1 $Cambridge: exim/test/README,v 1.4 2006/07/26 14:39:13 ph10 Exp $
3 EXPORTABLE EXIM TEST SUITE
4 --------------------------
6 This document last updated for:
8 Test Suite Version: 4.63
15 For a long time, the Exim test suite was confined to Philip Hazel's
16 workstation, because it relied on that particular environment. The problem is
17 that an MTA such as Exim interacts a great deal with its environment, so if you
18 run it somewhere else, the output will be different, which makes automatic
19 checking difficult. Even in a single environment, things are not all that easy.
20 For instance, if Exim delivers a message, the log line (which one would want to
21 compare) contains a timestamp and an Exim message id that will be different
22 each time. This issue is dealt with by a Perl script that munges the output by
23 recognizing changing sequences and replacing them with fixed values before
24 doing a comparison. Another problem with exporting the original test suite is
25 that it assumes a version of Exim with more or less every optional feature
28 This README describes a new test suite that is intended to be exportable and to
29 run in a number of different environments. The tests themselves are in no
30 particular order; they accumulated over the years as Exim was extended and
31 modified. They vary greatly in size and complexity. Some were specifically
32 constructed to test new features; others were made to demonstrate that a bug
35 A few of the original tests have had to be omitted from this more general
36 suite because differences in operating system behaviour make it impossible to
37 generalize them. An example is a test that uses a version of Exim that is
38 setuid to the Exim user rather than root, with the deliver_drop_privilege
39 option set. In Linux, such a binary is able to deliver a message as the caller
40 of Exim, because it can revert to the caller's uid. In FreeBSD this is not the
47 In order to run this test suite, the following requirements must be met:
49 (1) You should run the tests on a matching version of Exim, because the suite
50 is continuously updated to test the latest features and bug fixes. The
51 version you test does not, however, have to be installed as the live
52 version. You can of course try the tests on any version of Exim, but some
53 may fail. In particular, the test suite will fall apart horrible with
54 versions of Exim prior to 4.54.
56 (2) You can use any non-root login to run the tests, but there must be access
57 via "sudo" to root from this login. Privilege is required to override
58 configuration change checks and for things like cleaning up spool files,
59 but on the other hand, the tests themselves need to call Exim from a
60 non-root process. The use of "sudo" is the easiest way to achieve all this.
61 The test script uses "sudo" to do a number of things as root, so it is best
62 if you set a sudo timeout so that you do not have to keep typing a
63 password. For example, if you put
65 Defaults timestamp_timeout=480
67 in /etc/sudoers, a password lasts for 8 hours (a working day). It is
68 probably not a good idea to run the tests as the Exim user, as this is
69 recognized as special by Exim.
71 (3) The login under which you run the tests must be in the exim group so that
72 it has access to logs, spool files, etc. The login should not be one of the
73 names "userx", "usery", "userz", or a few other simple ones such as "abcd"
74 and "xyz" and single letters that are used in the tests. The test suite
75 expects the login to have a gecos name; I think it will now run if the
76 gecos field is empty but there may be anomalies.
78 (4) The directory into which you unpack the test suite must be accessible by
79 the Exim user, so that code running as exim can access the files therein. A
80 world-readable directory is fine. However, there may be problems if the
81 path name of the directory is excessively long. This is because it
82 sometimes appears in log lines or debug output, and if it is truncated, it
83 is no longer recognized.
85 (5) Exim must be built with its user and group specified at build time, and
86 with certain minimum facilities, namely:
88 Routers: accept, dnslookup, manualroute, redirect
89 Transports: appendfile, autoreply, pipe, smtp
92 Most Exim binaries will have these included.
94 (6) A C compiler is needed to build some test programs, and the test script is
95 written in Perl, so you need that.
97 (7) Some of the tests run Exim as a daemon, and others use a testing server
98 (described below). These require TCP ports. In the configurations and
99 scripts, the ports are parameterized, but at present, fixed values are
100 written into the controlling script. These are ports 1224 to 1229. If these
101 ports are not available for use, some of the tests will fail.
103 (8) There is an underlying assumption that the host on which the tests are
104 being run has an IPv4 address (which the test script seeks out). If there
105 is also an IPv6 address, additional tests are run when the Exim binary
106 contains IPv6 support. There are checks in the scripts for a running IPv4
107 interface; when one is not found, some tests are skipped (with a warning
114 If the Exim binary that is being tested contains extra functionality in
115 addition to the minimum specified above, additional tests are run to exercise
116 the extra functionality, except for a few special cases such as the databases
117 (MySQL, PostgreSQL, LDAP) where special data is needed for the tests.
