1 $Cambridge: exim/test/README,v 1.8 2007/02/20 15:58:02 ph10 Exp $
3 EXPORTABLE EXIM TEST SUITE
4 --------------------------
6 This document last updated for:
8 Test Suite Version: 4.67
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 not permitted to run the tests as the Exim user because the test suite
69 tracks the two users independently. Using the same user would result
70 in false positives on some tests.
72 (3) The login under which you run the tests must be in the exim group so that
73 it has access to logs, spool files, etc. The login should not be one of the
74 names "userx", "usery", "userz", or a few other simple ones such as "abcd"
75 and "xyz" and single letters that are used in the tests. The test suite
76 expects the login to have a gecos name; I think it will now run if the
77 gecos field is empty but there may be anomalies.
79 (4) The directory into which you unpack the test suite must be accessible by
80 the Exim user, so that code running as exim can access the files therein. A
81 world-readable directory is fine. However, there may be problems if the
82 path name of the directory is excessively long. This is because it
83 sometimes appears in log lines or debug output, and if it is truncated, it
84 is no longer recognized.
86 (5) Exim must be built with its user and group specified at build time, and
87 with certain minimum facilities, namely:
89 Routers: accept, dnslookup, manualroute, redirect
90 Transports: appendfile, autoreply, pipe, smtp
93 Most Exim binaries will have these included.
95 (6) A C compiler is needed to build some test programs, and the test script is
96 written in Perl, so you need that.
98 (7) Some of the tests run Exim as a daemon, and others use a testing server
99 (described below). These require TCP ports. In the configurations and
100 scripts, the ports are parameterized, but at present, fixed values are
101 written into the controlling script. These are ports 1224 to 1229. If these
102 ports are not available for use, some of the tests will fail.
104 (8) There is an underlying assumption that the host on which the tests are
105 being run has an IPv4 address (which the test script seeks out). If there
106 is also an IPv6 address, additional tests are run when the Exim binary
107 contains IPv6 support. There are checks in the scripts for a running IPv4
108 interface; when one is not found, some tests are skipped (with a warning
111 (9) Exim must be built with TRUSTED_CONFIG_LIST support, so that the test
112 configs can be placed into it. DISABLE_D_OPTION must not be used. If
113 ALT_CONFIG_PREFIX is used, it must contain the directory of the test-suite.
114 WHITELIST_D_MACROS should contain:
116 DIR:EXIM_PATH:AA:ACL:ACLRCPT:ACL_MAIL:ACL_PREDATA:ACL_RCPT:AFFIX:ALLOW:ARG1:ARG2:AUTHF:AUTHS:AUTH_ID_DOMAIN:BAD:BANNER:BB:BR:BRB:CERT:COM:COMMAND_USER:CONNECTCOND:CONTROL:CREQCIP:CREQMAC:CRL:CSS:D6:DATA:DCF:DDF:DEFAULTDWC:DELAY:DETAILS:DRATELIMIT:DYNAMIC_OPTION:ELI:ERROR_DETAILS:ERT:FAKE:FALLBACK:FILTER:FILTER_PREPEND_HOME:FORBID:FORBID_SMTP_CODE:FUSER:HAI:HAP:HARDLIMIT:HEADER_LINE_MAXSIZE:HEADER_MAXSIZE:HELO_MSG:HL:HOSTS:HOSTS_AVOID_TLS:HOSTS_MAX_TRY:HVH:IFACE:IGNORE_QUOTA:INC:INSERT:IP1:IP2:LAST:LDAPSERVERS:LENCHECK:LIMIT:LIST:LOG_SELECTOR:LS:MAXNM:MESSAGE_LOGS:MSIZE:NOTDAEMON:ONCE:ONLY:OPT:OPTION:ORDER:PAH:PEX:PORT:PTBC:QDG:QOLL:QUOTA:QUOTA_FILECOUNT:QWM:RCPT_MSG:REMEMBER:REQUIRE:RETRY:RETRY1:RETRY2:RETURN:RETURN_ERROR_DETAILS:REWRITE:ROUTE_DATA:RRATELIMIT:RT:S:SELECTOR:SELF:SERVER:SERVERS:SREQCIP:SREQMAC:SRV:STD:STRICT:SUB:SUBMISSION_OPTIONS:TIMEOUTDEFER:TIMES:TRUSTED:TRYCLEAR:UL:USE_SENDER:UTF8:VALUE:WMF:X:Y
118 (10) Exim must *not* be built with USE_READLINE, as the test-suite's automation
119 assumes the simpler I/O model.
126 If the Exim binary that is being tested contains extra functionality in
127 addition to the minimum specified above, additional tests are run to exercise
128 the extra functionality, except for a few special cases such as the databases
129 (MySQL, PostgreSQL, LDAP) where special data is needed for the tests.
