FIDL Tests & GN

This document standardizes the way we define and organize FIDL tests in the GN build system, respecting the following goals:

Name consistently. If Rust uses fx test fidl_rust_conformance_tests, then Go should use fx test fidl_go_conformance_tests. Consistent and predictable naming provides a better developer experience.
Run what you need. The testing workflow should make it easy to run a single test component without building or running anything extra.
Run on host. Where possible, tests should support running on host (non-Fuchsia), where the edit-build-run cycles are typically much quicker.
Follow best practices. We should follow Fuchsia best practices around using fx test, building components, etc.

Terminology

This document uses the following terminology:

target: a GN target defined in a BUILD.gn file
toolchain: see fx gn help toolchain
host: a developer's platform, specifically linux or mac
device: a Fuchsia platform, either physical or emulated (i.e. qemu)
package: a Fuchsia package; the unit of distribution in Fuchsia
component: a Fuchsia component; the unit of executable software in Fuchsia

Naming

General guidelines:

Use underscores, not hyphens.
End names with the plural _tests rather than the singular _test.
Use full, descriptive, unique names for packages, components, and binaries.

The last point means preferring full names like fidl_rust_conformance_tests over contextual names like conformance_tests. It might seem verbose and redundant to repeat “fidl” and “rust” at the directory, package, component, and binary level. But the fact is that these names must be unique, and it is better to make them unique in a consistent way rather than remembering odd rules like fidl-bindings-test is for Dart and fidl-test is for C.

Names should use the following scheme, joining parts with underscores:

tool [ bindings ] [ category [ subcategory ] ] tests

Where tool is one of:

fidl: FIDL runtime support
fidlc: FIDL compiler frontend
fidlgen: FIDL compiler backend
gidl, measure_tape, etc.: other tools

And the other parts are:

bindings
- One of c, llcpp, hlcpp, rust, go, dart (note: hlcpp, not cpp)
category, subcategory
- Example categories: conformance, types, parser, lib
- Do not use: frontend, backend, bindings (tool distinguishes these)

Hierarchy

Every BUILD.gn file that defines tests should include a "tests" group:

group("tests") {
  testonly = true
  deps = [ ... ]  # not public_deps
}

If the directory ends in “tests”, and the BUILD.gn file only defines test targets, the group should instead match the directory name. For example, foo_tests/BUILD.gn could use group("foo_tests"). This enables the GN label shorthand //path/to/foo_tests, equivalent to //path/to/foo_tests:foo_tests.

These groups are aggregated in “tests” groups of BUILD.gn files in parent directories. The root “tests” group (for some portion of the codebase, e.g. src/lib/fidl/BUILD.gn) should be included in bundles/fidl/BUILD.gn. This enables fx set ... --with //bundles/fidl:tests to include all FIDL tests in the build. (The tests are also run in CQ because //bundles/buildbot:core includes //bundles/fidl:tests.)

Binary names

Normally test binary names are based on the target name. For example, a test("some_tests") { ... } target would produce a some_tests binary. However, for a single test you often need multiple targets (source sets, components, packages, etc.) with unique names. Therefore, the examples in this document use target names like some_tests_bin and override the binary name using the output_name parameter:

test("some_tests_bin") {
  output_name = "some_tests"
  ...
}

This also works for rustc_test, go_test, etc.

Device tests

Assume we have a :fidl_foo_tests_bin target that produces a fidl_foo_tests binary. To wrap this in a package, use fuchsia_unittest_package:

import("//build/components.gni")

fuchsia_unittest_package("fidl_foo_tests") {
  deps = [ ":fidl_foo_tests_bin" ]
}

We can now run the test by package name or component name (they are the same) with fx test fidl_foo_tests.

Use a separate package for each test. If unrelated test components are bundled in one package, running one of the tests causes the whole package to be rebuilt. You should only bundle multiple test components in a package if they are meant to be tested together, e.g. a client and server integration test. See Complex topologies and integration testing for examples.

If your test requires any component features, services, etc. beyond the fuchsia_unittest_component defaults, you must write a component manifest file:

# BUILD.gn
import("//build/components.gni")

fuchsia_unittest_package("fidl_foo_tests") {
  manifest = "meta/fidl_foo_tests.cmx"
  deps = [ ":fidl_foo_tests_bin" ]
}

# meta/fidl_foo_tests.cmx
{
    "program": {
        "binary": "bin/fidl_foo_tests"
    },
    "sandbox": {
        "services": [
            "fuchsia.logger.LogSink",   # some example services
            "fuchsia.process.Launcher"
        ]
    }
}

For more information on package and component templates, see Building components.

