 The additional tests that can be invoked this way include:
125 </p><div class="itemizedlist"><ul class="itemizedlist" style="list-style-type: disc; "><li class="listitem"><p>
126 Regression tests for optional procedural languages.
127 These are located under <code class="filename">src/pl</code>.
128 </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
129 Regression tests for <code class="filename">contrib</code> modules,
130 located under <code class="filename">contrib</code>.
131 Not all <code class="filename">contrib</code> modules have tests.
132 </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
133 Regression tests for the interface libraries,
134 located in <code class="filename">src/interfaces/libpq/test</code> and
135 <code class="filename">src/interfaces/ecpg/test</code>.
136 </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
137 Tests for core-supported authentication methods,
138 located in <code class="filename">src/test/authentication</code>.
139 (See below for additional authentication-related tests.)
140 </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
141 Tests stressing behavior of concurrent sessions,
142 located in <code class="filename">src/test/isolation</code>.
143 </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
144 Tests for crash recovery and physical replication,
145 located in <code class="filename">src/test/recovery</code>.
146 </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
147 Tests for logical replication,
148 located in <code class="filename">src/test/subscription</code>.
149 </p></li><li class="listitem"><p>
150 Tests of client programs, located under <code class="filename">src/bin</code>.
151 </p></li></ul></div><p>
152 When using <code class="literal">installcheck</code> mode, these tests will create
153 and destroy test databases whose names
154 include <code class="literal">regression</code>, for
155 example <code class="literal">pl_regression</code>
156 or <code class="literal">contrib_regression</code>. Beware of
157 using <code class="literal">installcheck</code> mode with an installation that has
158 any non-test databases named that way.
160 Some of these auxiliary test suites use the TAP infrastructure explained
161 in <a class="xref" href="regress-tap.html" title="31.4. TAP Tests">Section 31.4</a>.
162 The TAP-based tests are run only when PostgreSQL was configured with the
163 option <code class="option">--enable-tap-tests</code>. This is recommended for
164 development, but can be omitted if there is no suitable Perl installation.
166 Some test suites are not run by default, either because they are not secure
167 to run on a multiuser system, because they require special software or
168 because they are resource intensive. You can decide which test suites to
169 run additionally by setting the <code class="command">make</code> or environment
170 variable <code class="varname">PG_TEST_EXTRA</code> to a whitespace-separated list,
172 </p><pre class="programlisting">
173 make check-world PG_TEST_EXTRA='kerberos ldap ssl load_balance libpq_encryption'
175 The following values are currently supported:
176 </p><div class="variablelist"><dl class="variablelist"><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">kerberos</code></span></dt><dd><p>
177 Runs the test suite under <code class="filename">src/test/kerberos</code>. This
178 requires an MIT Kerberos installation and opens TCP/IP listen sockets.
179 </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">ldap</code></span></dt><dd><p>
180 Runs the test suite under <code class="filename">src/test/ldap</code>. This
181 requires an <span class="productname">OpenLDAP</span> installation and opens
182 TCP/IP listen sockets.
183 </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">libpq_encryption</code></span></dt><dd><p>
184 Runs the test <code class="filename">src/interfaces/libpq/t/005_negotiate_encryption.pl</code>.
185 This opens TCP/IP listen sockets. If <code class="varname">PG_TEST_EXTRA</code>
186 also includes <code class="literal">kerberos</code>, additional tests that require
187 an MIT Kerberos installation are enabled.
188 </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">load_balance</code></span></dt><dd><p>
189 Runs the test <code class="filename">src/interfaces/libpq/t/004_load_balance_dns.pl</code>.
190 This requires editing the system <code class="filename">hosts</code> file and
191 opens TCP/IP listen sockets.
192 </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">oauth</code></span></dt><dd><p>
193 Runs the test suite under <code class="filename">src/test/modules/oauth_validator</code>.
194 This opens TCP/IP listen sockets for a test server running HTTPS.
195 </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">regress_dump_restore</code></span></dt><dd><p>
196 Runs an additional test suite in
197 <code class="filename">src/bin/pg_upgrade/t/002_pg_upgrade.pl</code> which
198 cycles the regression database through <code class="command">pg_dump</code>/
199 <code class="command">pg_restore</code>. Not enabled by default because it
200 is resource intensive.
201 </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">sepgsql</code></span></dt><dd><p>
202 Runs the test suite under <code class="filename">contrib/sepgsql</code>. This
203 requires an SELinux environment that is set up in a specific way; see
204 <a class="xref" href="sepgsql.html#SEPGSQL-REGRESSION" title="F.40.3. Regression Tests">Section F.40.3</a>.
205 </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">ssl</code></span></dt><dd><p>
206 Runs the test suite under <code class="filename">src/test/ssl</code>. This opens TCP/IP listen sockets.
207 </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">wal_consistency_checking</code></span></dt><dd><p>
208 Uses <code class="literal">wal_consistency_checking=all</code> while running
209 certain tests under <code class="filename">src/test/recovery</code>. Not
210 enabled by default because it is resource intensive.