132 RUNNING THE TEST SUITE
133 ----------------------
135 (1) Download the tarball exim-testsuite-x.xx.tar.bz2 and unpack it, preferably
136 in a directory alongside an Exim source directory (see below).
138 (2) cd into the exim-testsuite-x.xx directory.
140 (3) Run "./configure" and then "make". This builds a few auxiliary programs
141 that are written in C.
143 (4) ls -1 $PWD/confs/* >> your_TRUSTED_CONFIG_LIST_filename
145 (5) Run "./runtest" (a Perl script) as described below.
147 (6) If you want to see what tests are available, run "./listtests".
150 BREAKING OUT OF THE TEST SCRIPT
151 -------------------------------
153 If you abandon the test run by typing ^C, the interrupt may be passed to a
154 program that the script is running, or it may be passed to the script itself.
155 In the former case, the script should detect that the program has ended
156 abnormally. In both cases, the script tries to clean up everything, including
157 killing any Exim daemons that it has started. However, there may be race
158 conditions in which the clean up does not happen. If, after breaking out of a
159 run, you see strange errors in the next run, look for any left-over Exim
160 daemons, and kill them by hand.
166 The individual test scripts are in subdirectories of the "scripts" directory.
167 If you do not supply any arguments to ./listtests, it scans all the scripts in
168 all the directories, and outputs the heading line from each script. The output
169 is piped through "less", and begins like this:
172 Basic/0001 Basic configuration setting
173 Basic/0002 Common string expansions
174 Basic/0003 Caseless address blocking
177 Lines that start === give the name of the subdirectory containing the test
178 scripts that follow. If you supply an argument to ./listtests, it is used as a
179 Perl pattern to match case-independently against the names of the
180 subdirectories. Only those that match are scanned. For example, "./listtests
183 === 1000-Basic-ipv6 ===
184 === Requires: support IPv6
185 Basic-ipv6/1000 -bh and non-canonical IPv6 addresses
186 Basic-ipv6/1001 recognizing IPv6 address in HELO/EHLO
188 === 2250-dnsdb-ipv6 ===
189 === Requires: support IPv6
191 dnsdb-ipv6/2250 dnsdb ipv6 lookup in string expansions
193 If you supply a second argument to ./listtests, it is used as a Perl pattern to
194 match case-independently against the individual script titles. For example,
195 "./listtests . mx" lists all tests whose titles contain "mx", because "."
196 matches all the subdirectory names.
202 If you do not supply any arguments to ./runtest, it searches for an Exim
203 source tree at the same level as the test suite directory. It then looks for an
204 Exim binary in a "build" directory of that source tree. If there are several
205 Exim source trees, it chooses the latest version of Exim. Consider the
209 exim-4.60/ exim-4.62/ exim-testsuite-x.xx/
211 A simple ./runtest from within the test suite will use a 4.62 binary if it
212 finds one, otherwise a 4.60 binary. If a binary cannot be found, the script
213 prompts for one. Alternatively, you can supply the binary on the command line:
215 ./runtest /usr/exim/bin/exim
217 A matching test suite is released with each Exim release; if you use a test
218 suite that does not match the binary, some tests may fail.
220 The test suite uses some of the Exim utilities (such as exim_dbmbuild), and it
221 expects to find them in the same directory as Exim itself. If they are not
222 found, the tests that use them are omitted. A suitable comment is output.
224 On the ./runtest command line, following the name of the binary, if present,
225 there may be a number of options and then one or two numbers. The full syntax
228 ./runtest [binary name] [runtest options] [exim options] \
229 [first test] [last test]
231 There are some options for the ./runtest script itself:
233 -DEBUG This option is for debugging the test script. It causes some
234 tracing information to be output.
236 -DIFF By default, file comparisons are done using a private compare
237 command called "cf", which is built from source that is provided in
238 the src directory. This is a command I've had for nearly 20 years -
239 look at the source comments for its history - whose output I
240 prefer. However, if you want to use "diff" instead, give -DIFF as a
241 runtest option. In that case, "diff -u" is used for comparisons.
242 (If it turns out that most people prefer to use diff, I'll change
245 -KEEP Normally, after a successful run, the test output files are
246 deleted. This option prevents this. It is useful when running a
247 single test, in order to look at the actual output before it is
248 modified for comparison with saved output.
250 -NOIPV4 Pretend that an IPv4 interface was not found. This is useful for
251 testing that the test suite correctly skips tests that require
252 a running IPv4 interface.
254 -NOIPV6 Pretend that an IPv6 interface was not found. This is useful for
255 testing that the test suite correctly skips tests that require
256 a running IPv6 interface.