Host tests

Assume we have a :fidl_bar_tests_bin target that produces a fidl_bar_tests binary. We must ensure that GN is in $host_toolchain when it reaches that target, otherwise it will try to build it for Fuchsia:

groups("tests") {
  testonly = true
  deps = [ ":fidl_bar_tests_bin($host_toolchain)" ]
}

(Always put ($host_toolchain) in the BUILD.gn file's tests group, not in //bundles/fidl:tests.)

This will create a test_spec entry named host_x64/fidl_bar_tests, which will end up in out/default/tests.json:

{
  "command": [ "host_x64/fidl_bar_tests", "--test.timeout", "5m" ],
  "cpu": "x64",
  "label": "//PATH/TO/BAR:fidl_bar_tests_bin(//build/toolchain:host_x64)",
  "name": "host_x64/fidl_bar_tests",
  "os": "linux",
  "path": "host_x64/fidl_bar_tests",
  "runtime_deps": "host_x64/gen/PATH/TO/BAR/fidl_bar_tests_bin.deps.json"
}

Running fx test fidl_bar_tests works because of the “name” field in tests.json.

Host/Device tests

Tests that run both on host and device fall in two categories. In the first category, the test target simply builds under either toolchain. For example:

import("//build/components.gni")

rustc_test("fidl_rust_conformance_tests_bin") {
  output_name = "fidl_rust_conformance_tests"              # host test name
  ...
}

fuchsia_unittest_package("fidl_rust_conformance_tests") {  # device test name
  deps = [ ":fidl_rust_conformance_tests_bin" ]
}

group("tests") {
  testonly = true
  deps = [
    ":fidl_rust_conformance_tests_bin($host_toolchain)",
    ":fidl_rust_conformance_tests",
  ]
}

We can now run the test both ways:

on device: fx test fidl_rust_conformance_tests --device
on host: fx test fidl_rust_conformance_tests --host

In the second category, the device and host tests share source code, but they are sufficiently different that they must be defined by separate targets. This requires wrapping the host test definition in if (is_host) { ... } to prevent GN complaining about multiple targets producing the same output. For example:

import("//build/components.gni")

source_set("conformance_test_sources") {
  ...
}

test("fidl_hlcpp_conformance_tests_bin") {
  output_name = "fidl_hlcpp_conformance_tests"
  ...
  deps = [
    ":conformance_test_sources",
    ...
  ]
}

if (is_host) {
  test("fidl_hlcpp_conformance_tests_bin_host") {
    output_name = "fidl_hlcpp_conformance_tests"            # host test name
    ...
    deps = [
      ":conformance_test_sources",
      ...
    ]
  }
}

fuchsia_unittest_package("fidl_hlcpp_conformance_tests") {  # device test name
  deps = [ ":fidl_hlcpp_conformance_tests_bin" ]
}

group("tests") {
  testonly = true
  deps = [
    ":fidl_hlcpp_conformance_tests_bin_host($host_toolchain)",
    ":fidl_hlcpp_conformance_tests",
  ]
}

Now, we can run the test both ways:

on device: fx test fidl_hlcpp_conformance_tests --device
on host: fx test fidl_hlcpp_conformance_tests --host

Rust unit tests

Rust libraries can be defined like this:

rustc_library("baz") {
  with_unit_tests = true
  ...
}

This automatically creates a baz_test target that builds a baz_lib_test binary. Do not use this, for two reasons:

The naming guidelines require a _tests suffix, not _test.
It can be confusing and might be deprecated in the future.

Instead of with_unit_tests, write a separate rustc_test target with an appropriate name:

rustc_library("baz") {
  ...
}

rustc_test("fidl_baz_tests") {
  ...
}

Grouping

Suppose we have the following test structure:

FIDL Rust
- Device
  - Conformance
  - Integration
- Host
  - Conformance

We should have test targets for the leaves:

fx test fidl_rust_conformance_tests
fx test fidl_rust_integration_tests

We should not make additional packages for running various subsets of the tests. Using fx test, we can already

run all tests: fx test //path/to/fidl/rust
run all device tests: fx test //path/to/fidl/rust --device
run all host tests: fx test //path/to/fidl/rust --host