sbotest

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DISCLAIMER
DESCRIPTION
OPTIONS
TESTING STRATEGIES
CONFIGURATION
EXIT CODES
BUGS
SEE ALSO
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
AUTHOR

NAME

sbotest - build test SlackBuilds and their reverse dependencies

SYNOPSIS

sbotest [-h|-v]

sbotest pull [-B BRANCH|FALSE] [-r URL|FALSE]

sbotest [config|find|hints] \...

sbotest [-f|-s] [-Akl /path|FALSE] [-j #|FALSE] \
        [-D] [--no-archive|--archive-force] sbo_name (sbo_name)

sbotest [-Al /path|FALSE] [-B BRANCH|FALSE] [-r URL|FALSE] \
        [-S TRUE|FALSE] [-D] --archive-rebuild

DISCLAIMER

sbotest is designed and intended to run in a clean build-testing environment, such as a virtual machine or a Docker image. Missing users and groups are added automatically when running sbotest, and any packages installed as a result of testing are removed afterwards unless they had been previously installed.

Using sbotest on a general-purpose Slackware installation is unsupported and unadvisable.

DESCRIPTION

sbotest is a reverse dependency build tester based on the sbotools library. To fetch or update the repository before testing, call sbotest pull. Select a git branch and repository URL by editing /etc/sbotest/sbotest.conf or, temporarily, by passing --git-branch and --repo. sbotest is also configurable at the command line with config, and per-script hints can be applied with hints. See sboconfig(1) and sbohints(1) for more details.

Called without options, sbotest builds any requested SlackBuilds with their first level of reverse dependencies. Use sbotest find --first-reverse or pass --dry-run for a list of scripts that would be tested, if compatible. To test all reverse dependencies of the requested scripts, use the --full-reverse option; --single tests no reverse dependencies. Please note that already-installed scripts can be tested only with --single; the existing package on the system is not replaced.

Each test target has a separate testing workflow. First, dependencies saved to the SBO_ARCHIVE directory (default /usr/sbotest/archive) are installed to save time; see CONFIGURATION below for details. Any missing users and groups are added, and sboinstall(1) is called.

Newly-built packages are saved to a timestamp-appended PKG_DIR. By default, any dependencies (not test targets) built are saved to SBO_ARCHIVE for future use; to change this, see --no-archive and --archive-force below. Any packages that are not required for the following build are removed afterwards. Packages without the _SBo tag are unaffected, and no package that is already installed when sbotest starts can be removed or reinstalled.

sbopkglint(1) is run on all test targets once sboinstall(1) has been called for the last time. A summary of results is displayed and saved to SBO_HOME/results/(timestamp).log. Scripts that fail sbolint(1) or sbopkglint(1), or fail to build altogether, are reported so that any issues can be taken care of before submitting scripts to SlackBuilds.org.

To generate a report of potential operations, use --dry-run with any combination of other options.

Non-root users can run sbotest with --help, --version and --dry-run. hints, config and find can be run by anyone with listing-related options.

OPTIONS

config

Interface with sboconfig(1) to modify settings. All sboconfig options can be used, with the addition of --sbo-archive. See CONFIGURATION below.

find

Interface with sbofind(1) to search the local copy of the repository for SlackBuilds. Scripts with up-to-date packages in the archive are indicated. All sbofind options can be used.

hints

Interface with sbohints(1) to modify per-script hints. All sbohints options can be used.

pull

Fetch the upstream repository to SBO_HOME/repo. Flags other than --git-branch and --repo have no effect.

--archive-rebuild

Replace build- and version-mismatched packages in the archive, /usr/sbotest/archive by default. Please note that installed and blacklisted packages are ignored. If STRICT_UPGRADES is TRUE, only mismatched packages with lower version or build numbers are removed from the archive.

If a script to be rebuilt has an automatic reverse dependency rebuild request in /etc/sbotest/sbotest.hints, its reverse dependencies are rebuilt and replaced as well. See sbotools.hints(5) for details about setting hints.

Incompatible with --no-archive and --archive-force.

-A|--sbo-archive

If FALSE, use the default archive directory at SBO_HOME/archive. If an absolute path, use that as the archive directory.

--archive-force

When testing the requested scripts, copy all built packages into SBO_ARCHIVE, /usr/sbotest/archive by default. This includes even requested scripts and their reverse dependencies.

Incompatible with --archive-rebuild and ---no-archive.

-B|--git-branch

If FALSE, use the default git branch for the running version of Slackware. If a branch name, use it in case of a git repository. Must be used with pull.

-D|--dry-run

Generate a report on scripts to be tested, queued packages in the local overrides directory and the number of archived packages to be reused. In case of --archive-rebuild, additionally report archived packages to be removed.

-f|--full-reverse

Test all reverse dependencies for the requested scripts rather than the first level only. Use sbotest find --all-reverse or pass --dry-run to see which scripts would be tested, if compatible.

-s|--single

Do not test reverse dependencies for any requested script. Enables testing for scripts that have already been installed.

-j|--jobs

If numeric, pass to make with the -j flag.

-k|--pkg-dir

If FALSE, use the default package directory of SBO_HOME/tests/(timestamp)-tests, e.g. /usr/sbotest/tests/2025-05-31-16:27-tests. If an absolute path, save packages built during the test run a timestamp-designated directory under that path.

