bug#49309: Feature Request: Automake script based tests to print the test name before running it

[Peter Johansson]

Hi Kasper,

I leave to the maintainers to comment on the suggestion, but in the 
meantime...

On 1/7/21 1:01 pm, Kasper k wrote:
> Hello automake devs,
>
> In script based testsuites 
> (https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/html_node/Scripts_002dbased-Testsuites.html#Scripts_002dbased-Testsuites),
>  when we run `make check` it prints one of the following string for each test: PASS <testname>, 
> FAIL <testname>, XFAIL <testname> or SKIP <testname>.
>
> However, in some cases (long running test, flaky test, other inconclusive ones 
> for more involved reasons), it is essential to know which test is currently in 
> flight. Especially in CI systems, where flakiness every now and then, due to 
> external factors, is almost unavoidable.
>
> It would be very helpful if a new option AM_TESTS_NAME=1 is provided, which 
> would change the stdout output from:
>
>      <blank stdout and wait for test execution to complete>
>       PASS (or FAIL/XFAIL/SKIP) $name
>
> to something like:
>
>      RUNNING $name
>      <blank stdout and wait for test execution to complete>
>       PASS (or FAIL/XFAIL/SKIP) $name

Please note that that output comes from the test-driver script. If 
you're not happy with the default test-driver, you can declare to use 
your own my-test-driver (see 
https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#Declaring-Custom-Test-Drivers), 
and for example this could be a modified version of 'test-driver' script 
provided by Automake. Adding a line outputting 'Running $name' is 
trivial if you know any shell, or otherwise, I'm sure people here can help.

> this way we can easily find out the name of test (or multiple of them; in case 
> of parallel execution) which is (are) currently running.

I usually find out which tests are running by looking at the timestamps 
of log and trace files with something like 'ls -lrt *.log *.trs'.

Cheers,

Peter