258 -UPDATE If this option is set, any detected changes in test output are
259 automatically accepted and used to update the stored copies of the
260 output. It is a dangerous option, but it useful for the test suite
261 maintainer after making a change to the code that affects a lot of
262 tests (for example, the wording of a message).
264 The options for ./runtest must be given first (but after the name of the
265 binary, if present). Any further options, that is, items on the command line
266 that start with a hyphen, are passed to the Exim binary when it is run as part
267 of a test. The only sensible use of this is to pass "-d" in order to run a test
268 with debugging enabled. Any other options are likely to conflict with options
269 that are set in the tests. Some tests are already set up to run with debugging.
270 In these cases, -d on the command line overrides their own debug settings.
272 The final two arguments specify the range of tests to be run. Test numbers lie
273 in the range 1 to 9999. If no numbers are given, the defaults are 1 and 8999
274 (sic). Tests with higher numbers (9000 upwards) are not run automatically
275 because they require specific data (such as a particular MySQL table) that is
276 unlikely to be generally available.
278 Tests that require certain optional features of Exim are grouped by number, so
279 in any given range, not all the tests will exist. Non-existent tests are just
280 skipped, but if there are no tests at all in the given range, a message is
283 If you give only one number, just that test is run (if it exists). Instead of a
284 second number, you can give the character "+", which is interpreted as "to the
285 end". Normally this is 8999; if the starting number is 9000 or higher, "+" is
286 interpreted as 9999. Examples:
290 ./runtest /usr/sbin/exim 5000 +
291 ./runtest -DIFF -d 81
293 When the script starts up, the first thing it does is to check that you have
294 sudo access to root. Then it outputs the version number of the Exim binary that
295 it is testing, and also information about the optional facilities that are
296 present (obtained from "exim -bV"). This is followed by some environmental
297 information, including the current login id and the hosts's IP address. The
298 script checks that the current user is in the Exim group, and that the Exim
299 user has access to the test suite directory.
301 The script outputs the list of tests requested, and a list of tests that will
302 be omitted because the relevant optional facilities are not in the binary. You
303 are then invited to press Return to start the tests running.
309 When all goes well, the only permanent output is the identity of the tests as
310 they are run, and "Script completed" for each test script, for example:
312 Basic/0001 Basic configuration setting
314 Basic/0002 Basic string expansions
316 Basic/0003 Caseless address blocking
318 Basic/0004 Caseful address blocking
320 Basic/0005 -bs to simple local delivery
323 While a script is running, it shows "Test n" on the screen, for each of the
324 Exim tests within the script. There may also be comments from some tests when a
325 delay is expected, for example, if there is a "sleep" while testing a timeout.
327 Before each set of optional tests, an extra identifying line is output. For
330 >>> The following tests require: authenticator cram_md5
331 CRAM-MD5/2500 CRAM-MD5 server tests
333 CRAM-MD5/2501 CRAM-MD5 client tests
336 If a test fails, you are shown the output of the text comparison that failed,
337 and prompted as to what to do next. The output is shown using the "less"
338 command, or "more" if "less" is not available. The options for "less" are set
339 to that it automatically exits if there is less that a screenful of output. By
340 default, the output is from the "cf" program, and might look like this:
342 DBM/1300 DBM files and exim_dbmbuild
344 Lines 7-9 of "test-stdout-munged" do not match lines 7-11 of "stdout/1300".
346 exim_dbmbuild exit code = 1
347 Continued set of lines is too long: max permitted length is 99999
348 exim_dbmbuild exit code = 1
351 exim_dbmbuild exit code = 2
352 Continued set of lines is too long: max permitted length is 99999
354 exim_dbmbuild exit code = 2
357 "test-stdout-munged" contains 16 lines; "stdout/1300" contains 18 lines.
359 Continue, Update & retry, Quit? [Q]
361 This example was generated by running the test with a version of Exim
362 that had a bug in the exim_dbmbuild utility (the bug was fixed at release
363 4.53). See "How the tests work" below for a description of the files that are
364 used. In this case, the standard output differed from what was expected.
366 The reply to the prompt must either be empty, in which case it takes the
367 default that is given in brackets (in this case Q), or a single letter, in
368 upper or lower case (in this case, one of C, U, or Q). If you type anything
369 else, the prompt is repeated.
371 "Continue" carries on as if the files had matched; that is, it ignores the
372 mismatch. Any other output files for the same test will be compared before
373 moving on to the next test.
375 "Update & retry" copies the new file to the saved file, and reruns the test
376 after doing any further comparisons that may be necessary.
378 Other circumstances give rise to other prompts. If a test generates output for
379 which there is no saved data, the prompt (after a message stating which file is
380 unexpectely not empty) is:
382 Continue, Show, or Quit? [Q]
384 "Show" displays the data on the screen, and then you get the "Continue..."
