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Test Server
Release Notes
Version 3.5.2

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Chapters

- APPLICATION Release Notes
  - Top of chapter
  - Test_Server 3.5.2
  - Test_Server 3.5.1
  - Test_Server 3.5
  - Test_Server 3.4.5
  - Test_Server 3.4.4
  - Test_Server 3.4.3
  - Test_Server 3.4.2
  - Test_Server 3.4.1
  - Test_Server 3.4
  - Test_Server 3.3.6
  - Test_Server 3.3.5
  - Test_Server 3.3.4
  - Test_Server 3.3.2
  - Test_Server 3.3.1
  - Test_Server 3.3
  - Test_Server 3.2.4.1
  - Test_Server 3.2.4
  - Test_Server 3.2.3
  - Test_Server 3.2.2
  - Test_Server 3.2.1
  - Test_Server 3.2.0

# 1 APPLICATION Release Notes

### 1.1 Test_Server 3.5.2

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- The documentation has been updated with the latest changes for the test_server_ctrl:report/2 function.

  Own Id: OTP-10086 Aux Id: seq12066

- The ct:get_status/0 function failed to report status if a parallel test case group was running at the time of the call. This has been fixed and the return value for the function has been updated. Please see the ct reference manual for details.

  Own Id: OTP-10172

#### Improvements and New Features

- It is now possible to sort the HTML tables by clicking on the header elements. In order to reset a sorted table, the browser window should simply be refreshed. This feature requires that the browser supports javascript, and has javascript execution enabled. If the 'ct_run -basic_html' flag is used, no javascript code is included in the generated HTML code.

  Own Id: OTP-9896 Aux Id: seq12034, OTP-9835

- Verbosity levels for log printouts has been added. This makes it possible to specify preferred verbosity for different categories of log printouts, as well as general printouts (such as standard IO), to allow control over which strings get printed and which get ignored. New versions of the Common Test logging functions, ct:log, ct:pal and ct:print, have been introduced, with a new Importance argument added. The Importance value is compared to the verbosity level at runtime. More information can be found in the chapter about Logging in the Common Test User's Guide.

  Own Id: OTP-10067 Aux Id: seq12050

- The Erlang/OTP test runner ts has been extended to allow cross compilation of test suites. To cross compile the test suites first follow the normal cross compilation procedures and release the tests on the build host. Then install ts using an xcomp specification file and compile test suites using ts:compile_testcases/0. For more details see $ERL_TOP/xcomp/README.md.

  Own Id: OTP-10074

### 1.2 Test_Server 3.5.1

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- After a test case timeout or abortion, the end_per_testcase function executes on a new dedicated process. The group leader for this process should be set to the IO server for the test case, which was not done properly. The result of this error was that no warnings about end_per_testcase failing or timing out were ever printed in the test case log. Also, help functions such as e.g. test_server:stop_node/1, attempting to synchronize with the IO server, would hang. The fault has been corrected.

  Own Id: OTP-9666

- A deadlock situation could occur if Common Test is forwarding error_handler printouts to Test Server at the same time a new test case is starting. This error has been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-9894

- When a test case was killed because of a timetrap timeout, the current location (suite, case and line) was not printed correctly in the log files. This has been corrected.

  Own Id: OTP-9930 Aux Id: seq12002

- Test Server and Common Test would add new error handlers with each test run and fail to remove previously added ones. In the case of Test Server, this would only happen if SASL was not running on the test node. This has been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-9941 Aux Id: seq12009

- If a test case process was terminated due to an exit signal from a linked process, Test Server failed to report the correct name of the suite and case to the framework. This has been corrected.

