Question

I’m failing in generating a test executable file containing all my google tests with autotools.

Our dev project is quite large and contains several modules. So, what I want is to have each module to create a test lib/object file and then to put these altogether to create a single test exec file (actually through make test)

This Makefile.am compiles, but run no test: (tests are not auto-registered, it is running with 0 test)

noinst_LTLIBRARIES = libtest2.la
libtest2_la_SOURCES = test2.cpp
libtest2_la_LIBADD = lib/libgtest.la
libtest2_la_CXXFLAGS = -I./include
TESTS = testall
check_PROGRAMS = testall
testall_SOURCES = test2.cpp
testall_CXXFLAGS = -I./include
testall_LDADD = libtest2.la lib/libgtest_main.la

Of course, this one works (but it is not not what I want):

testall_SOURCES = test2.cpp
testall_CXXFLAGS = -I./include
testall_LDADD = lib/libgtest_main.la 

What the real difference between both? How can I make these tests works in my project?

Answer 1

Google Test’s Primer wiki page contains a special section on tests in libraries. It is worded for Visual C++ users but actually applies to static libraries under GCC, as well. In short, you have to reference your libraries with tests in order to prevent the linker from throwing them out.