385 prompt. If a test ends with an unexpected return code, the prompt is:
387 show stdErr, show stdOut, Continue (without file comparison), or Quit? [Q]
389 Typically in these cases there will be something interesting in the stderr
390 or stdout output. There is a similar prompt after the "server" auxiliary
394 OPENSSL AND GNUTLS ERROR MESSAGES
395 ---------------------------------
397 Some of the TLS tests deliberately cause errors to check how Exim handles them.
398 It has been observed that different releases of the OpenSSL and GnuTLS
399 libraries generate different error messages. This may cause the comparison with
400 the saved output to fail. Such errors can be ignored.
406 . Some of the tests are time-sensitive (e.g. when testing timeouts, as in test
407 461). These may fail if run on a host that is also running a lot of other
410 . Some versions of "ls" use a different format for times and dates. This can
411 cause test 345 to fail.
413 . Test 0142 tests open file descriptors; on some hosts the output may vary.
416 OTHER SCRIPTS AND PROGRAMS
417 --------------------------
419 There is a freestanding Perl script called "listtests" that scans the test
420 scripts and outputs a list of all the tests, with a short descriptive comment
421 for each one. Special requirements for groups of tests are also noted.
423 The main runtest script makes use of a second Perl script and some compiled C
426 patchexim A Perl script that makes a patched version of Exim (see the
427 next section for details).
429 bin/cf A text comparison program (see above).
431 bin/checkaccess A program that is run as root; it changes uid/gid to the
432 Exim user and group, and then checks that it can access
433 files in the test suite's directory.
435 bin/client A script-driven SMTP client simulation.
437 bin/client-gnutls A script-driven SMTP client simulation with GnuTLS support.
438 This is built only if GnuTLS support is detected on the host.
440 bin/client-ssl A script-driven SMTP client simulation with OpenSSL support.
441 This is built only if OpenSSL support is detected on the
444 bin/fakens A fake "nameserver" for DNS tests (see below for details).
446 bin/fd A program that outputs details of open file descriptors.
448 bin/iefbr14 A program that does nothing, and returns 0. It's just like
449 the "true" command, but it is in a known place.
451 bin/loaded Some dynamically loaded functions for testing dlfunc support.
453 bin/mtpscript A script-driven SMTP/LMTP server simulation, on std{in,out}.
455 bin/server A script-driven SMTP server simulation, over a socket.
457 bin/showids Output the current uid, gid, euid, egid.
459 The runtest script also makes use of a number of ordinary commands such as
460 "cp", "kill", "more", and "rm", via the system() call. In some cases these are
461 run as root by means of sudo.
464 STANDARD SUBSTITUTIONS
465 ----------------------
467 In the following sections, there are several references to the "standard
468 substitutions". These make changes to some of the stored files when they are
469 used in a test. To save repetition, the substitutions themselves are documented
472 CALLER is replaced by the login name of the user running the tests
473 CALLERGROUP is replaced by the caller's group id
474 CALLER_GID is replaced by the caller's group id
475 CALLER_UID is replaced by the caller's user id
476 DIR is replaced by the name of the test-suite directory
477 EXIMGROUP is replaced by the name of the Exim group
478 EXIMUSER is replaced by the name of the Exim user
479 HOSTIPV4 is replaced by the local host's IPv4 address
480 HOSTIPV6 is replaced by the local host's IPv6 address
481 HOSTNAME is replaced by the local host's name
482 PORT_D is replaced by a port number for normal daemon use
483 PORT_N is replaced by a port number that should never respond
484 PORT_S is replaced by a port number for normal bin/server use
485 TESTNUM is replaced by the current test number
486 V4NET is replaced by an IPv4 network number for testing
487 V6NET is replaced by an IPv6 network number for testing
489 PORT_D is currently hard-wired to 1225, PORT_N to 1223, and PORT_S to 1224.
490 V4NET is hardwired to 224 and V6NET to ff00. These networks are used for DNS
491 testing purposes, and for testing Exim with -bh. The only requirement is that
492 they are networks that can never be used for an IP address of a real host. I've
493 chosen two multicast networks for the moment.
495 If the host has no IPv6 address, "<no IPv6 address found>" is substituted but
496 that does not matter because no IPv6 tests will be run. A similar substitution
497 is made if there is no IPv4 address, and again, tests that actually require a
498 running IPv4 interface should be skipped.
500 If the host has more than one IPv4 or IPv6 address, the first one that
501 "ifconfig" lists is used. If the only available address is 127.0.0.1 (or ::1
502 for IPv6) it is used, but another value is preferred if available.
504 In situations where a specific test is not being run (for example, when setting
505 up dynamic data files), TESTNUM is replaced by an empty string, but should not
506 in fact occur in such files.