  Own Id: OTP-9958 Aux Id: OTP-9855

#### Improvements and New Features

- A new optional feature has been introduced that enables Common Test to generate priv_dir directory names that are unique for each test case or config function. The name of the option/flag is 'create_priv_dir' and it can be set to value 'auto_per_run' (which is the default, existing, behaviour), or 'auto_per_tc' or 'manual_per_tc'. If 'auto_per_tc' is used, Test Server creates a dedicated priv_dir automatically for each test case (which can be very expensive in case of many and/or repeated cases). If 'manual_per_tc' is used, the user needs to create the priv_dir explicitly by calling the new function ct:make_priv_dir/0.

  Own Id: OTP-9659 Aux Id: seq11930

- A column for test case group name has been added to the suite overview HTML log file.

  Own Id: OTP-9730 Aux Id: seq11952

- It is now possible to use the post_end_per_testcase CT hook function to print a comment for a test case in the overview log file, even if the test case gets killed by a timetrap or unknown exit signal, or if the end_per_testcase function times out.

  Own Id: OTP-9855 Aux Id: seq11979

- Common Test will now print error information (with a time stamp) in the test case log file immediately when a test case fails. This makes it easier to see when, in time, the fault actually occured, and aid the job of locating relevant trace and debug printouts in the log.

  Own Id: OTP-9904 Aux Id: seq11985, OTP-9900

- Test Server has been modified to check the SASL errlog_type parameter when receiving an error logger event, so that it doesn't print reports of type that the user has disabled.

  Own Id: OTP-9955 Aux Id: seq12013

- If an application cannot be found by ts it is automatically skipped when testing.

  Own Id: OTP-9971

- By specifying a user defined function ({M,F,A} or fun) as timetrap value, either by means of an info function or by calling ct:timetrap/1, it is now possible to set a timetrap that will be triggered when the user function returns.

  Own Id: OTP-9988 Aux Id: OTP-9501, seq11894

- If the optional configuration functions init_per_suite/1 and end_per_suite/1 are not implemented in the test suite, local Common Test versions of these functions are called instead, and will be displayed in the overview log file. Any printouts made by the pre- or post_init_per_suite and pre- or post_end_per_suite hook functions are saved in the log files for these functions.

  Own Id: OTP-9992

### 1.3 Test_Server 3.5

#### Improvements and New Features

- The test case group info function has been implemented in Common Test. Before execution of a test case group, a call is now made to TestSuite:group(GroupName). The function returns a list of test properties, e.g. to specify timetrap values, require configuration data, etc (analogue to the test suite- and test case info function). The scope of the properties set by group(GroupName) is all test cases and sub-groups of group GroupName.

  Own Id: OTP-9235

- The look of the HTML log files generated by Common Test and Test Server has been improved (and made easier to customize) by means of a CSS file.

  Own Id: OTP-9706

#### Known Bugs and Problems

- Fix problems in CT/TS due to line numbers in exceptions.

  Own Id: OTP-9203

### 1.4 Test_Server 3.4.5

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- An error in how comments are colored in the test suite overview html log file has been corrected. As result, a new framework callback function, format_comment/1, has been introduced.

  Own Id: OTP-9237

- Test Server did not release SASL TTY handlers (sasl_report_tty_h and error_logger_tty_h) properly after each test run. This error has been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-9311

- Automatically generated init- and end-configuration functions for test case groups caused incorrect execution order of test cases. This has been corrected.

  Own Id: OTP-9369

- If ct:log/2 was called with bad arguments, this could cause the Common Test IO handling process to crash. This fault has been corrected.

  Own Id: OTP-9371 Aux Id: OTP-8933

- A bug has been fixed that made Test Server call the end_tc/3 framework function with an incorrect module name as first argument.

  Own Id: OTP-9379 Aux Id: seq11863

- If end_per_testcase caused a timetrap timeout, the actual test case status was discarded and the test case logged as successful (even if the case had actually failed before the call to end_per_testcase). This fault has been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-9397

- If a timetrap timeout occured during execution of of a function in a lib module (i.e. a function called directly or indirectly from a test case), the Suite argument in the end_tc/3 framework callback function would not correctly contain the name of the test suite, but the lib module. (This would only happen if the lib module was compiled with ct.hrl included). This error has been solved.