120 RUNNING THE TEST SUITE
121 ----------------------
123 (1) Download the tarball exim-testsuite-x.xx.tar.bz2 and unpack it, preferably
124 in a directory alongside an Exim source directory (see below).
126 (2) cd into the exim-testsuite-x.xx directory.
128 (3) Run "./configure" and then "make". This builds a few auxiliary programs
129 that are written in C.
131 (4) Run "./runtest" (a Perl script) as described below.
133 (5) If you want to see what tests are available, run "./listtests".
136 BREAKING OUT OF THE TEST SCRIPT
137 -------------------------------
139 If you abandon the test run by typing ^C, the interrupt may be passed to a
140 program that the script is running, or it may be passed to the script itself.
141 In the former case, the script should detect that the program has ended
142 abnormally. In both cases, the script tries to clean up everything, including
143 killing any Exim daemons that it has started. However, there may be race
144 conditions in which the clean up does not happen. If, after breaking out of a
145 run, you see strange errors in the next run, look for any left-over Exim
146 daemons, and kill them by hand.
152 The individual test scripts are in subdirectories of the "scripts" directory.
153 If you do not supply any arguments to ./listtests, it scans all the scripts in
154 all the directories, and outputs the heading line from each script. The output
155 is piped through "less", and begins like this:
158 Basic/0001 Basic configuration setting
159 Basic/0002 Common string expansions
160 Basic/0003 Caseless address blocking
163 Lines that start === give the name of the subdirectory containing the test
164 scripts that follow. If you supply an argument to ./listtests, it is used as a
165 Perl pattern to match case-independently against the names of the
166 subdirectories. Only those that match are scanned. For example, "./listtests
169 === 1000-Basic-ipv6 ===
170 === Requires: support IPv6
171 Basic-ipv6/1000 -bh and non-canonical IPv6 addresses
172 Basic-ipv6/1001 recognizing IPv6 address in HELO/EHLO
174 === 2250-dnsdb-ipv6 ===
175 === Requires: support IPv6
177 dnsdb-ipv6/2250 dnsdb ipv6 lookup in string expansions
179 If you supply a second argument to ./listtests, it is used as a Perl pattern to
180 match case-independently against the individual script titles. For example,
181 "./listtests . mx" lists all tests whose titles contain "mx", because "."
182 matches all the subdirectory names.
188 If you do not supply any arguments to ./runtest, it searches for an Exim
189 source tree at the same level as the test suite directory. It then looks for an
190 Exim binary in a "build" directory of that source tree. If there are several
191 Exim source trees, it chooses the latest version of Exim. Consider the
195 exim-4.60/ exim-4.62/ exim-testsuite-x.xx/
197 A simple ./runtest from within the test suite will use a 4.62 binary if it
198 finds one, otherwise a 4.60 binary. If a binary cannot be found, the script
199 prompts for one. Alternatively, you can supply the binary on the command line:
201 ./runtest /usr/exim/bin/exim
203 A matching test suite is released with each Exim release; if you use a test
204 suite that does not match the binary, some tests may fail.
206 The test suite uses some of the Exim utilities (such as exim_dbmbuild), and it
207 expects to find them in the same directory as Exim itself. If they are not
208 found, the tests that use them are omitted. A suitable comment is output.
210 On the ./runtest command line, following the name of the binary, if present,
211 there may be a number of options and then one or two numbers. The full syntax
214 ./runtest [binary name] [runtest options] [exim options] \
215 [first test] [last test]
217 There are some options for the ./runtest script itself:
219 -DEBUG This option is for debugging the test script. It causes some
220 tracing information to be output.
222 -DIFF By default, file comparisons are done using a private compare
223 command called "cf", which is built from source that is provided in
224 the src directory. This is a command I've had for nearly 20 years -
225 look at the source comments for its history - whose output I
226 prefer. However, if you want to use "diff" instead, give -DIFF as a
227 runtest option. In that case, "diff -u" is used for comparisons.
228 (If it turns out that most people prefer to use diff, I'll change
231 -KEEP Normally, after a successful run, the test output files are
232 deleted. This option prevents this. It is useful when running a
233 single test, in order to look at the actual output before it is
234 modified for comparison with saved output.
236 -NOIPV4 Pretend that an IPv4 interface was not found. This is useful for
237 testing that the test suite correctly skips tests that require
238 a running IPv4 interface.
240 -NOIPV6 Pretend that an IPv6 interface was not found. This is useful for
241 testing that the test suite correctly skips tests that require
242 a running IPv6 interface.