512 Each numbered script runs Exim (sometimes several times) with its own Exim
513 configuration file. The configurations are stored in the "confs" directory,
514 and before running each test, a copy of the appropriate configuration, with the
515 standard substitutions, is made in the file test-config. The -C command line
516 option is used to tell Exim to use this configuration.
518 The -D option is used to pass the path of the Exim binary to the configuration.
519 This is not standardly substituted, because there are two possible binaries
520 that might be used in the same test (one setuid to root, the other to the exim
521 user). Some tests also make use of -D to vary the configuration for different
522 calls to the Exim binary.
524 Normally, of course, Exim gives up root privilege when -C and -D are used by
525 unprivileged users. We do not want this to happen when running the tests,
526 because we want to be able to test all aspects of Exim, including receiving
527 mail from unprivileged users. The way this is handled is as follows:
529 At the start of the runtest script, the patchexim script is run as root. This
530 script makes a copy of the Exim binary that is to be tested, patching it as it
531 does so. (This is a binary patch, not a source patch.) The patch causes the
532 binary, when run, to "know" that it is running in the test harness. It does not
533 give up root privilege when -C and -D are used, and in a few places it takes
534 other special actions, such as delaying when starting a subprocess to allow
535 debug output from the parent to be written first. If you want to know more,
536 grep the Exim source files for "running_in_test_harness".
538 The patched binary is placed in the directory eximdir/exim and given the normal
539 setuid root privilege. This is, of course, a dangerous binary to have lying
540 around, especially if there are unprivileged users on the system. To protect
541 it, the eximdir directory is created with the current user as owner, exim as
542 the group owner, and with access drwx--x---. Thus, only the user who is running
543 the tests (who is known to have access to root) and the exim user have access
544 to the modified Exim binary. When runtest terminates, the patched binary is
547 Each set of tests proceeds by interpreting its controlling script. The scripts
548 are in subdirectories of the "scripts" directory. They are split up according
549 to the requirements of the tests they contain, with the 0000-Basic directory
550 containing tests that can always be run. Run the "listtests" script to obtain a
557 Output from script runs is written to the files test-stdout and test-stderr.
558 When an Exim server is involved, test-stdout-server and test-stderr-server are
559 used for its output. Before being compared with the saved output, the
560 non-server and server files are concatenated, so a single saved file contains
563 A directory called spool is used for Exim's spool files, and for Exim logs.
564 These locations are specified in every test's configuration file.
566 When messages are delivered to files, the files are put in the test-mail
567 directory. Output from comparisons is written to test-cf.
569 Before comparisons are done, output texts are modified ("munged") to change or
570 remove parts that are expected to vary from run to run. The modified files all
571 end with the suffix "-munged". Thus, you will see test-stdout-munged,
572 test-mainlog-munged, test-mail-munged, and so on. Other files whose names start
573 with "test-" are created and used by some of the tests.
575 At the end of a successful test run, the spool directory and all the files
576 whose names begin with "test-" are removed. If the run ends unsuccessfully
577 (typically after a "Q" response to a prompt), the spool and test files are left
578 in existence so that the problem can be investigated.
584 Each test script consists of a list of commands, each optionally preceded by
585 comments (lines starting with #) and (also optionally) a line containing an
586 expected return code. Some of the commands are followed by data lines
587 terminated by a line of four asterisks.
589 The first line of each script must be a comment that briefly describes the
592 # -bS Use of HELO/RSET
594 A line consisting just of digits is interpreted as the expected return code
595 for the command that follows. The default expectation when no such line exists
596 is a zero return code. For example, here is a complete test script, containing
599 # -bS Unexpected EOF in headers
602 mail from:<someone@some.where>
603 rcpt to:<blackhole@HOSTNAME>
608 The expected return code in this case is 1, and the data lines are passed to
609 Exim on its standard input. Both the command line and the data lines have the
610 standard substitions applied to them. Thus, HOSTNAME in the example above will
611 be replaced by the local host's name. Long commands can be continued over
612 several lines by using \ as a continuation character. This does *not* apply to
615 Here follows a list of supported commands. They can be divided into two groups:
618 Commands with no input
619 ----------------------
621 These commands are not followed by any input data, or by a line of asterisks.
624 dbmbuild <file1> <file1>
626 This command runs the exim_dbmbuild utility to build a DBM file. It is used
627 only when DBM support is available in Exim, and typically follows the use of a
628 "write" command (see below) that creates the input file.
633 This command runs the exim_dumpdb utility on the testing spool directory, using
634 the database name given, for example: "dumpdb retry".