  Own Id: OTP-9398

- Add a proplist() type

  Recently I was adding specs to an API and found that there is no canonical proplist() type defined. (Thanks to Ryan Zezeski)

  Own Id: OTP-9499

- XML files have been corrected.

  Own Id: OTP-9550 Aux Id: OTP-9541

- If a test suite would start with a test case group defined without the init_per_group/2 and end_per_group/2 function, init_per_suite/1 would not execute initially and logging of the test run would fail. This error has been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-9584

#### Improvements and New Features

- A new option, 'logopts', has been introduced, to make it possible to modify some aspects of the logging behaviour in Common Test (or Test Server). For example, whenever an io printout is made, test_server adds newline (\n) to the end of the output string. This may not always be a preferred action and can therefore be disabled by means of "ct_run ... -logopts no_nl" (or ct:run_test([..., {logopts,[no_nl]}])). A new framework callback function, get_logopts/0, has been introduced (see the ct_framework module for details).

  Own Id: OTP-9372 Aux Id: OTP-9396

- A new option, 'logopts', has been introduced, to make it possible to modify some aspects of the logging behaviour in Common Test (or Test Server). For example, if the html version of the test suite source code should not be generated during the test run (and consequently be unavailable in the log file system), the feature may be disabled by means of "ct_run ... -logopts no_src" (or ct:run_test([..., {logopts,[no_src]}])). A new framework callback function, get_logopts/0, has been introduced (see the ct_framework module for details).

  Own Id: OTP-9396 Aux Id: seq11869, OTP-9372

- It is now possible to use a tuple {M,F,A}, or a fun, as timetrap specification in the suite info function or test case info functions. The function must return a valid timeout value, as documented in the common_test man page and in the User's Guide.

  Own Id: OTP-9501 Aux Id: seq11894

### 1.5 Test_Server 3.4.4

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- It was previously not possible to use timetrap value 'infinity' with ct:timetrap/1. This has been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-9159

- A bug that made it impossible to cancel the previous timetrap when calling ct:timetrap/1 has been corrected.

  Own Id: OTP-9233 Aux Id: OTP-9159

#### Improvements and New Features

- When running tests with auto-compilation disabled, Common Test could only display the test suite source code on html format in the test case log if the source file was located in the same directory as the pre-compiled suite. This has been modified so that Common Test now tries to locate the source file by means of the test suite module info (Suite:module_info/1). As a result, a suite may now be compiled to a different output directory (e.g. $MYTEST/bin) than the source code directory (e.g. $MYTEST/src), without the source-code-to-html generation being affected.

  Own Id: OTP-9138

- It is now possible to return a tuple {fail,Reason} from init_per_testcase/2. The result is that the associated test case gets logged as failed without ever executing.

  Own Id: OTP-9160 Aux Id: seq11502

- Added DragonflyBSD check in test_server configure.

  Own Id: OTP-9249

### 1.6 Test_Server 3.4.3

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- Updated the ts*.config files to contain information relevant to testing Erlang/OTP in an open source environment.

  Own Id: OTP-9017

#### Improvements and New Features

- Alpha release of Common Test Hooks (CTH). CTHs allow the users of common test to abtract out common behaviours from test suites in a much more elegant and flexible way than was possible before. Note that the addition of this feature may introduce minor changes in the undocumented behaviour of the interface inbetween common_test and test_server.

  *** POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY ***

  Own Id: OTP-8851

### 1.7 Test_Server 3.4.2

#### Improvements and New Features

- Miscellaneous updates

  Own Id: OTP-8976

### 1.8 Test_Server 3.4.1

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- Returning {return_group_result,failed} from end_per_group in a group that is part of a sequence, did not cause the proceeding cases (or groups) to get skipped. This has been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-8753 Aux Id: seq11644

#### Improvements and New Features

- Common Test has been updated to handle start options and test specification terms for test case groups (and test cases in groups). Also, an option named 'label', has been added that associates the test run with a name that Common Test prints in the overview HTML logs.