-l|--log-dir

If FALSE, use the default log directory of SBO_HOME/logs/(timestamp)-logs. If an absolute path, save build and sbopkglint(1) logs to that directory with a timestamp appended.

--no-archive

Do not reuse any archived packages during the test run, and do not archive built packages.

Incompatible with --archive-rebuild and --archive-force.

-r|--repo

If FALSE, use the default repository URL for the running Slackware version. If a URL, pull from that URL. Must be used with pull.

-S|--strict-upgrades

If TRUE, delete only mismatched packages with lower version or build numbers when running --archive-rebuild. If FALSE, delete all mismatched packages from the archive. Overrides the setting in /etc/sbotest/sbotest.conf.

-h|--help

Show help information.

-v|--version

Show version information.

TESTING STRATEGIES

There are three basic ways to test scripts with sbotest. After using sbotest pull to retrieve a new branch or the latest updates:

  • Test against the upstream repository without changes.
  • Test against a git branch with changes to be merged.
  • Test against the upstream repository with changes in a local overrides directory.

The first case is the simplest, and requires no configuration beyond setting RSYNC_DEFAULT or REPO in /etc/sbotest/sbotest.conf as appropriate.

To test upcoming changes in a git branch, set GIT_BRANCH to the name of the branch and ensure that REPO is set if non-default. Alternatively, specify with the --repo and --git-branch options when running sbotest pull. From here, run sbotest. If multiple scripts are to be tested for submission, using a single merged branch for testing may be convenient:

git branch testbranch
git checkout testbranch
git merge rust-opt dos2unix fvwm3
git push --set-upstream origin testbranch

To use a local overrides directory, set LOCAL_OVERRIDES to an absolute path. Place directories for any script to be tested in the top level and run sbotest. Removing these directories when testing is complete is advisable.

Reusing built packages in future test runs saves time and resources. The default archive directory is /usr/sbotest/archive; packages stored here are reinstalled in lieu of building when needed, provided they are up-to-date. During an sbotest run, all built dependencies are archived by default. To archive all built packages (including testing targets), use --archive-force. Ignore the archive altogether with --no-archive.

The archive can be kept current with --archive-rebuild. This rebuilds all version- and build-mismatched packages in the archive, provided that they are not installed or on the blacklist. If STRICT_UPGRADES is TRUE, only mismatched packages with lower version or build numbers are removed from the archive. By default, all mismatched packages are removed.

CONFIGURATION

The default configuration directory is /etc/sbotest with files sbotest.conf, sbotest.hints and obsolete being recognized. obsolete is relevant only if testing against Slackware -current. To use an alternative configuration directory, set an environment variable SBOTEST_CONF_DIR.

Configuration options and hints can be set from the command line with config and hints, respectively.

Several default settings differ from base sbotools:

ETC_PROFILE

With a default of TRUE, source all executable scripts of the form *.sh in /etc/profile before building each script.

CPAN_IGNORE

With a default of TRUE, build and install SlackBuilds regardless of whether they have been installed from the CPAN.

SBO_HOME

The default value is /usr/sbotest.

PKG_DIR

The default value is SBO_HOME/tests. Unless an absolute path is specified, packages built during the test run are saved to a timestamp-designated directory under that path, e.g. /usr/sbotest/tests/2025-05-31-16:27-tests.

LOG_DIR

The default value is SBO_HOME/logs. Unless an absolute path is specified, log files are saved to a timestamp-designated directory under that path.

SBO_ARCHIVE

This setting is used only when running sbotest, and has a default value of SBO_HOME/archive. Any packages stored here are installed prior to calling sboinstall(1), provided that they:

  • Are not test targets.
  • Are required by the script to be tested.
  • Are not already installed.
  • Have versions and build numbers matching the local repository.

The archive can be kept in sync with the local repository by running sbotest with --archive-rebuild.

Hints may be specified in /etc/sbotest/sbotest.hints. Saved build options from sbotools are ignored. See sbotools.conf(5) and sbotools.hints(5) for more information.

EXIT CODES

sbotest can exit with the following codes:

0: all operations were succesful.
1: a usage error occured, such as specifying invalid options.
2: a script or module error occurred.
6: unable to obtain a required file handle.
7: unable to get required info from the info file.
8: unable to unset the exec-on-close bit on a temporary file.
12: interrupt signal received.
13: circular dependencies detected.
15: GPG verification failed.

BUGS

None known. If found, Issues and Pull Requests to https://github.com/pghvlaans/sbotest/ are always welcome.

SEE ALSO

sbofind(1), sboinstall(1), sbotools.conf(5), sbotools.hints(5), SBO::Lib(3), SBO::Lib::Build(3), SBO::Lib::Info(3), SBO::Lib::Pkgs(3), SBO::Lib::Repo(3), SBO::Lib::Tree(3), SBO::Lib::Util(3), sbolint(1), sbopkglint(1)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Jacob Pipkin, Luke Williams and Andreas Guldstrand are the original authors of sbotools.

sbo-maintainer-tools is written and maintained by B. Watson.

AUTHOR

K. Eugene Carlson <kvngncrlsn (at) gmail (dot) com>