3.3 Test Taxonomy

As mentioned above, tests are grouped into a number of broadly defined classifications to allow users to selectively run tests to address the different kinds of testing that need to be done.

• Build Verification Tests
• Unit Tests
• System Tests
• Examples
• Performance Tests

3.3.1 Build Verification Tests

These are relatively simple tests that are built along with the distribution and are used to make sure that the build is pretty much working. Our current unit tests live in the source files of the code they test and are built into the ns-3 modules; and so fit the description of BVTs. BVTs live in the same source code that is built into the ns-3 code. Our current tests are examples of this kind of test.

3.3.2 Unit Tests

Unit tests are more involved tests that go into detail to make sure that a piece of code works as advertised in isolation. There is really no reason for this kind of test to be built into an ns-3 module. It turns out, for example, that the unit tests for the object name service are about the same size as the object name service code itself. Unit tests are tests that check a single bit of functionality that are not built into the ns-3 code, but live in the same directory as the code it tests. It is possible that these tests check integration of multiple implementation files in a module as well. The file src/core/names-test-suite.cc is an example of this kind of test. The file src/common/pcap-file-test-suite.cc is another example that uses a known good pcap file as a test vector file. This file is stored locally in the src/common directory.

3.3.3 System Tests

System tests are those that involve more than one module in the system. We have lots of this kind of test running in our current regression framework, but they are typically overloaded examples. We provide a new place for this kind of test in the directory “src/test”. The file src/test/ns3tcp/ns3-interop-test-suite.cc is an example of this kind of test. It uses NSC TCP to test the ns-3 TCP implementation. Often there will be test vectors required for this kind of test, and they are stored in the directory where the test lives. For example, ns3tcp-interop-response-vectors.pcap is a file consisting of a number of TCP headers that are used as the expected responses of the ns-3 TCP under test to a stimulus generated by the NSC TCP which is used as a “known good” implementation.

3.3.4 Examples

The examples are tested by the framework to make sure they built and will run. Nothing is checked, and currently the pcap files are just written off into /tmp to be discarded. If the examples run (don’t crash) they pass this smoke test.

3.3.5 Performance Tests

Performance tests are those which exercise a particular part of the system and determine if the tests have executed to completion in a reasonable time.

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