  Own Id: OTP-8725 Aux Id: OTP-8727

- It is now possible to skip all tests in a suite, or a group, by returning {fail,Reason} from the end_tc/5 framework function for init_per_suite, or init_per_group.

  Own Id: OTP-8805 Aux Id: seq11664

### 1.9 Test_Server 3.4

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- Returning {fail,Reason} from the framework end_tc function was not handled properly by Test Server for all test suite functions.

  Own Id: OTP-8492 Aux Id: seq11502

- If the framework end_tc function would hang and get aborted by Test Server, there was no indication of failure in the logs. This has been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-8682 Aux Id: seq11504

#### Improvements and New Features

- It is now possible for the Test Server framework end_tc function to change the status of the test case from ok or auto-skipped to failed by returning {fail,Reason}.

  Own Id: OTP-8495 Aux Id: seq11502

- Test Server will now call the end_per_testcase/2 function even if the test case has been terminated explicitly (with abort_current_testcase/1), or after a timetrap timeout. Under these circumstances the return value of end_per_testcase is completely ignored. Therefore the function will not be able to change the reason for test case termination by returning {fail,Reason}, nor will it be able to save data with {save_config,Data}.

  Own Id: OTP-8500 Aux Id: seq11521

- Previously, a repeat property of a test case group specified the number of times the group should be repeated after the main test run. I.e. {repeat,N} would case the group to execute 1+N times. To be consistent with the behaviour of the run_test repeat option, this has been changed. N now specifies the absolute number of executions instead.

  Own Id: OTP-8689 Aux Id: seq11502

### 1.10 Test_Server 3.3.6

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- The Test Server parse transform did not handle bit string comprehensions. This has been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-8458 Aux Id: OTP-8311

#### Improvements and New Features

- The tc_status value in the Config list for a test case that has failed because of a timetrap timeout, has changed from {tc_status,timeout} to {tc_status,timetrap_timeout}.

  Own Id: OTP-8302

- The documentation is now possible to build in an open source environment after a number of bugs are fixed and some features are added in the documentation build process.

  - The arity calculation is updated.

  - The module prefix used in the function names for bif's are removed in the generated links so the links will look like "http://www.erlang.org/doc/man/erlang.html#append_element-2" instead of "http://www.erlang.org/doc/man/erlang.html#erlang:append_element-2".

  - Enhanced the menu positioning in the html documentation when a new page is loaded.

  - A number of corrections in the generation of man pages (thanks to Sergei Golovan)

  - The legal notice is taken from the xml book file so OTP's build process can be used for non OTP applications.

  Own Id: OTP-8343

### 1.11 Test_Server 3.3.5

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- If the init_per_testcase/2 function fails, the test case now gets marked and counted as auto skipped, not user skipped (which would previously happen).

  Own Id: OTP-8289

#### Improvements and New Features

- The documentation is now built with open source tools (xsltproc and fop) that exists on most platforms. One visible change is that the frames are removed.

  Own Id: OTP-8201

- It is now possible to fail a test case from the end_per_testcase/2 function, by returning {fail,Reason}.

  Own Id: OTP-8284

- It is now possible to fail a test case by having the end_tc/3 framework function return {fail,Reason} for the test case.

  Own Id: OTP-8285

- The test_server framework API (e.g. the end_tc/3 function) has been modified. See the test_server_ctrl documentation for details.

  Own Id: OTP-8286 Aux Id: OTP-8285, OTP-8287

### 1.12 Test_Server 3.3.4

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- When running a suite starting with a test case group, Test Server crashed if init_per_suite/1 exited or returned skip. This has been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-8105 Aux Id: OTP-8089

#### Improvements and New Features

- Various updates and fixes in Common Test and Test Server.

