# [PATCH] test-lib: guard against being run as 'prove t*.sh'

2 messages from 2021-03-11 to 2021-03-11. Participants: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Junio C Hamano.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/55289

## Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, 2021-03-11 12:42

Subject: [PATCH] test-lib: guard against being run as 'prove t*.sh'
Message-ID: <20210311124216.25036-1-avarab@gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20210311124216.25036-1-avarab%40gmail.com

```
We have t/Makefile targets to properly run the tests with prove,
however it's also just as valid to run them as e.g.:

    prove t[0-9]*.sh

But if they're run as:

    prove t*.sh

The prove tool will optimistically try to parse and execute
test-lib.sh and test-lib-functions.sh as Perl code, currently there
are no bad results of doing this other than a wall of error messages,
but let's be helpful and bail out early in this case.

Note that the shebang being added here doesn't mean anything to a
POSIX OS because the files aren't executable, it's picked up by Perl's
TAP tools. If the shebang wasn't here this would still be considered a
Perl file for the purposes of those heuristics.

I could also use the "Bail out!" keyword here, see
614fe01521 (test-lib: bail out when "-v" used under "prove",
2016-10-22) for prior art. I think it's more gentle to just print a
SKIP notice.

Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
---
 t/test-lib-functions.sh | 9 +++++++++
 t/test-lib.sh           | 9 +++++++++
 2 files changed, 18 insertions(+)

diff --git a/t/test-lib-functions.sh b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
index 6348e8d733..7ba04fe399 100644
--- a/t/test-lib-functions.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
 # Library of functions shared by all tests scripts, included by
 # test-lib.sh.
 #
@@ -16,6 +18,13 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ .
 
+# Early bailing out on 'prove t*.sh'
+if test -n "$HARNESS_ACTIVE" -a "$0" = "test-lib-functions.sh"
+then
+	echo "1..0 # SKIP accidentally invoked 'prove t*.sh'?"
+	exit 0
+fi
+
 # The semantics of the editor variables are that of invoking
 # sh -c "$EDITOR \"$@\"" files ...
 #
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index d3f6af6a65..7ceae9a38d 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
 # Test framework for git.  See t/README for usage.
 #
 # Copyright (c) 2005 Junio C Hamano
@@ -15,6 +17,13 @@
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/ .
 
+# Early bailing out on 'prove t*.sh'
+if test -n "$HARNESS_ACTIVE" -a "$0" = "test-lib.sh"
+then
+	echo "1..0 # SKIP accidentally invoked 'prove t*.sh'?"
+	exit 0
+fi
+
 # Test the binaries we have just built.  The tests are kept in
 # t/ subdirectory and are run in 'trash directory' subdirectory.
 if test -z "$TEST_DIRECTORY"
-- 
2.31.0.rc2.211.g1d0b8788b3


```

## Junio C Hamano, 2021-03-11 17:33

Subject: Re: [PATCH] test-lib: guard against being run as 'prove t*.sh'
Message-ID: <xmqqwnudegse.fsf@gitster.g>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/xmqqwnudegse.fsf%40gitster.g
In-Reply-To: <20210311124216.25036-1-avarab@gmail.com>

```
Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason  <avarab@gmail.com> writes:

> We have t/Makefile targets to properly run the tests with prove,
> however it's also just as valid to run them as e.g.:
>
>     prove t[0-9]*.sh
>
> But if they're run as:
>
>     prove t*.sh

I am not sure if the above is a good enough excuse to diverge from
our convention not to add #! to signal that a scriptlet is not to
be used standalone but is meant to be dot-sourced.  At least to me,
this change looks like making the codebase worse to protect from a
mistake that we should not have to worry about in real life.

But that may be because my use of prove is limited to a more
targetted and narrow set of tests (i.e. either use "t4???-*.sh" for
an area, or a single test---anything broader I'd use "make").

```