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curl / Development / test-fileformat.pl
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curl test suite file format

The curl test suite's file format is simple and extendable, closely resembling XML. All data for a single test case resides in a single ASCII file. Labels mark the beginning and the end of all sections, and each label must be written in its own line. Comments are either XML-style (enclosed with <!-- and -->) or shell script style (beginning with #) and must appear on their own lines and not alongside actual test data. Most test data files are syntactically valid XML, although a few files are not (lack of support for character entities and the preservation of CR/LF characters at the end of lines are the biggest differences).

Each test case source exists as a file matching the format tests/data/testNUM, where NUM is the unique test number, and must begin with a testcase tag, which encompasses the remainder of the file.

Preprocessing

When a test is to be executed, the source file is first preprocessed and variables are substituted by their respective contents and the output version of the test file is stored as %LOGDIR/testNUM. That version is what is read and used by the test servers.

Base64 Encoding

In the preprocess stage, a special instruction can be used to have runtests.pl base64 encode a certain section and insert in the generated output file. This is in particular good for test cases where the test tool is expected to pass in base64 encoded content that might use dynamic information that is unique for this particular test invocation, like the server port number.

To insert a base64 encoded string into the output, use this syntax:

%b64[ data to encode ]b64%

The data to encode can then use any of the existing variables mentioned below, or even percent-encoded individual bytes. As an example, insert the HTTP server's port number (in ASCII) followed by a space and the hexadecimal byte 9a:

%b64[%HTTPPORT %9a]b64%

Hexadecimal decoding

In the preprocess stage, a special instruction can be used to have runtests.pl generate a sequence of binary bytes.

To insert a sequence of bytes from a hex encoded string, use this syntax:

%hex[ %XX-encoded data to decode ]hex%

For example, to insert the binary octets 0, 1 and 255 into the test file:

%hex[ %00%01%FF ]hex%

Repeat content

In the preprocess stage, a special instruction can be used to have runtests.pl generate a repetitive sequence of bytes.

To insert a sequence of repeat bytes, use this syntax to make the <string> get repeated <number> of times. The number has to be 1 or larger and the string may contain %HH hexadecimal codes:

%repeat[<number> x <string>]%

For example, to insert the word hello 100 times:

%repeat[100 x hello]%

Include file

This instruction allows a test case to include another file. It is helpful to remember that the ordinary variables are expanded before the include happens so %LOGDIR and the others can be used in the include line.

The filename cannot contain % as that letter is used to end the name for the include instruction:

%include filename%

Conditional lines

Lines in the test file can be made to appear conditionally on a specific feature (see the "features" section below) being set or not set. If the specific feature is present, the following lines are output, otherwise it outputs nothing, until a following else or endif clause. Like this:

%if brotli
Accept-Encoding
%endif

It can also check for the inverse condition, so if the feature is not set by the use of an exclamation mark:

%if !brotli
Accept-Encoding: not-brotli
%endif

You can also make an "else" clause to get output for the opposite condition, like:

%if brotli
Accept-Encoding: brotli
%else
Accept-Encoding: nothing
%endif

Nested conditions are supported.

Variables

When the test is preprocessed, a range of "variables" in the test file is replaced by their content at that time.

Available substitute variables include:

<testcase>

Each test is always specified entirely within the testcase tag. Each test case is split up in four main sections: info, reply, client and verify.

Each main section has a number of available subsections that can be specified, that are checked/used if specified.

<info>

<keywords>

A newline-separated list of keywords describing what this test case uses and tests. Try to use already used keywords. These keywords are used for statistical/informational purposes and for choosing or skipping classes of tests. Keywords must begin with an alphabetic character, -, [ or { and may actually consist of multiple words separated by spaces which are treated together as a single identifier. Most keywords are only there to provide a way for users to skip certain classes of tests, if desired, but a few are treated specially by the test harness or build system.

When using curl built with Hyper, the keywords must include HTTP or HTTPS for 'hyper mode' to kick in and make line ending checks work for tests.

When running a unit test and the keywords include unittest, the <tool> section can be left empty to use the standard unit test tool name unitN where N is the test number.

The text-ci make target automatically skips test with the flaky keyword.

Tests that have strict timing dependencies have the timing-dependent keyword. These are intended to eventually be treated specially on CI builds which are often run on overloaded machines with unpredictable timing.

<reply>

<data [nocheck="yes"] [sendzero="yes"] [base64="yes"] [hex="yes"] [nonewline="yes"] [crlf="yes"]>

data to be sent to the client on its request and later verified that it arrived safely. Set nocheck="yes" to prevent the test script from verifying the arrival of this data.

If the data contains swsclose anywhere within the start and end tag, and this is an HTTP test, then the connection is closed by the server after this response is sent. If not, the connection is kept persistent.

