Implementing `make check` or `make test`

Question

How can I implement a simple regression test framework with Make? (I’m using GNU Make, if that matters.)

My current makefile looks something like this (edited for simpl

Answer 1

I'll address just your question about diff. You can do:

diff file1 file2 > /dev/null || echo Test blah blah failed >&2

although you might want to use cmp instead of diff.

On another note, you might find it helpful to go ahead and take the plunge and use automake. Your Makefile.am (in its entirety) will look like:

bin_PROGRAMS = jscheme
jscheme_SOURCES = jscheme.c utility.c model.c read.c eval.c print.c jscheme.h
TESTS = test-script

and you will get a whole lot of really nice targets for free, including a pretty full-featured test framework.