244 -UPDATE If this option is set, any detected changes in test output are
245 automatically accepted and used to update the stored copies of the
246 output. It is a dangerous option, but it useful for the test suite
247 maintainer after making a change to the code that affects a lot of
248 tests (for example, the wording of a message).
250 The options for ./runtest must be given first (but after the name of the
251 binary, if present). Any further options, that is, items on the command line
252 that start with a hyphen, are passed to the Exim binary when it is run as part
253 of a test. The only sensible use of this is to pass "-d" in order to run a test
254 with debugging enabled. Any other options are likely to conflict with options
255 that are set in the tests. Some tests are already set up to run with debugging.
256 In these cases, -d on the command line overrides their own debug settings.
258 The final two arguments specify the range of tests to be run. Test numbers lie
259 in the range 1 to 9999. If no numbers are given, the defaults are 1 and 8999
260 (sic). Tests with higher numbers (9000 upwards) are not run automatically
261 because they require specific data (such as a particular MySQL table) that is
262 unlikely to be generally available.
264 Tests that require certain optional features of Exim are grouped by number, so
265 in any given range, not all the tests will exist. Non-existent tests are just
266 skipped, but if there are no tests at all in the given range, a message is
269 If you give only one number, just that test is run (if it exists). Instead of a
270 second number, you can give the character "+", which is interpreted as "to the
271 end". Normally this is 8999; if the starting number is 9000 or higher, "+" is
272 interpreted as 9999. Examples:
276 ./runtest /usr/sbin/exim 5000 +
277 ./runtest -DIFF -d 81
279 When the script starts up, the first thing it does is to check that you have
280 sudo access to root. Then it outputs the version number of the Exim binary that
281 it is testing, and also information about the optional facilities that are
282 present (obtained from "exim -bV"). This is followed by some environmental
283 information, including the current login id and the hosts's IP address. The
284 script checks that the current user is in the Exim group, and that the Exim
285 user has access to the test suite directory.
287 The script outputs the list of tests requested, and a list of tests that will
288 be omitted because the relevant optional facilities are not in the binary. You
289 are then invited to press Return to start the tests running.
295 When all goes well, the only permanent output is the identity of the tests as
296 they are run, and "Script completed" for each test script, for example:
298 Basic/0001 Basic configuration setting
300 Basic/0002 Basic string expansions
302 Basic/0003 Caseless address blocking
304 Basic/0004 Caseful address blocking
306 Basic/0005 -bs to simple local delivery
309 While a script is running, it shows "Test n" on the screen, for each of the
310 Exim tests within the script. There may also be comments from some tests when a
311 delay is expected, for example, if there is a "sleep" while testing a timeout.
313 Before each set of optional tests, an extra identifying line is output. For
316 >>> The following tests require: authenticator cram_md5
317 CRAM-MD5/2500 CRAM-MD5 server tests
319 CRAM-MD5/2501 CRAM-MD5 client tests
322 If a test fails, you are shown the output of the text comparison that failed,
323 and prompted as to what to do next. The output is shown using the "less"
324 command, or "more" if "less" is not available. The options for "less" are set
325 to that it automatically exits if there is less that a screenful of output. By
326 default, the output is from the "cf" program, and might look like this:
328 DBM/1300 DBM files and exim_dbmbuild
330 Lines 7-9 of "test-stdout-munged" do not match lines 7-11 of "stdout/1300".
332 exim_dbmbuild exit code = 1
333 Continued set of lines is too long: max permitted length is 99999
334 exim_dbmbuild exit code = 1
337 exim_dbmbuild exit code = 2
338 Continued set of lines is too long: max permitted length is 99999
340 exim_dbmbuild exit code = 2
343 "test-stdout-munged" contains 16 lines; "stdout/1300" contains 18 lines.
345 Continue, Update & retry, Quit? [Q]
347 This example was generated by running the test with a version of Exim
348 that had a bug in the exim_dbmbuild utility (the bug was fixed at release
349 4.53). See "How the tests work" below for a description of the files that are
350 used. In this case, the standard output differed from what was expected.
352 The reply to the prompt must either be empty, in which case it takes the
353 default that is given in brackets (in this case Q), or a single letter, in
354 upper or lower case (in this case, one of C, U, or Q). If you type anything
355 else, the prompt is repeated.
357 "Continue" carries on as if the files had matched; that is, it ignores the
358 mismatch. Any other output files for the same test will be compared before
359 moving on to the next test.
361 "Update & retry" copies the new file to the saved file, and reruns the test
362 after doing any further comparisons that may be necessary.
