How can one reliably run unittests

[deadalnix]

On Thursday, 2 September 2021 at 23:00:06 UTC, Steven 
Schveighoffer wrote:
> When you use -i, it means *ALL MODULES AND IMPORTS* are built 
> with the -unittest flag, and so they all run.
>

I know. That's dumb.

> -i is going to run all unittests. How else would it interpret 
> the command line? If you want to build some modules differently 
> than others
> (i.e. some with unittests and some without), you can't use -i.
>

Is this groundhog day? There are no combination of flags that do 
the sensible thing. I can't use -i, no problem. I can't use 
anything else either, big problem.

The proof is in the pudding, you just told me that I need a full 
build infra to run unittests for something that use anything else 
than phobos.

> What is the "right thing"? Reading what you expect in your mind 
> is not what a compiler can do. Define how it will work. I think 
> unittests work acceptably the way they are now, but I'm sure 
> others would be keen to have some more bells and whistles. Just 
> make a proposal and get it merged in.
>

The right thing is being able to run the unitests of a god damn 
module easily. not the unit tests of that module and all of its 
dependencies. Not using a complex test framework. Just running 
the unit tests of a module.

This is the sensible thing. This is the simplest thing. This is 
the "right thing".

It doesn't matter if the module has a main or not. It doesn't 
matter if the module depends on phobos or half the solar system.

> Start by saying "when I type `dmd -m64 -Isrc -w -debug -g -main 
> -unittest -i -run src/somemodule.d`, here is what I expect to 
> happen: ...", and then define rules that will make that happen.
>

Here is what I expect.

$ dmd --run-the-god-damn-unittest mymodule.d

And it run the unit tests of mymodule.d . Replace 
`--run-the-god-damn-unittest` by any set of flags that pleases 
you, for as long as there is one.