Re: misc/groups-dash fails due to enable-no-install-program=groups

[Jim Meyering]

Mike Frysinger wrote:
> it's been a while, so i dont remember if this has been reported already, but
> if groups is disabled via the command line, the misc/groups-dash test is still
> run.  since the groups program is not coming from coreutils, the output is not
> as expected and things fail.  perhaps a new func in test-lib.sh like:
> require_program_()
> {
>   test -x "$abs_top_builddir/src/$1" || \
>     skip_test_ "the $1 program was disabled"
> }
> and then the groups test can do:
> require_program_ groups

There's already a require_built_ function, but it's not really well-named,
since the programs you'd name as argument *are* built.  The configure-time
--enable-no-install-program option determines solely whether to install
them.  For example, even though most builds don't install "arch", you'll
notice that it *is* always built.  This is a feature: it helps prevent
bit rot of programs that few will end up actually using.  At least we'll
know they still compile.

Hence, test programs like groups-dash should work
even when "groups" is not installed in your path at all,
since the test framework ensures that PATH includes
the source builddir.

For example, I've just done this:

  ./configure --enable-no-install-program=groups && make

to exclude groups.  This test still passes:

  make check -C tests TESTS=misc/groups-dash VERBOSE=yes

I even polluted my PATH with a bogus groups binary,

  mkdir d; printf '#!/bin/sh\nexit 2\n' > d/groups; chmod a+x d/groups

and repeated the experiment:

  PATH=$PWD/d:$PATH make check -C tests TESTS=misc/groups-dash VERBOSE=yes

it passed, too.



Can you give more precise details on how to reproduce your problem?