364 Other circumstances give rise to other prompts. If a test generates output for
365 which there is no saved data, the prompt (after a message stating which file is
366 unexpectely not empty) is:
368 Continue, Show, or Quit? [Q]
370 "Show" displays the data on the screen, and then you get the "Continue..."
371 prompt. If a test ends with an unexpected return code, the prompt is:
373 show stdErr, show stdOut, Continue (without file comparison), or Quit? [Q]
375 Typically in these cases there will be something interesting in the stderr
376 or stdout output. There is a similar prompt after the "server" auxiliary
380 OPENSSL AND GNUTLS ERROR MESSAGES
381 ---------------------------------
383 Some of the TLS tests deliberately cause errors to check how Exim handles them.
384 It has been observed that different releases of the OpenSSL and GnuTLS
385 libraries generate different error messages. This may cause the comparison with
386 the saved output to fail. Such errors can be ignored.
392 . Some of the tests are time-sensitive (e.g. when testing timeouts, as in test
393 461). These may fail if run on a host that is also running a lot of other
396 . Some versions of "ls" use a different format for times and dates. This can
397 cause test 345 to fail.
399 . Test 0142 tests open file descriptors; on some hosts the output may vary.
402 OTHER SCRIPTS AND PROGRAMS
403 --------------------------
405 There is a freestanding Perl script called "listtests" that scans the test
406 scripts and outputs a list of all the tests, with a short descriptive comment
407 for each one. Special requirements for groups of tests are also noted.
409 The main runtest script makes use of a second Perl script and some compiled C
412 patchexim A Perl script that makes a patched version of Exim (see the
413 next section for details).
415 bin/cf A text comparison program (see above).
417 bin/checkaccess A program that is run as root; it changes uid/gid to the
418 Exim user and group, and then checks that it can access
419 files in the test suite's directory.
421 bin/client A script-driven SMTP client simulation.
423 bin/client-gnutls A script-driven SMTP client simulation with GnuTLS support.
424 This is built only if GnuTLS support is detected on the host.
426 bin/client-ssl A script-driven SMTP client simulation with OpenSSL support.
427 This is built only if OpenSSL support is detected on the
430 bin/fakens A fake "nameserver" for DNS tests (see below for details).
432 bin/fd A program that outputs details of open file descriptors.
434 bin/iefbr14 A program that does nothing, and returns 0. It's just like
435 the "true" command, but it is in a known place.
437 bin/loaded Some dynamically loaded functions for testing dlfunc support.
439 bin/server A script-driven SMTP server simulation.
441 The runtest script also makes use of a number of ordinary commands such as
442 "cp", "kill", "more", and "rm", via the system() call. In some cases these are
443 run as root by means of sudo.
446 STANDARD SUBSTITUTIONS
447 ----------------------
449 In the following sections, there are several references to the "standard
450 substitutions". These make changes to some of the stored files when they are
451 used in a test. To save repetition, the substitutions themselves are documented
454 CALLER is replaced by the login name of the user running the tests
455 CALLERGROUP is replaced by the caller's group id
456 CALLER_GID is replaced by the caller's group id
457 CALLER_UID is replaced by the caller's user id
458 DIR is replaced by the name of the test-suite directory
459 EXIMGROUP is replaced by the name of the Exim group
460 EXIMUSER is replaced by the name of the Exim user
461 HOSTIPV4 is replaced by the local host's IPv4 address
462 HOSTIPV6 is replaced by the local host's IPv6 address
463 HOSTNAME is replaced by the local host's name
464 PORT_D is replaced by a port number for normal daemon use
465 PORT_N is replaced by a port number that should never respond
466 PORT_S is replaced by a port number for normal bin/server use
467 TESTNUM is replaced by the current test number
468 V4NET is replaced by an IPv4 network number for testing
469 V6NET is replaced by an IPv6 network number for testing
471 PORT_D is currently hard-wired to 1225, PORT_N to 1223, and PORT_S to 1224.
472 V4NET is hardwired to 224 and V6NET to ff00. These networks are used for DNS
473 testing purposes, and for testing Exim with -bh. The only requirement is that
474 they are networks that can never be used for an IP address of a real host. I've
475 chosen two multicast networks for the moment.
477 If the host has no IPv6 address, "<no IPv6 address found>" is substituted but
478 that does not matter because no IPv6 tests will be run. A similar substitution
479 is made if there is no IPv4 address, and again, tests that actually require a
480 running IPv4 interface should be skipped.