639 The text is written to the screen; this is used to output comments from
643 exim_lock [options] <file name>
645 This command runs the exim_lock utility with the given options and file name.
646 The file remains locked with the following command (normally exim) is obeyed.
651 This command runs the exinext utility with the given argument data.
656 This command runs the exigrep utility with the given data (the search pattern)
657 on the current mainlog file.
662 This command is present at the start of all but one of the tests that use
663 GnuTLS. It copies a pre-existing parameter file into the spool directory, so
664 that Exim does not have to re-create the file each time. The first GnuTLS test
665 does not do this, in order to test that Exim can create the file.
670 This command must be given in any script that starts an Exim daemon, normally
671 at the end. It searches for the PID file in the spool directory, and sends a
672 SIGINT signal to the Exim daemon process whose PID it finds. See below for
673 comments about starting Exim daemons.
678 This command causes the script to sleep for m milliseconds. Nothing is output
684 This command must be at the head of a script. If no IPv4 interface has been
685 found, the entire script is skipped, and a comment is output.
690 This command must be at the head of a script. If no IPv6 interface has been
691 found, the entire script is skipped, and a comment is output.
696 This command must be at the head of a script. If the Exim binary does not
697 suppport large files (off_t is <= 4), the entire script is skipped, and a
701 need_move_frozen_messages
703 This command must be at the head of a script. If the Exim binary does not have
704 support for moving frozen messages (which is an optional feature), the entire
705 script is skipped, and a comment is output.
710 If this command is encountered anywhere in the script, messages that are
711 delivered when the script runs are not compared with saved versions.
716 If this command is encountered anywhere in the script, message log files that
717 are still in existence at the end of the run (for messages that were not
718 delivered) are not compared with saved versions.
723 If this command is encountered anywhere in the script, the stderr output from
724 the run is not compared with a saved version.
729 If this command is encountered anywhere in the script, the stdout output from
730 the run is not compared with a saved version.
735 This command indicates that the script is for a certain type of filter test, in
736 which there are a lot of repetitive stdout lines that get in the way, because
737 filter tests output data about the sender and recipient. Such lines are removed
738 from the stdout output before comparing, for ease of human perusal.
743 This command causes the script to sleep for n seconds. If n is greater than
744 one, "sleep <n>" is output to the screen, followed by a dot for every second
750 This command causes special sorting to occur on the mainlog file before
751 comparison. Every sequence of contiguous delivery lines (lines containing the
752 => -> or *> flags) is sorted. This is necessary in some tests that use parallel
753 deliveries because on different systems the processes may terminate in a
757 A number of standard file management commands are also recognized. These are
758 cat, chmod, chown, cp, du, ln, ls, du, mkdir, mkfifo, rm, rmdir, and touch.
759 Some are run as root using "sudo".
765 The remaining commands are followed by data lines for their standard input,
766 terminated by four asterisks. Even if no data is required for the particular
767 usage, the asterisks must be given.
770 catwrite <file name> [nxm[=start-of-line-text]]*
772 This command operates like the "write" command, which is described below,
773 except that the data it generates is copied to the end of the test-stdout file
774 as well as to the named file.
778 client [<options>] <ip address> <port> [<outgoing interface>]
780 This command runs the auxiliary "client" program that simulates an SMTP client.
781 It is controlled by a script read from its standard input, details of which are
782 given below. There are two options. One is -t, which must be followed directly
783 by a number, to specify the command timeout in seconds (e.g. -t5). The default
784 timeout is 1 second. The other option is -tls-on-connect, which causes the
785 client to try to start up a TLS session as soon as it has connected, without
786 using the STARTTLS command. The client program connects to the given IP address
787 and port, using the specified interface, if one is given.
790 client-ssl [<options>] <ip address> <port> [<outgoing interface>] \
791 [<cert file>] [<key file>]
793 When OpenSSL is available on the host, an alternative version of the client
794 program is compiled, one that supports TLS using OpenSSL. The additional
795 arguments specify a certificate and key file when required. There is one
796 additional option, -tls-on-connect, that causes the client to initiate TLS
797 negotiation immediately on connection.
800 client-gnutls [<options>] <ip address> <port> [<outgoing interface>] \
801 [<cert file>] [<key file>]
803 When GnuTLS is available on the host, an alternative version of the client
804 program is compiled, one that supports TLS using GnuTLS. The additional
805 arguments specify a certificate and key file when required. There is one
806 additional option, -tls-on-connect, that causes the client to initiate TLS
807 negotiation immediately on connection.
810 exim [<options>] [<arguments>]
812 This command runs the testing version of Exim. Any occurrence of "$msg1" in the
813 command line is replaced by the ID of the first (oldest) message in Exim's
814 (testing) spool. "$msg2" refers to the second, and so on. The name "exim" can
815 be preceded by an environment setting as in this example:
817 LDAPTLS_REQCERT=never exim -be
819 It can also be preceded by a number; this specifies a number of seconds to wait
820 before closing the stdout pipe to Exim, and is used for some timeout tests. For
825 Finally, "exim" can be preceded by "sudo", to run Exim as root. If more than
826 one of these prefixes is present, they must be in the above order.
