doc: test-driver option args are separate words.

For https://bugs.gnu.org/70638.

As now mentioned in the manual, the description of the
test-driver command-line interface has been wrong since 2011
when it was first added. The manual, and the driver usage
messages themselves, have consistently shown option arguments
joined to the option name with `=' characters, while the
implementation of Automake has always provided option arguments
in the following argument word, and the provided test drivers
only accepted option arguments in the following argument word.

Because Automake has never used the `=' syntax, there can't
possibly be a working driver which actually follows the
specification as written, so, despite the fierce language of the
manual, we agreed that changing the specification was the right
approach. The `test-driver' program's usage message has already
been fixed (#22445), but the full extent of the problem wasn't
noticed at that time.

* doc/automake.texi (Command-line arguments for test drivers): Fix the
table of options to show arguments passed as separate words; add
footnote explaining this rather sorry situation.
* doc/automake.texi (Use TAP with the Automake test harness):
Remove `=' from documentation of `--diagnostic-string', because
that was never acceptable either.
* lib/tap-driver.sh: Fix usage message.
* contrib/tap-driver.pl: Change usage message to match the defined
protocol.  (This implementation parses options using Perl's
`Getopt::Long' module, so it accepts the `=' syntax as specified, but
this program isn't actually used.)

diff --git a/contrib/tap-driver.pl b/contrib/tap-driver.pl
index c485939843a064db312d25d0919ebe1f4825c221..787741e3878331b1554888e1ff8e40d22aae7246 100755 (executable)
--- a/contrib/tap-driver.pl
+++ b/contrib/tap-driver.pl
@@ -38,10 +38,10 @@ my $ME = "tap-driver.pl";
 
 my $USAGE = <<'END';
 Usage:
-  tap-driver --test-name=NAME --log-file=PATH --trs-file=PATH
-             [--expect-failure={yes|no}] [--color-tests={yes|no}]
-             [--enable-hard-errors={yes|no}] [--ignore-exit]
-             [--diagnostic-string=STRING] [--merge|--no-merge]
+  tap-driver --test-name NAME --log-file PATH --trs-file PATH
+             [--expect-failure {yes|no}] [--color-tests {yes|no}]
+             [--enable-hard-errors {yes|no}] [--ignore-exit]
+             [--diagnostic-string STRING] [--merge|--no-merge]
              [--comments|--no-comments] [--] TEST-COMMAND
 The '--test-name', '--log-file' and '--trs-file' options are mandatory.
 END

diff --git a/doc/automake.texi b/doc/automake.texi
index 2b897204e3db3703bf4ad35c9b78a92f39ba4497..4f7029fff6c3773f74e1925b09449e6a8b38993e 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/automake.texi
+++ b/doc/automake.texi
@@ -10127,37 +10127,44 @@ with the parallel test harness and its default driver.
 @subsubsection Command-line arguments for test drivers
 
 A custom driver can rely on various command-line options and arguments
-being passed to it automatically by the Automake-generated test harness.
-It is @emph{mandatory} that it understands all of them (even if the exact
-interpretation of the associated semantics can legitimately change
-between a test driver and another, and even be a no-op in some drivers).
+being passed to it automatically by the Automake-generated test
+harness.  It is @emph{mandatory} that it understands all of them (even
+if the exact interpretation of the associated semantics can
+legitimately change between a test driver and another, and even be a
+no-op in some drivers).  Options are separated from their arguments by
+whitespace.@footnote{Regrettably, older versions of this manual stated
+that option arguments should be joined to their options with a
+@code{=} character, rather than passed as in the following argument
+word as shown here.  The syntax with @code{=} has never been accepted
+by the test drivers supplied with Automake, and has never been
+produced by @file{Makefile}s generated by Automake.}
 
 @noindent
 Here is the list of options:
 
 @table @option
-@item --test-name=@var{NAME}
+@item --test-name @var{NAME}
 The name of the test, with VPATH prefix (if any) removed.  This can have a
 suffix and a directory component (as in e.g., @file{sub/foo.test}), and is
 mostly meant to be used in console reports about testsuite advancements and
 results (@pxref{Testsuite progress output}).
-@item --log-file=@file{@var{PATH}.log}
+@item --log-file @file{@var{PATH}.log}
 The @file{.log} file the test driver must create (@pxref{Basics of
 test metadata}).  If it has a directory component (as in e.g.,
 @file{sub/foo.log}), the test harness will ensure that such directory
 exists @emph{before} the test driver is called.
-@item --trs-file=@file{@var{PATH}.trs}
+@item --trs-file @file{@var{PATH}.trs}
 The @file{.trs} file the test driver must create (@pxref{Basics of
 test metadata}).  If it has a directory component (as in e.g.,
 @file{sub/foo.trs}), the test harness will ensure that such directory
 exists @emph{before} the test driver is called.
-@item --color-tests=@{yes|no@}
+@item --color-tests @{yes|no@}
 Whether the console output should be colorized or not (@pxref{Simple
 tests and color-tests}, to learn when this option gets activated and
 when it doesn't).
-@item --expect-failure=@{yes|no@}
+@item --expect-failure @{yes|no@}
 Whether the tested program is expected to fail.
-@item --enable-hard-errors=@{yes|no@}
+@item --enable-hard-errors @{yes|no@}
 Whether ``hard errors'' in the tested program should be treated differently
 from normal failures or not (the default should be @code{yes}).  The exact
 meaning of ``hard error'' is highly dependent from the test protocols or
@@ -10383,7 +10390,7 @@ harness to get confused if anything that appears on standard error
 looks like a test result.
 @item --no-merge
 Revert the effects of @option{--merge}.
-@item --diagnostic-string=@var{STRING}
+@item --diagnostic-string @var{STRING}
 Change the string that introduces TAP diagnostics from the default value
 of ``@code{#}'' to @code{@var{STRING}}.  This can be useful if your
 TAP-based test scripts produce verbose output on which they have limited

diff --git a/lib/tap-driver.sh b/lib/tap-driver.sh
index f16f44df3c01c4c0f7f58760b6cd702be96f1f41..69121683a26efc23467b2c067dfe4316b0f0cd94 100755 (executable)
--- a/lib/tap-driver.sh
+++ b/lib/tap-driver.sh
@@ -48,10 +48,10 @@ print_usage ()
 {
   cat <<END
 Usage:
-  tap-driver.sh --test-name=NAME --log-file=PATH --trs-file=PATH
-                [--expect-failure={yes|no}] [--color-tests={yes|no}]
-                [--enable-hard-errors={yes|no}] [--ignore-exit]
-                [--diagnostic-string=STRING] [--merge|--no-merge]
+  tap-driver.sh --test-name NAME --log-file PATH --trs-file PATH
+                [--expect-failure {yes|no}] [--color-tests {yes|no}]
+                [--enable-hard-errors {yes|no}] [--ignore-exit]
+                [--diagnostic-string STRING] [--merge|--no-merge]
                 [--comments|--no-comments] [--] TEST-COMMAND
 The '--test-name', '-log-file' and '--trs-file' options are mandatory.
 END