Tester: A Miniature C Testing Framework

Tester is a lightweight, single-file unit testing framework for C. It is designed to be simple to integrate and easy to use for both small projects and embedded systems.

Key Features

• Minimalist: Minimal dependencies and small footprint.
• Grouped Tests: Organise your assertions into logical groups.
• Flexible Output: Control output verbosity and redirect logs to any file stream.
• Easy Integration: Just include tester.h and link with tester.c.

Getting Started

1. Basic Example

Here is a quick look at how to use Tester:

#include "tester.h"

int main() {
    // Create a tester instance (outputs to stdout, logs all tests)
    tester *t = tester_create(stdout, false);

    tester_new_group(t, "Arithmetic Tests");
    tester_assert(t, 1 + 1 == 2, "1 + 1 equals 2");
    tester_assert(t, 5 * 2 == 10, "5 * 2 equals 10");

    tester_new_group(t, "Logic Tests");
    tester_assert(t, true, "True is true");

    // Final result (returns true if all tests passed)
    bool success = tester_result(t);

    // Finalise and cleanup
    tester_destroy(t);

    return success ? 0 : 1;
}

2. Compilation

Compile your test file along with tester.c:

gcc -o my_tests main.c src/tester.c -Isrc
./my_tests

API Reference

Lifecycle Management

• tester *tester_create(FILE *fp, bool only_failures) Creates a new tester instance. fp is the output stream (e.g., stdout or a file). If only_failures is true, successful tests will not be logged.
• void tester_destroy(tester *obj) Finalises the report, flushes the output, and frees all memory associated with the tester.

Running Tests

• void tester_new_group(tester *obj, const char *name) Starts a new group of tests. All subsequent assertions will be reported under this group.
• tester_assert(obj, exp, name) The primary macro for testing. exp is the expression to evaluate, and name is a descriptive name for the test.

Results

• bool tester_result(tester *obj) Returns true if all tests performed so far have passed, false otherwise.

Documentation and Examples

• tester.h: Detailed interface definition.
• example.c: A more complex sample application showing advanced usage.

Enjoy! ☕