829 exim_exim [<options>] [<arguments>]
831 This runs an alternative version of Exim that is setuid to exim rather than to
835 server [<options>] <port or socket> [<connection count>]
837 This command runs the auxiliary "server" program that simulates an SMTP (or
838 other) server. It is controlled by a script that is read from its standard
839 input, details of which are given below. A number of options are implemented:
841 -d causes the server to output debugging information
843 -t sets a timeout in seconds (default 5) for when the server is
844 awaiting an incoming connection
846 -noipv4 causes the server not to set up an IPv4 socket
848 -noipv6 causes the server not to set up an IPv6 socket
850 By default, in an IPv6 environment, both kinds of socket are set up. However,
851 the test script knows which interfaces actually exist on the host, and it adds
852 -noipv4 or -noipv6 to the server command as required. An error occurs if both
853 these options are given.
855 The only required argument is either a port number or the path name of a Unix
856 domain socket. The port is normally PORT_S, which is changed to an actual
857 number by the standard substitutions. The optional final argument specifies the
858 number of different connections to expect (default 1). These must happen
859 serially (one at a time). There is no support for multiple simultaneous
860 connections. Here are some example commands:
863 server -t 10 PORT_S 3
864 server /tmp/somesocket
866 The following lines, up to a line of four asterisks, are the server's
867 controlling standard input (described below). These lines are read and
868 remembered; during the following commands, until an "exim" command is reached,
869 the server is run in parallel.
872 write <file name> [nxm[=start-of-line-text]]*
874 The "write" command is a way of creating files of specific sizes for buffering
875 tests, or containing specific data lines. Being able to do this from within the
876 script saves holding lots of little test files. The optional argument specifies
877 n lines of length m. The lines consist of the letter "a". If start of line text
878 is supplied, it replaces "a"s at the start of each line. Underscores in the
879 start of line text are turned into spaces. The optional argument may be
880 repeated. The data lines that follow a "write" command are split into two by a
881 line of four plus signs. Any above the split are written before the
882 fixed-length lines, and any below the split are written after. For example:
884 write test-data 3x30=AB_ 1x50
892 This command generates a file containing:
896 AB aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
897 AB aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
898 AB aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
899 aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
903 If there are no fixed-length line specifiers, there is no need to split the
904 data, and a line of plusses is not needed.
909 This command runs Perl, with the data as its standard input, to allow arbitrary
910 one-off things to be done.
916 Lines in client scripts are of two kinds:
918 (1) If a line begins with three question marks and a space, the rest of the
919 line defines the start of expected output from the server. If what is
920 received does not match, the client bombs out with an error message.
922 (2) If a line starts with three plus signs followed by a space, the rest of the
923 line specifies a number of seconds to sleep for before proceeding.
925 (3) Otherwise, the line is an input line line that is sent to the server. Any
926 occurrences of \r and \n in the line are turned into carriage return and
927 linefeed, respectively. This is used for testing PIPELINING.
929 Here is a simple example:
931 client 127.0.0.1 PORT_D
936 AUTH PLAIN AbdXi0AdnD2CVy
942 In the case of client-gnutls and client-ssl, if a command is "starttls", this
943 is remembered, and after a subsequent OK response, an attempt to move into TLS
944 mode occurs. If a command is "starttls_wait", the client sends "starttls" but
945 does not start up TLS; this is for testing timeouts. If a command is "stoptls",
946 an existing TLS connection is shut down, but nothing is sent.
952 The server program sleeps till a connection occurs or its timeout is reached,
953 in which case it bombs out. The next set of command lines are interpreted. They
954 are of the following kinds:
956 (1) A line that starts with '>' or with a digit is an output line that is sent
957 to the client. In the case of '>':
959 (a) If the line starts with ">>", no terminating CRLF is sent.
960 (b) If the line starts with ">CR>", just CR is sent at the end.
961 (c) If the line starts with ">LF>", just LF is sent at the end.
962 (d) If the line starts with ">*eof", nothing is sent and the connection
965 The data that is sent starts after the initial '>' sequence.
967 (2) A line that starts with "*sleep" specifies a number of seconds to wait
970 (3) A line containing "*eof" specifies that the client is expected to close
971 the connection at this point.
973 (4) A line containing just '.' specifies that the client is expected to send
974 many lines, terminated by one that contains just a dot.
976 (5) Otherwise, the line defines the start of an input line that the client
977 is expected to send. To allow for lines that start with digits, the line
978 may start with '<', which is not taken as part of the input data. If the
979 input does not match, the server bombs out with an error message.
