DH_AUTO_TEST(1)

📦
version 14.5ubuntu1 · 12 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

✨ DH_AUTO_TEST(1) — the Debhelper girlie who runs ur tests for u ✨

okay so bestie, welcome to dh_auto_test, a lil member of the Debhelper squad (that's manual section 1, iykyk). she's the one who shows up, sniffs around ur package, figures out which build system u built with, and then runs ur test suite for u. no cap. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dh_auto_test [build system options] [debhelper options] [-- params]

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

So, dh_auto_test is a debhelper program whose whole thing is trying to automatically run ur package's test suite. She does it by running the right command for whatever build system she detects the package is using. Like, say there's a Makefile and it has a test or check target in it — then she does the thing by running make (or MAKE, if that environment variable is set, periodt). 💖

If the test suite fails, the command exits nonzero. That's the vibe check failing, bestie. 😭 And if there's, like, no test suite at all? She exits zero without doing anything. Just vibes. No drama. ✨

The way that she's built is to work for, like, 90% of packages with a test suite. Fr fr. And if she doesn't work for urs? No shade, no problem — ur actually encouraged to just skip using dh_auto_test entirely and run the test suite manually. Do it urself, main character energy. 👑

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • Check out "BUILD SYSTEM OPTIONS" in debhelper(7) for the list of common build system selection and control options. She's got range.
  • -- params — passes params to the program that gets run, and they go in after the parameters that dh_auto_test usually passes. Extra toppings on an already perfect order. 🍓

🦋 NOTES 🦋

If the DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS environment variable contains nocheck, then no tests will be performed. Not one. Zero. Zip. She's off the clock, bestie. 💀

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

Also just so u know, this program is a part of debhelper. She's not solo, she's in a group chat. 🫶

🌈 AUTHOR 🌈

Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>

mwah 💋 that's the whole page, bestie — this was Debhelper version 14.5ubuntu1, dated 2026-09-21, and honestly? iconic. go run those tests. ⭐

📦 where this page comes from