Improved TAP tests by replacing sub-optimal uses of ok() with better Test::More functions

From: Sadhuprasad Patro <b(dot)sadhu(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Improved TAP tests by replacing sub-optimal uses of ok() with better Test::More functions
Date: 2025-10-10 05:52:55
Message-ID: CAFF0-CHhwNx_Cv2uy7tKjODUbeOgPrJpW4Rpf1jqB16_1bU2sg@mail.gmail.com
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Hi all,

I've noticed that many TAP tests in the codebase make sub-optimal use of
the "ok()" function. Specifically, ok() is often used for expressions
involving comparison operators or regex matches, which is not ideal because
other Test::More functions provide much clearer diagnostic messages when
tests fail.

For example, instead of writing:

ok($var =~ /foo/, "found foo")

it’s better to write:

like($var, /foo/, "found foo")
I experimented by modifying a TAP test in src/bin/pg_dump to deliberately
fail using ok(). The failure output was quite minimal and didn’t give much
detail:

# +++ tap check in src/bin/pg_dump +++
t/005_pg_dump_filterfile.pl .. 1/?
# Failed test 'table one dumped'
# at t/005_pg_dump_filterfile.pl line 103.
t/005_pg_dump_filterfile.pl .. 57/? # Looks like you failed 1 test of 108.
t/005_pg_dump_filterfile.pl .. Dubious, test returned 1 (wstat 256, 0x100)
Failed 1/108 subtests

Test Summary Report
-------------------
t/005_pg_dump_filterfile.pl (Wstat: 256 (exited 1) Tests: 108 Failed: 1)
Failed test: 2
Non-zero exit status: 1

Then I changed the same test to use like() instead of ok(), which produced
much more informative diagnostics:

# +++ tap check in src/bin/pg_dump +++
t/005_pg_dump_filterfile.pl .. 1/?
# Failed test 'table one dumped'
# at t/005_pg_dump_filterfile.pl line 103.
# '--
# '
*# doesn't match '(?^m:^CREATE TABLE public1\.table_one)'*
t/005_pg_dump_filterfile.pl .. 41/? # Looks like you failed 1 test of 108.
t/005_pg_dump_filterfile.pl .. Dubious, test returned 1 (wstat 256, 0x100)
Failed 1/108 subtests

Test Summary Report
-------------------
t/005_pg_dump_filterfile.pl (Wstat: 256 (exited 1) Tests: 108 Failed: 1)
Failed test: 2
Non-zero exit status: 1

Based on this, I’ve replaced all such uses of ok() with the more
appropriate is(), isnt(), like(), unlike(), and cmp_ok() functions,
depending on the test case.

Please find the attached patch implementing these improvements...

Thanks for considering the change.
Regards,
SadhuPrasad.
EnterpriseDB.

Attachment Content-Type Size
v1-0001-PATCH-V1-Improve-TAP-test-uses-of-Test-More-funct.patch application/octet-stream 73.4 KB

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