482 If the host has more than one IPv4 or IPv6 address, the first one that
483 "ifconfig" lists is used. If the only available address is 127.0.0.1 (or ::1
484 for IPv6) it is used, but another value is preferred if available.
486 In situations where a specific test is not being run (for example, when setting
487 up dynamic data files), TESTNUM is replaced by an empty string, but should not
488 in fact occur in such files.
494 Each numbered script runs Exim (sometimes several times) with its own Exim
495 configuration file. The configurations are stored in the "confs" directory,
496 and before running each test, a copy of the appropriate configuration, with the
497 standard substitutions, is made in the file test-config. The -C command line
498 option is used to tell Exim to use this configuration.
500 The -D option is used to pass the path of the Exim binary to the configuration.
501 This is not standardly substituted, because there are two possible binaries
502 that might be used in the same test (one setuid to root, the other to the exim
503 user). Some tests also make use of -D to vary the configuration for different
504 calls to the Exim binary.
506 Normally, of course, Exim gives up root privilege when -C and -D are used by
507 unprivileged users. We do not want this to happen when running the tests,
508 because we want to be able to test all aspects of Exim, including receiving
509 mail from unprivileged users. The way this is handled is as follows:
511 At the start of the runtest script, the patchexim script is run as root. This
512 script makes a copy of the Exim binary that is to be tested, patching it as it
513 does so. (This is a binary patch, not a source patch.) The patch causes the
514 binary, when run, to "know" that it is running in the test harness. It does not
515 give up root privilege when -C and -D are used, and in a few places it takes
516 other special actions, such as delaying when starting a subprocess to allow
517 debug output from the parent to be written first. If you want to know more,
518 grep the Exim source files for "running_in_test_harness".
520 The patched binary is placed in the directory eximdir/exim and given the normal
521 setuid root privilege. This is, of course, a dangerous binary to have lying
522 around, especially if there are unprivileged users on the system. To protect
523 it, the eximdir directory is created with the current user as owner, exim as
524 the group owner, and with access drwx--x---. Thus, only the user who is running
525 the tests (who is known to have access to root) and the exim user have access
526 to the modified Exim binary. When runtest terminates, the patched binary is
529 Each set of tests proceeds by interpreting its controlling script. The scripts
530 are in subdirectories of the "scripts" directory. They are split up according
531 to the requirements of the tests they contain, with the 0000-Basic directory
532 containing tests that can always be run. Run the "listtests" script to obtain a
539 Output from script runs is written to the files test-stdout and test-stderr.
540 When an Exim server is involved, test-stdout-server and test-stderr-server are
541 used for its output. Before being compared with the saved output, the
542 non-server and server files are concatenated, so a single saved file contains
545 A directory called spool is used for Exim's spool files, and for Exim logs.
546 These locations are specified in every test's configuration file.
548 When messages are delivered to files, the files are put in the test-mail
549 directory. Output from comparisons is written to test-cf.
551 Before comparisons are done, output texts are modified ("munged") to change or
552 remove parts that are expected to vary from run to run. The modified files all
553 end with the suffix "-munged". Thus, you will see test-stdout-munged,
554 test-mainlog-munged, test-mail-munged, and so on. Other files whose names start
555 with "test-" are created and used by some of the tests.
557 At the end of a successful test run, the spool directory and all the files
558 whose names begin with "test-" are removed. If the run ends unsuccessfully
559 (typically after a "Q" response to a prompt), the spool and test files are left
560 in existence so that the problem can be investigated.
566 Each test script consists of a list of commands, each optionally preceded by
567 comments (lines starting with #) and (also optionally) a line containing an
568 expected return code. Some of the commands are followed by data lines
569 terminated by a line of four asterisks.
571 The first line of each script must be a comment that briefly describes the
574 # -bS Use of HELO/RSET
576 A line consisting just of digits is interpreted as the expected return code
577 for the command that follows. The default expectation when no such line exists
578 is a zero return code. For example, here is a complete test script, containing
581 # -bS Unexpected EOF in headers
584 mail from:<someone@some.where>
585 rcpt to:<blackhole@HOSTNAME>
590 The expected return code in this case is 1, and the data lines are passed to
591 Exim on its standard input. Both the command line and the data lines have the
592 standard substitions applied to them. Thus, HOSTNAME in the example above will
593 be replaced by the local host's name. Long commands can be continued over
594 several lines by using \ as a continuation character. This does *not* apply to
597 Here follows a list of supported commands. They can be divided into two groups:
600 Commands with no input
601 ----------------------
603 These commands are not followed by any input data, or by a line of asterisks.
605 dbmbuild <file1> <file1>
607 This command runs the exim_dbmbuild utility to build a DBM file. It is used
608 only when DBM support is available in Exim, and typically follows the use of a
609 "write" command (see below) that creates the input file.
