Table of Contents
The regression tests are a comprehensive set of tests for the SQL implementation in PostgreSQL. They test standard SQL operations as well as the extended capabilities of PostgreSQL.
The regression tests can be run against an already installed and running server, or using a temporary installation within the build tree. Furthermore, there is a “parallel” and a “sequential” mode for running the tests. The sequential method runs each test script in turn, whereas the parallel method starts up multiple server processes to run groups of tests in parallel. Parallel testing gives confidence that interprocess communication and locking are working correctly. For historical reasons, the sequential test is usually run against an existing installation and the parallel method against a temporary installation, but there are no technical reasons for this.
To run the regression tests after building but before installation, type
gmake check
in the top-level directory. (Or you can change to
src/test/regress
and run the command there.)
This will first build several auxiliary files, such as
some sample user-defined trigger functions, and then run the test driver
script. At the end you should see something like
======================
All 100 tests passed.
======================
or otherwise a note about which tests failed. See Section 28.2, “Test Evaluation” below before assuming that a “failure” represents a serious problem.
Because this test method runs a temporary server, it will not work when you are the root user (since the server will not start as root). If you already did the build as root, you do not have to start all over. Instead, make the regression test directory writable by some other user, log in as that user, and restart the tests. For example
root#
chmod -R a+w src/test/regress
root#
chmod -R a+w contrib/spi
root#
su - joeuser
joeuser$
cd
top-level build directory
joeuser$
gmake check
(The only possible “security risk” here is that other users might be able to alter the regression test results behind your back. Use common sense when managing user permissions.)
Alternatively, run the tests after installation.
If you have configured PostgreSQL to install
into a location where an older PostgreSQL
installation already exists, and you perform gmake check
before installing the new version, you may find that the tests fail
because the new programs try to use the already-installed shared
libraries. (Typical symptoms are complaints about undefined symbols.)
If you wish to run the tests before overwriting the old installation,
you'll need to build with configure --disable-rpath
.
It is not recommended that you use this option for the final installation,
however.
The parallel regression test starts quite a few processes under your
user ID. Presently, the maximum concurrency is twenty parallel test
scripts, which means forty processes: there's a server process and a
psql process for each test script.
So if your system enforces a per-user limit on the number of processes,
make sure this limit is at least fifty or so, else you may get
random-seeming failures in the parallel test. If you are not in
a position to raise the limit, you can cut down the degree of parallelism
by setting the MAX_CONNECTIONS
parameter. For example,
gmake MAX_CONNECTIONS=10 check
runs no more than ten tests concurrently.
To run the tests after installation (see Chapter 14, Installation Instructions), initialize a data area and start the server, as explained in Chapter 16, Operating System Environment, then type
gmake installcheck
or for a parallel test
gmake installcheck-parallel
The tests will expect to contact the server at the local host and the
default port number, unless directed otherwise by PGHOST
and
PGPORT
environment variables.
The source distribution also contains regression tests for the optional
procedural languages and for some of the contrib
modules.
At present, these tests can be used only against an already-installed
server. To run the tests for all procedural languages that have been
built and installed, change to the src/pl
directory of the
build tree and type
gmake installcheck
You can also do this in any of the subdirectories of src/pl
to run tests for just one procedural language. To run the tests for all
contrib
modules that have them, change to the
contrib
directory of the build tree and type
gmake installcheck
The contrib
modules must have been built and installed first.
You can also do this in a subdirectory of contrib
to run
the tests for just one module.