If the data contains swsbounce anywhere within the start and end tag, the HTTP server detects if this is a second request using the same test and part number and then increases the part number with one. This is useful for auth tests and similar.

sendzero=yes means that the (FTP) server "sends" the data even if the size is zero bytes. Used to verify curl's behavior on zero bytes transfers.

base64=yes means that the data provided in the test-file is a chunk of data encoded with base64. It is the only way a test case can contain binary data. (This attribute can in fact be used on any section, but it does not make much sense for other sections than "data").

hex=yes means that the data is a sequence of hex pairs. It gets decoded and used as "raw" data.

nonewline=yes means that the last byte (the trailing newline character) should be cut off from the data before sending or comparing it.

crlf=yes forces header newlines to become CRLF even if not written so in the source file. Note that this makes runtests.pl parse and "guess" what is a header and what is not in order to apply the CRLF line endings appropriately.

For FTP file listings, the <data> section is be used only if you make sure that there has been a CWD done first to a directory named test-[NUM] where NUM is the test case number. Otherwise the ftp server cannot know from which test file to load the list content.

<dataNUM [crlf="yes"]>

Send back this contents instead of the <data> one. The NUM is set by:

Dynamically changing NUM in this way allows the test harness to be used to test authentication negotiation where several different requests must be sent to complete a transfer. The response to each request is found in its own data section. Validating the entire negotiation sequence can be done by specifying a datacheck section.

<connect>

The connect section is used instead of the 'data' for all CONNECT requests. The remainder of the rules for the data section then apply but with a connect prefix.

<socks>

Address type and address details as logged by the SOCKS proxy.

<datacheck [mode="text"] [nonewline="yes"] [crlf="yes"]>

if the data is sent but this is what should be checked afterwards. If nonewline=yes is set, runtests cuts off the trailing newline from the data before comparing with the one actually received by the client.

Use the mode="text" attribute if the output is in text mode on platforms that have a text/binary difference.

<datacheckNUM [nonewline="yes"] [mode="text"] [crlf="yes"]>

The contents of numbered datacheck sections are appended to the non-numbered one.

<size>

number to return on an ftp SIZE command (set to -1 to make this command fail)

<mdtm>

what to send back if the client sends a (FTP) MDTM command, set to -1 to have it return that the file does not exist

<postcmd>

special purpose server-command to control its behavior after the reply is sent For HTTP/HTTPS, these are supported:

wait [secs] - Pause for the given time

<servercmd>

Special-commands for the server.

The first line of this file is always set to Testnum [number] by the test script, to allow servers to read that to know what test the client is about to issue.

For FTP/SMTP/POP/IMAP

For HTTP/HTTPS

For TFTP

writedelay: [secs] delay this amount between reply packets (each packet being 512 bytes payload)

<client>

<server>

What server(s) this test case requires/uses. Available servers:

Give only one per line. This subsection is mandatory (use none if no servers are required). Servers that require a special server certificate can have the PEM certificate filename (found in the certs directory) appended to the server name separated by a space.

<features>

A list of features that MUST be present in the client/library for this test to be able to run. If a required feature is not present then the test is SKIPPED.

Alternatively a feature can be prefixed with an exclamation mark to indicate a feature is NOT required. If the feature is present then the test is SKIPPED.

Features testable here are:

as well as each protocol that curl supports. A protocol only needs to be specified if it is different from the server (useful when the server is none).

<killserver>

Using the same syntax as in <server> but when mentioned here these servers are explicitly KILLED when this test case is completed. Only use this if there is no other alternatives. Using this of course requires subsequent tests to restart servers.

<precheck>

A command line that if set gets run by the test script before the test. If an output is displayed by the command or if the return code is non-zero, the test is skipped and the (single-line) output is displayed as reason for not running the test.

<tool>

Name of tool to invoke instead of "curl". This tool must be built and exist either in the libtest/ directory (if the tool name starts with lib) or in the unit/ directory (if the tool name starts with unit).

<name>

Brief test case description, shown when the test runs.

<setenv>

variable1=contents1
variable2=contents2
variable3

Set the given environment variables to the specified value before the actual command is run. They are restored back to their former values again after the command has been run.

If the variable name has no assignment, no =, then that variable is just deleted.

<command [option="no-q/no-output/no-include/force-output/binary-trace"] [timeout="secs"][delay="secs"][type="perl/shell"]>

Command line to run.

Note that the URL that gets passed to the server actually controls what data that is returned. The last slash in the URL must be followed by a number. That number (N) is used by the test-server to load test case N and return the data that is defined within the <reply><data></data></reply> section.

If there is no test number found above, the HTTP test server uses the number following the last dot in the given hostname (made so that a CONNECT can still pass on test number) so that "foo.bar.123" gets treated as test case 123. Alternatively, if an IPv6 address is provided to CONNECT, the last hexadecimal group in the address is used as the test number. For example the address "[1234::ff]" would be treated as test case 255.

Set type="perl" to write the test case as a perl script. It implies that there is no memory debugging and valgrind gets shut off for this test.