614 The text is written to the screen; this is used to output comments from
620 This command is present at the start of all but one of the tests that use
621 GnuTLS. It copies a pre-existing parameter file into the spool directory, so
622 that Exim does not have to re-create the file each time. The first GnuTLS test
623 does not do this, in order to test that Exim can create the file (it takes some
629 This command must be given in any script that starts an Exim daemon, normally
630 at the end. It searches for the PID file in the spool directory, and sends a
631 SIGINT signal to the Exim daemon process whose PID it finds. See below for
632 comments about starting Exim daemons.
637 This command causes the script to sleep for m milliseconds. Nothing is output
643 This command must be at the head of a script. If no IPv4 interface has been
644 found, the entire script is skipped, and a comment is output.
649 This command must be at the head of a script. If no IPv6 interface has been
650 found, the entire script is skipped, and a comment is output.
655 This command must be at the head of a script. If the Exim binary does not
656 suppport large files (off_t is <= 4), the entire script is skipped, and a
660 need_move_frozen_messages
662 This command must be at the head of a script. If the Exim binary does not have
663 support for moving frozen messages (which is an optional feature), the entire
664 script is skipped, and a comment is output.
669 If this command is encountered anywhere in the script, messages that are
670 delivered when the script runs are not compared with saved versions.
675 If this command is encountered anywhere in the script, message log files that
676 are still in existence at the end of the run (for messages that were not
677 delivered) are not compared with saved versions.
681 If this command is encountered anywhere in the script, the stderr output from
682 the run is not compared with a saved version.
687 If this command is encountered anywhere in the script, the stdout output from
688 the run is not compared with a saved version.
693 This command indicates that the script is for a certain type of filter test, in
694 which there are a lot of repetitive stdout lines that get in the way, because
695 filter tests output data about the sender and recipient. Such lines are removed
696 from the stdout output before comparing, for ease of human perusal.
701 This command causes the script to sleep for n seconds. If n is greater than
702 one, "sleep <n>" is output to the screen, followed by a dot for every second
708 This command causes special sorting to occur on the mainlog file before
709 comparison. Every sequence of contiguous delivery lines (lines containing the
710 => -> or *> flags) is sorted. This is necessary in some tests that use parallel
711 deliveries because on different systems the processes may terminate in a
715 A number of standard file management commands are recognized. These are cat,
716 chmod, chown, cp, ln, ls, du, mkdir, mkfifo, rm, rmdir, and touch. Some are run
717 as root using "sudo".
723 The remaining commands are followed by data lines for their standard input,
724 terminated by four asterisks. Even if no data is required for the particular
725 usage, the asterisks must be given.
728 catwrite <file name> [nxm[=start-of-line-text]]*
730 This command operates like the "write" command, which is described below,
731 except that the data it generates is copied to the end of the test-stdout file
732 as well as to the named file.
736 client [<options>] <ip address> <port> [<outgoing interface>]
738 This command runs the auxiliary "client" program that simulates an SMTP client.
739 It is controlled by a script read from its standard input, details of which are
740 given below. The only option is -t, which must be followed by a number, to
741 specify the command timeout in seconds. The program connects to the given IP
742 address and port, using the specified interface, if one is given.
745 client-ssl [<options>] <ip address> <port> [<outgoing interface>] \
746 [<cert file>] [<key file>]
748 When OpenSSL is available on the host, an alternative version of the client
749 program is compiled, one that supports TLS using OpenSSL. The additional
750 arguments specify a certificate and key file when required. There is one
751 additional option, -tls-on-connect, that causes the client to initiate TLS
752 negotiation immediately on connection.
755 client-gnutls [<options>] <ip address> <port> [<outgoing interface>] \
756 [<cert file>] [<key file>]
758 When GnuTLS is available on the host, an alternative version of the client
759 program is compiled, one that supports TLS using GnuTLS. The additional
760 arguments specify a certificate and key file when required. There is one
761 additional option, -tls-on-connect, that causes the client to initiate TLS
762 negotiation immediately on connection.