  Own Id: OTP-8045 Aux Id: OTP-8089,OTP-8105,OTP-8163

- Errors in coverage data collection and analysis were difficult to detect. The logging has been improved so that more information about e.g. imported and missing modules is printed to the html log files.

  Own Id: OTP-8163 Aux Id: seq11374

- The Common Test HTML overview pages have been improved. It is now possible to see if a test case has been skipped explicitly or because a configuration function has failed. Also, the history page (all_runs.html) now has scrolling text displaying the test names. The old format (showing names as a truncated string) can still be generated by means of the flag/option 'basic_html'.

  Own Id: OTP-8177

### 1.13 Test_Server 3.3.2

#### Improvements and New Features

- Various corrections and improvements of Common Test and Test Server.

  Own Id: OTP-7981

### 1.14 Test_Server 3.3.1

#### Improvements and New Features

- Minor updates and corrections.

  Own Id: OTP-7897

### 1.15 Test_Server 3.3

#### Improvements and New Features

- The conf case in Test Server has been extended with properties that make it possible to execute test cases in parallel, in sequence and in shuffled order. It is now also possible to repeat test cases according to different criterias. The properties can be combined, making it possible to e.g. repeat a conf case a certain number of times and execute the test cases in different (random) order every time. The properties are specified in a list in the conf case definition: {conf, Properties, InitCase, TestCases, EndCase}. The available properties are: parallel, sequence, shuffle, repeat, repeat_until_all_ok, repeat_until_any_ok, repeat_until_any_fail, repeat_until_all_fail.

  Own Id: OTP-7511 Aux Id: OTP-7839

- The test server starts Cover on nodes of the same version as the test server itself only.

  Own Id: OTP-7699

- The Erlang mode for Emacs has been updated with new and modified skeletons for Common Test and TS. Syntax for test case groups in Common Test (and conf cases with properties in TS) has been added and a new minimal Common Test suite skeleton has been introduced.

  Own Id: OTP-7856

### 1.16 Test_Server 3.2.4.1

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- The step functionality in Common Test (based on interaction with Debugger) was broken. This has been fixed, and some new step features have also been added. Please see the Common Test User's Guide for details.

  Own Id: OTP-7800 Aux Id: seq11106

### 1.17 Test_Server 3.2.4

#### Improvements and New Features

- Miscellaneous updates.

  Own Id: OTP-7527

### 1.18 Test_Server 3.2.3

#### Fixed Bugs and Malfunctions

- When a testcase terminated due to a timetrap, io sent to the group leader from framework:end_tc/3 (using ct:pal/2/3 or ct:log/2/3) would cause deadlock. This has been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-7447 Aux Id: seq11010

#### Improvements and New Features

- Various updates and improvements, plus some minor bug fixes, have been implemented in Common Test and Test Server.

  Own Id: OTP-7112

- It is now possible, by means of the new function ct:abort_current_testcase/1 or test_server_ctrl:abort_current_testcase/1, to abort the currently executing test case.

  Own Id: OTP-7518 Aux Id: OTP-7112

### 1.19 Test_Server 3.2.2

#### Improvements and New Features

- erlang:system_info/1 now accepts the logical_processors, and debug_compiled arguments. For more info see the, erlang(3) documentation.

  The scale factor returned by test_server:timetrap_scale_factor/0 is now also effected if the emulator uses a larger amount of scheduler threads than the amount of logical processors on the system.

  Own Id: OTP-7175

### 1.20 Test_Server 3.2.1

#### Improvements and New Features

- When init_per_suite or end_per_suite terminated due to runtime failure, test_server failed to format the line number information properly and crashed. This error has now been fixed.

  Own Id: OTP-7091

### 1.21 Test_Server 3.2.0

#### Improvements and New Features

- Test Server is a portable test server for automated application testing. The server can run test suites on local or remote targets and log progress and results to HTML pages. The main purpose of Test Server is to act as engine inside customized test tools. A callback interface for such framework applications is provided.

  Own Id: OTP-6989