libinput test suite

libinput’s primary test suite can be invoked with

$ sudo ./builddir/libinput-test-suite

When developing libinput, the libinput-test-suite should always be run to check for behavior changes and/or regressions. For quick iteration, the number of tests to run can be filtered, see Selective running of tests. This allows for developers to verify a subset of tests (e.g. touchpad tap-to-click) while hacking on that specific feature and only run the full suite when development is done finished.

Note

The test suite relies on udev and the kernel, specifically uinput. It creates virtual input devices and replays the events. This may interfere with your running session. The test suite is not suitable for running inside containers.

In addition, libinput ships with a set of (primarily janitorial) tests that must pass for any merge request. These tests are invoked by calling meson test -C builddir (or ninja test). The libinput-test-suite is part of that test set by default.

The upstream CI runs all these tests and is run for every merge request.

Job control in the test suite

The test suite runner has a make-like job control enabled by the -j or --jobs flag and will fork off as many parallel processes as given by this flag. The default if unspecified is 8. When debugging a specific test case failure it is recommended to employ test filtures (see Selective running of tests) and disable parallel tests. The test suite automatically disables parallel make when run in gdb.

X.Org config to avoid interference

uinput devices created by the test suite are usually recognised by X as input devices. All events sent through these devices will generate X events and interfere with your desktop.

Copy the file $srcdir/test/50-litest.conf into your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d and restart X. This will ignore any litest devices and thus not interfere with your desktop.

Permissions required to run tests

Most tests require the creation of uinput devices and access to the resulting /dev/input/eventX nodes. Some tests require temporary udev rules. This usually requires the tests to be run as root. If not run as root, the test suite runner will exit with status 77, an exit status interpreted as “skipped”.

Selective running of tests

litest’s tests are grouped into test groups, test names and devices. A test group is e.g. “touchpad:tap” and incorporates all tapping-related tests for touchpads. Each test function is (usually) run with one or more specific devices. The --list commandline argument shows the list of suites and tests. This is useful when trying to figure out if a specific test is run for a device.

$ ./builddir/libinput-test-suite --list
...
pointer:left-handed:
   pointer_left_handed_during_click_multiple_buttons:
           trackpoint
           ms-surface-cover
           mouse-wheelclickcount
           mouse-wheelclickangle
           low-dpi-mouse
           mouse-roccat
           mouse-wheel-tilt
           mouse
           logitech-trackball
           cyborg-rat
           magicmouse
   pointer_left_handed_during_click:
           trackpoint
           ms-surface-cover
           mouse-wheelclickcount
           mouse-wheelclickangle
           low-dpi-mouse
           mouse-roccat
           mouse-wheel-tilt
           mouse
           logitech-trackball
           cyborg-rat
           litest-magicmouse-device
   pointer_left_handed:
           trackpoint
           ms-surface-cover
           mouse-wheelclickcount
           mouse-wheelclickangle
           low-dpi-mouse
           mouse-roccat
           mouse-wheel-tilt
           mouse
...

In the above example, the “pointer:left-handed” suite contains multiple tests, e.g. “pointer_left_handed_during_click” (this is also the function name of the test, making it easy to grep for). This particular test is run for various devices including the trackpoint device and the magic mouse device.

The “no device” entry signals that litest does not instantiate a uinput device for a specific test (though the test itself may instantiate one).

The --filter-test argument enables selective running of tests through basic shell-style function name matching. For example:

$ ./builddir/libinput-test-suite --filter-test="*1fg_tap*"

The --filter-device argument enables selective running of tests through basic shell-style device name matching. The device names matched are the litest-specific shortnames, see the output of --list. For example:

$ ./builddir/libinput-test-suite --filter-device="synaptics*"

The --filter-group argument enables selective running of test groups through basic shell-style test group matching. The test groups matched are litest-specific test groups, see the output of --list. For example:

$ ./builddir/libinput-test-suite --filter-group="touchpad:*hover*"

The --filter-device and --filter-group arguments can be combined with --list to show which groups and devices will be affected.

Controlling test output

Each test supports the --verbose commandline option to enable debugging output, see libinput_log_set_priority() for details. The LITEST_VERBOSE environment variable, if set, also enables verbose mode.

$ ./builddir/libinput-test-suite --verbose
$ LITEST_VERBOSE=1 meson test -C builddir

Installing the test suite

If libinput is configured to install the tests, the test suite is available as the libinput test-suite command. When run as installed binary, the behavior of the test suite changes:

the libinput.so used is the one in the library lookup paths
no system-wide quirks are installed by the test suite, only those specific to the test devices
test device-specific quirks are installed in the system-wide quirks directory, usually /usr/share/libinput/.

It is not advisable to run libinput test-suite on a production machine. Data loss may occur. The primary use-case for the installed test suite is verification of distribution composes.

Note

The prefix is still used by the test suite. For verification of a system package, the test suite must be configured with the same prefix.

To configure libinput to install the tests, use the -Dinstall-tests=true meson option:

$ meson setup builddir -Dtests=true -Dinstall-tests=true <other options>

Meson test suites

This section is primarily of interest to distributors that want to run test or developers working on libinput’s CI.

Tests invoked by meson test are grouped into test suites, the test suite names identify when the respective test can be run:

valgrind: tests that can be run under valgrind (in addition to a normal run)
root: tests that must be run as root
hardware: tests that require a VM or physical machine
all: all tests, only needed because of meson bug 5340

The suite names can be provided as filters to meson test --suite=<suitename> or meson test --no-suite=<suitename>. For example, if running a container-based CI, you may specify the test suites as:

$ meson test --no-suite=machine  # only run container-friendly tests
$ meson test --suite=valgrind --setup=valgrind  # run all valgrind-compatible tests
$ meson test --no-suite=root  # run all tests not requiring root

These suites are subject to change at any time.