765 exim [<options>] [<arguments>]
767 This command runs the testing version of Exim. Any occurrence of "$msg1" in the
768 command line is replaced by the ID of the first (oldest) message in Exim's
769 (testing) spool. "$msg2" refers to the second, and so on. The name "exim" can
770 be preceded by an environment setting as in this example:
772 LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never exim -be
774 It can also be preceded by a number; this specifies a number of seconds to wait
775 before closing the stdout pipe to Exim, and is used for some timeout tests. For
780 Finally, "exim" can be preceded by "sudo", to run Exim as root. If more than
781 one of these prefixes is present, they must be in the above order.
784 exim_exim [<options>] [<arguments>]
786 This runs an alternative version of Exim that is setuid to exim rather than to
790 server [<options>] <port or socket> [<connection count>]
792 This command runs the auxiliary "server" program that simulates an SMTP (or
793 other) server. It is controlled by a script that is read from its standard
794 input, details of which are given below. A number of options are implemented:
796 -d causes the server to output debugging information
798 -t sets a timeout in seconds (default 5) for when the server is
799 awaiting an incoming connection
801 -noipv4 causes the server not to set up an IPv4 socket
803 -noipv6 causes the server not to set up an IPv6 socket
805 By default, in an IPv6 environment, both kinds of socket are set up. However,
806 the test script knows which interfaces actually exist on the host, and it adds
807 -noipv4 or -noipv6 to the server command as required. An error occurs if both
808 these options are given.
810 The only required argument is either a port number or the path name of a Unix
811 domain socket. The port is normally PORT_S, which is changed to an actual
812 number by the standard substitutions. The optional final argument specifies the
813 number of different connections to expect (default 1). These must happen
814 serially (one at a time). There is no support for multiple simultaneous
815 connections. Here are some example commands:
818 server -t 10 PORT_S 3
819 server /tmp/somesocket
821 The following lines, up to a line of four asterisks, are the server's
822 controlling standard input (described below). These lines are read and
823 remembered; during the following commands, until an "exim" command is reached,
824 the server is run in parallel.
827 write <file name> [nxm[=start-of-line-text]]*
829 The "write" command is a way of creating files of specific sizes for buffering
830 tests, or containing specific data lines. Being able to do this from within the
831 script saves holding lots of little test files. The optional argument specifies
832 n lines of length m. The lines consist of the letter "a". If start of line text
833 is supplied, it replaces "a"s at the start of each line. Underscores in the
834 start of line text are turned into spaces. The optional argument may be
835 repeated. The data lines that follow a "write" command are split into two by a
836 line of four plus signs. Any above the split are written before the
837 fixed-length lines, and any below the split are written after. For example:
839 write test-data 3x30=AB_ 1x50
847 This command generates a file containing:
851 AB aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
852 AB aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
853 AB aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
854 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
858 If there are no fixed-length line specifiers, there is no need to split the
859 data, and a line of plusses is not needed.
864 This command runs Perl, with the data as its standard input, to allow arbitrary
865 one-off things to be done.
871 Lines in client scripts are of two kinds:
873 (1) If a line begins with three question marks and a space, the rest of the
874 line defines the start of expected output from the server. If what is
875 received does not match, the client bombs out with an error message.
877 (2) If a line starts with three plus signs followed by a space, the rest of the
878 line specifies a number of seconds to sleep for before proceeding.
880 (3) Otherwise, the line is an input line line that is sent to the server. Any
881 occurrences of \r and \n in the line are turned into carriage return and
882 linefeed, respectively. This is used for testing PIPELINING.
884 Here is a simple example:
886 client 127.0.0.1 PORT_D
891 AUTH PLAIN AbdXi0AdnD2CVy
897 In the case of client-gnutls and client-ssl, if a command is "starttls", this
898 is remembered, and after a subsequent OK response, an attempt to move into TLS
899 mode occurs. If a command is "starttls_wait", the client sends "starttls" but
900 does not start up TLS; this is for testing timeouts. If a command is "stoptls",
901 an existing TLS connection is shut down, but nothing is sent.
907 The server program sleeps till a connection occurs or its timeout is reached,
908 in which case it bombs out. The next set of command lines are interpreted. They
909 are of the following kinds:
911 (1) A line that starts with '>' or with a digit is an output line that is sent
912 to the client. In the case of '>':
914 (a) If the line starts with ">>", no terminating CRLF is sent.
915 (b) If the line starts with ">CR>", just CR is sent at the end.
916 (c) If the line starts with ">LF>", just LF is sent at the end.
917 (d) If the line starts with ">*eof", nothing is sent and the connection
920 The data that is sent starts after the initial '>' sequence.
922 (2) A line that starts with "*sleep" specifies a number of seconds to wait
925 (3) A line containing "*eof" specifies that the client is expected to close
926 the connection at this point.