211 </p></dd><dt><span class="term"><code class="literal">xid_wraparound</code></span></dt><dd><p>
212 Runs the test suite under <code class="filename">src/test/modules/xid_wraparound</code>.
213 Not enabled by default because it is resource intensive.
214 </p></dd></dl></div><p>
216 Tests for features that are not supported by the current build
217 configuration are not run even if they are mentioned in
218 <code class="varname">PG_TEST_EXTRA</code>.
220 In addition, there are tests in <code class="filename">src/test/modules</code>
221 which will be run by <code class="literal">make check-world</code> but not
222 by <code class="literal">make installcheck-world</code>. This is because they
223 install non-production extensions or have other side-effects that are
224 considered undesirable for a production installation. You can
225 use <code class="literal">make install</code> and <code class="literal">make
226 installcheck</code> in one of those subdirectories if you wish,
227 but it's not recommended to do so with a non-test server.
228 </p></div><div class="sect2" id="REGRESS-RUN-LOCALE"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">31.1.4. Locale and Encoding <a href="#REGRESS-RUN-LOCALE" class="id_link">#</a></h3></div></div></div><p>
229 By default, tests using a temporary installation use the
230 locale defined in the current environment and the corresponding
231 database encoding as determined by <code class="command">initdb</code>. It
232 can be useful to test different locales by setting the appropriate
233 environment variables, for example:
234 </p><pre class="screen">
236 make check LC_COLLATE=en_US.utf8 LC_CTYPE=fr_CA.utf8
238 For implementation reasons, setting <code class="envar">LC_ALL</code> does not
239 work for this purpose; all the other locale-related environment
242 When testing against an existing installation, the locale is
243 determined by the existing database cluster and cannot be set
244 separately for the test run.
246 You can also choose the database encoding explicitly by setting
247 the variable <code class="envar">ENCODING</code>, for example:
248 </p><pre class="screen">
249 make check LANG=C ENCODING=EUC_JP
251 Setting the database encoding this way typically only makes sense
252 if the locale is C; otherwise the encoding is chosen automatically
253 from the locale, and specifying an encoding that does not match
254 the locale will result in an error.
256 The database encoding can be set for tests against either a temporary or
257 an existing installation, though in the latter case it must be
258 compatible with the installation's locale.
259 </p></div><div class="sect2" id="REGRESS-RUN-CUSTOM-SETTINGS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">31.1.5. Custom Server Settings <a href="#REGRESS-RUN-CUSTOM-SETTINGS" class="id_link">#</a></h3></div></div></div><p>
260 There are several ways to use custom server settings when running a test
261 suite. This can be useful to enable additional logging, adjust resource
262 limits, or enable extra run-time checks such as <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-developer.html#GUC-DEBUG-DISCARD-CACHES">debug_discard_caches</a>. But note that not all tests can be
263 expected to pass cleanly with arbitrary settings.
265 Extra options can be passed to the various <code class="command">initdb</code>
266 commands that are run internally during test setup using the environment
267 variable <code class="envar">PG_TEST_INITDB_EXTRA_OPTS</code>. For example, to run a
268 test with checksums enabled and a custom WAL segment size and
269 <code class="varname">work_mem</code> setting, use:
270 </p><pre class="screen">
271 make check PG_TEST_INITDB_EXTRA_OPTS='-k --wal-segsize=4 -c work_mem=50MB'
274 For the core regression test suite and other tests driven by
275 <code class="command">pg_regress</code>, custom run-time server settings can also be
276 set in the <code class="varname">PGOPTIONS</code> environment variable (for settings
277 that allow this), for example:
278 </p><pre class="screen">
279 make check PGOPTIONS="-c debug_parallel_query=regress -c work_mem=50MB"
281 (This makes use of functionality provided by libpq; see <a class="xref" href="libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-CONNECT-OPTIONS">options</a> for details.)
283 When running against a temporary installation, custom settings can also be
284 set by supplying a pre-written <code class="filename">postgresql.conf</code>:
285 </p><pre class="screen">
286 echo 'log_checkpoints = on' > test_postgresql.conf
287 echo 'work_mem = 50MB' >> test_postgresql.conf
288 make check EXTRA_REGRESS_OPTS="--temp-config=test_postgresql.conf"
290 </p></div><div class="sect2" id="REGRESS-RUN-EXTRA-TESTS"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h3 class="title">31.1.6. Extra Tests <a href="#REGRESS-RUN-EXTRA-TESTS" class="id_link">#</a></h3></div></div></div><p>
291 The core regression test suite contains a few test files that are not
292 run by default, because they might be platform-dependent or take a
293 very long time to run. You can run these or other extra test
294 files by setting the variable <code class="envar">EXTRA_TESTS</code>. For
295 example, to run the <code class="literal">numeric_big</code> test:
296 </p><pre class="screen">
297 make check EXTRA_TESTS=numeric_big
299 </p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="regress.html" title="Chapter 31. Regression Tests">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="regress.html" title="Chapter 31. Regression Tests">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="regress-evaluation.html" title="31.2. Test Evaluation">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Chapter 31. Regression Tests </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 18.0 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> 31.2. Test Evaluation</td></tr></table></div></body></html>