981 Here is a simple example of server use in a test script:
999 After a "server" command in a test script, the server runs in parallel until an
1000 "exim" command is reached. The "exim" command attempts to deliver one or more
1001 messages to port PORT_S on the local host. When it has finished, the test
1002 script waits for the "server" process to finish.
1004 The "mtpscript" program is like "server", except that it uses stdin/stdout for
1005 its input and output instead of a script. However, it is not called from test
1006 scripts; instead it is used as the command for pipe transports in some
1007 configurations, to simulate non-socket LMTP servers.
1010 AUXILIARY DATA FILES
1011 --------------------
1013 Many of the tests make use of auxiliary data files. There are two types; those
1014 whose content is fixed, and those whose content needs to be varied according to
1015 the current environment. The former are kept in the directory aux-fixed. The
1016 latter are distributed in the directory aux-var-src, and copied with the
1017 standard substitutions into the directory aux-var at the start of each test
1020 Most of the auxiliary files have names that start with a test number,
1021 indicating that they are specific to that one test. A few fixed files (for
1022 example, some TLS certificates) are used by more than one test, and so their
1023 names are not of this form.
1025 There are also some auxilary DNS zone files, which are described in the next
1029 DNS LOOKUPS AND GETHOSTBYNAME
1030 -----------------------------
1032 The original test suite required special testing zones to be loaded into a
1033 local nameserver. This is no longer a requirement for the new suite. Instead, a
1034 program called fakens is used to simulate a nameserver. When Exim is running in
1035 the test harness, instead of calling res_search() - the normal call to the DNS
1036 resolver - it calls a testing function. This handles a few special names itself
1037 (for compatibility with the old test suite), but otherwise passes the query to
1040 The fakens program consults "zone files" in the directory called dnszones, and
1041 returns data in the standard resource record format for Exim to process as if
1042 it came from the DNS. However, if the requested domain is not in any of the
1043 zones that fakens knows about, it returns a special code that causes Exim to
1044 pass the query on to res_search(). The zone files are:
1046 db.test.ex A zone for the domain test.ex.
1047 db.ip4.10 A zone for one special case in 10.250.0.0/16 (see below)
1048 db.ip4.V4NET A zone for the domain V4NET.in-addr.arpa.
1049 db.ip4.127 A zone for the domain 127.in-addr.arpa.
1050 db.ip6.V6NET A zone for the domain inverted(V6NET).ip6.arpa.
1051 db.ip6.0 A zone for the domain 0.ip6.arpa.
1053 V4NET and V6NET are substituted with the current testing networks (see above).
1054 In the case of V6NET, the network is four hex digits, and it is split and
1055 inverted appropriately when setting up the zone.
1057 These fake zone files are built dynamically from sources in the dnszones-src
1058 directory by applying the standard substitutions. The test suite also builds
1059 dynamic zone files for the name of the current host and its IP address(es). The
1060 idea is that there should not be any need to rely on an external DNS.
1062 The domain names that are handled directly by Exim, without being passed to
1065 test.again.dns This always provokes a TRY_AGAIN response, for testing the
1066 handling of temporary DNS error. If the full domain name
1067 starts with digits, a delay of that many seconds occurs.
1069 test.fail.dns This always provokes a NO_RECOVERY response, for testing
1070 DNS server failures.
1072 This special handling could now be done in the fakens program, but while the
1073 old test suite is still being used it has to be done in Exim itself, so for the
1074 moment it remains there.
1076 The use of gethostbyname() and its IPv6 friends is also subverted when Exim is
1077 running in the test harness. The test code handles a few special names
1078 directly; for all the others it uses DNS lookups, which are then handled as
1079 just described. Thus, the use of /etc/hosts is completely bypassed. The names
1080 that are specially handled are:
1082 manyhome.test.ex This name is used for testing hosts with ridiculously large
1083 numbers of IP addresses; 2048 IP addresses are generated
1084 and returned. Doing it this way saves having to make the
1085 interface to fakens handle more records that can fit in the
1086 data block. The addresses that are generated are in the
1087 10.250.0.0/16 network.
1089 localhost Always returns 127.0.0.1 or ::1, for IPv4 and IPv6 lookups,
1092 <an IP address> If the IP address is of the correct form for the lookup
1093 type (IPv4 or IPv6), it is returned. Otherwise a panic-die
1096 The reverse zone db.ip4.10 is provided just for the manyhome.test.ex case. It
1097 contains a single wildcard resource record. It also contains the line
1101 Whenever fakens finds this line in a zone file, it returns PASS_ON instead of
1102 HOST_NOT_FOUND. This causes Exim to pass the query to res_search().