928 (4) A line containing just '.' specifies that the client is expected to send
929 many lines, terminated by one that contains just a dot.
931 (5) Otherwise, the line defines the start of an input line that the client
932 is expected to send. To allow for lines that start with digits, the line
933 may start with '<', which is not taken as part of the input data. If the
934 input does not match, the server bombs out with an error message.
936 Here is a simple server example:
954 After a "server" command in a test script, the server runs in parallel until an
955 "exim" command is reached. The "exim" command attempts to deliver one or more
956 messages to port PORT_S on the local host. When it has finished, the test
957 script waits for the "server" process to finish.
963 Many of the tests make use of auxiliary data files. There are two types; those
964 whose content is fixed, and those whose content needs to be varied according to
965 the current environment. The former are kept in the directory aux-fixed. The
966 latter are distributed in the directory aux-var-src, and copied with the
967 standard substitutions into the directory aux-var at the start of each test
970 Most of the auxiliary files have names that start with a test number,
971 indicating that they are specific to that one test. A few fixed files (for
972 example, some TLS certificates) are used by more than one test, and so their
973 names are not of this form.
975 There are also some auxilary DNS zone files, which are described in the next
979 DNS LOOKUPS AND GETHOSTBYNAME
980 -----------------------------
982 The original test suite required special testing zones to be loaded into a
983 local nameserver. This is no longer a requirement for the new suite. Instead, a
984 program called fakens is used to simulate a nameserver. When Exim is running in
985 the test harness, instead of calling res_search() - the normal call to the DNS
986 resolver - it calls a testing function. This handles a few special names itself
987 (for compatibility with the old test suite), but otherwise passes the query to
990 The fakens program consults "zone files" in the directory called dnszones, and
991 returns data in the standard resource record format for Exim to process as if
992 it came from the DNS. However, if the requested domain is not in any of the
993 zones that fakens knows about, it returns a special code that causes Exim to
994 pass the query on to res_search(). The zone files are:
996 db.test.ex A zone for the domain test.ex.
997 db.ip4.10 A zone for one special case in 10.250.0.0/16 (see below)
998 db.ip4.V4NET A zone for the domain V4NET.in-addr.arpa.
999 db.ip4.127 A zone for the domain 127.in-addr.arpa.
1000 db.ip6.V6NET A zone for the domain inverted(V6NET).ip6.arpa.
1001 db.ip6.0 A zone for the domain 0.ip6.arpa.
1003 V4NET and V6NET are substituted with the current testing networks (see above).
1004 In the case of V6NET, the network is four hex digits, and it is split and
1005 inverted appropriately when setting up the zone.
1007 These fake zone files are built dynamically from sources in the dnszones-src
1008 directory by applying the standard substitutions. The test suite also builds
1009 dynamic zone files for the name of the current host and its IP address(es). The
1010 idea is that there should not be any need to rely on an external DNS.
1012 The domain names that are handled directly by Exim, without being passed to
1015 test.again.dns This always provokes a TRY_AGAIN response, for testing the
1016 handling of temporary DNS error. If the full domain name
1017 starts with digits, a delay of that many seconds occurs.
1019 test.fail.dns This always provokes a NO_RECOVERY response, for testing
1020 DNS server failures.
1022 This special handling could now be done in the fakens program, but while the
1023 old test suite is still being used it has to be done in Exim itself, so for the
1024 moment it remains there.
1026 The use of gethostbyname() and its IPv6 friends is also subverted when Exim is
1027 running in the test harness. The test code handles a few special names
1028 directly; for all the others it uses DNS lookups, which are then handled as
1029 just described. Thus, the use of /etc/hosts is completely bypassed. The names
1030 that are specially handled are:
1032 manyhome.test.ex This name is used for testing hosts with ridiculously large
1033 numbers of IP addresses; 2048 IP addresses are generated
1034 and returned. Doing it this way saves having to make the
1035 interface to fakens handle more records that can fit in the
1036 data block. The addresses that are generated are in the
1037 10.250.0.0/16 network.
1039 localhost Always returns 127.0.0.1 or ::1, for IPv4 and IPv6 lookups,
1042 <an IP address> If the IP address is of the correct form for the lookup
1043 type (IPv4 or IPv6), it is returned. Otherwise a panic-die
1046 The reverse zone db.ip4.10 is provided just for the manyhome.test.ex case. It
1047 contains a single wildcard resource record. It also contains the line
1051 Whenever fakens finds this line in a zone file, it returns PASS_ON instead of
1052 HOST_NOT_FOUND. This causes Exim to pass the query to res_search().