Set type="shell" to write the test case as a shell script. It implies that there is no memory debugging and valgrind gets shut off for this test.

Set option="no-output" to prevent the test script to slap on the --output argument that directs the output to a file. The --output is also not added if the verify/stdout section is used.

Set option="force-output" to make use of --output even when the test is otherwise written to verify stdout.

Set option="no-include" to prevent the test script to slap on the --include argument.

Set option="no-q" avoid using -q as the first argument in the curl command line.

Set option="binary-trace" to use --trace instead of --trace-ascii for tracing. Suitable for binary-oriented protocols such as MQTT.

Set timeout="secs" to override default server logs advisor read lock timeout. This timeout is used by the test harness, once that the command has completed execution, to wait for the test server to write out server side log files and remove the lock that advised not to read them. The "secs" parameter is the not negative integer number of seconds for the timeout. This timeout attribute is documented for completeness sake, but is deep test harness stuff and only needed for singular and specific test cases. Avoid using it.

Set delay="secs" to introduce a time delay once that the command has completed execution and before the <postcheck> section runs. The "secs" parameter is the not negative integer number of seconds for the delay. This 'delay' attribute is intended for specific test cases, and normally not needed.

<file name="%LOGDIR/filename" [nonewline="yes"]>

This creates the named file with this content before the test case is run, which is useful if the test case needs a file to act on.

If nonewline="yes" is used, the created file gets the final newline stripped off.

<file1>

1 to 4 can be appended to 'file' to create more files.

<file2>

<file3>

<file4>

<stdin [nonewline="yes"]>

Pass this given data on stdin to the tool.

If nonewline is set, we cut off the trailing newline of this given data before comparing with the one actually received by the client

<disable>

If test-duphandle is a listed item here, this is not run when --test-duphandle is used.

<verify>

<errorcode>

numerical error code curl is supposed to return. Specify a list of accepted error codes by separating multiple numbers with comma. See test 237 for an example.

<strip>

One regex per line that is removed from the protocol dumps before the comparison is made. This is useful to remove dependencies on dynamically changing protocol data such as port numbers or user-agent strings.

<strippart>

One perl op per line that operates on the protocol dump. This is pretty advanced. Example: s/^EPRT .*/EPRT stripped/.

<postcheck>

A command line that if set gets run by the test script after the test. If the command exists with a non-zero status code, the test is considered failed.

<notexists>

A list of directory entries that are checked for after the test has completed and that must not exist. A listed entry existing causes the test to fail.

<protocol [nonewline="yes"][crlf="yes"]>

the protocol dump curl should transmit, if nonewline is set, we cut off the trailing newline of this given data before comparing with the one actually sent by the client The <strip> and <strippart> rules are applied before comparisons are made.

crlf=yes forces the newlines to become CRLF even if not written so in the test.

<proxy [nonewline="yes"][crlf="yes"]>

The protocol dump curl should transmit to an HTTP proxy (when the http-proxy server is used), if nonewline is set, we cut off the trailing newline of this given data before comparing with the one actually sent by the client The <strip> and <strippart> rules are applied before comparisons are made.

<stderr [mode="text"] [nonewline="yes"] [crlf="yes"]>

This verifies that this data was passed to stderr.

Use the mode="text" attribute if the output is in text mode on platforms that have a text/binary difference.

crlf=yes forces the newlines to become CRLF even if not written so in the test.

If nonewline is set, we cut off the trailing newline of this given data before comparing with the one actually received by the client

<stdout [mode="text"] [nonewline="yes"] [crlf="yes"] [loadfile="filename"]>

This verifies that this data was passed to stdout.

Use the mode="text" attribute if the output is in text mode on platforms that have a text/binary difference.

If nonewline is set, we cut off the trailing newline of this given data before comparing with the one actually received by the client

crlf=yes forces the newlines to become CRLF even if not written so in the test.

loadfile="filename" makes loading the data from an external file.

<file name="%LOGDIR/filename" [mode="text"]>

The file's contents must be identical to this after the test is complete. Use the mode="text" attribute if the output is in text mode on platforms that have a text/binary difference.

<file1>

1 to 4 can be appended to 'file' to compare more files.

<file2>

<file3>

<file4>

<stripfile>

One perl op per line that operates on the output file or stdout before being compared with what is stored in the test file. This is pretty advanced. Example: "s/^EPRT .*/EPRT stripped/"

<stripfile1>

1 to 4 can be appended to stripfile to strip the corresponding <fileN> content

<stripfile2>

<stripfile3>

<stripfile4>

<upload [crlf="yes"] [nonewline="yes"]>

the contents of the upload data curl should have sent

crlf=yes forces upload newlines to become CRLF even if not written so in the source file.

nonewline=yes means that the last byte (the trailing newline character) should be cut off from the upload data before comparing it.

<valgrind>

disable - disables the valgrind log check for this test