tests: better idiom to override make macro defs on the cmdline

We now do so with a new wrapper shell function 'run_make()', which
relies on the use of AM_MAKEFLAGS, avoiding the use of the '-e' make
option.  The use of that option (that causes the environment variables
to take precedence over the macro definitions in the Makefile) has
proved to be quite brittle in the past, causing annoying and sometimes
problematic spurious failures.  This has worsened in some still
unpublished work going on in development branches.  It's time to solve
the issue once and for all.

Note that we do not convert all uses of $MAKE in the testsuite right
away; we might do so in follow-up changes, with leisure, to avoid a
"patch bomb" effect (this commit is already too much of a bomb itself).
What we do in this commit is to get rid of all "$MAKE -e" invocations.

We admit that the implementation and feature-set of 'run_make()' are
far from perfect, but good enough for our current purposes.  We'll
improve 'run_make()' if and when the need arises.

* syntax-checks.mk (sc_tests_no_make_e): New syntax check, guard against
the use of "$MAKE -e".
(syntax_check_rules): Add it.
(sc_tests_overriding_macros_on_cmdline): Adjust.
(lint): New, alias for 'maintainer-check', for lazy typists.  Idea
backported from the 'maint' branch (Automake 1.13a).
* t/ax/am-test-lib.sh (run_make): New function.  Run $MAKE with the
given command-line arguments, handling command-line override of variable
definitions in a smart way (using AM_MAKEFLAGS if a non-GNU make
implementation is detected to be in use).
(useless_vpath_rebuild): Adjust to use 'run_make', to avoid a spurious
maintainer check failure.
(yl_distcheck): Use 'run_make' rather than bare '$MAKE'.
(single_quote, append_single_quoted, is_valid_varname): New auxiliary
function, used, directly or indirectly, by it.
* Many tests: Adjust to avoid the use of "$MAKE -e", and prefer the
use of 'run_make' in few other contexts as well, where it makes sense.
Other minor fixlets while at it.

Signed-off-by: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini@gmail.com>

1 files changed, 6 insertions, 6 deletions

diff --git a/t/parallel-tests-basics.sh b/t/parallel-tests-basics.sh
index d86e054d7..4d0fe9502 100644
--- a/t/parallel-tests-basics.sh
+++ b/t/parallel-tests-basics.sh
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ test ! -e test-suite.log
 # Note that this usage has a problem: the summary will only
 # take bar.log into account, because the $(TEST_SUITE_LOG) rule
 # does not "see" baz.log.  Hmm.
-env TESTS='bar.test' $MAKE -e check >stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
+run_make TESTS='bar.test' check >stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
 cat stdout
 grep '^FAIL: baz\.test$' stdout
 grep '^ERROR: bar\.test$' stdout
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ test -f test-suite.log
 # Note that the previous test and this one taken together expose the timing
 # issue that requires the check-TESTS rule to always remove TEST_SUITE_LOG
 # before running the tests lazily.
-env RECHECK_LOGS= $MAKE -e check > stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
+run_make RECHECK_LOGS= check > stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
 cat stdout
 test -f foo.log
 grep '^PASS: foo\.test$' stdout
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ grep '^# ERROR: *1$' stdout
 
 # Now, explicitly retry with all test logs already updated, and ensure
 # that the summary is still displayed.
-env RECHECK_LOGS= $MAKE -e check > stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
+run_make RECHECK_LOGS= check > stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
 cat stdout
 grep foo.test stdout && exit 1
 grep bar.test stdout && exit 1
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ grep '^# FAIL: *1$' stdout
 grep '^# ERROR: *1$' stdout
 
 # Lazily rerunning only foo should only rerun this one test.
-env RECHECK_LOGS=foo.log $MAKE -e check > stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
+run_make RECHECK_LOGS=foo.log check > stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
 cat stdout
 grep foo.test stdout
 grep bar.test stdout && exit 1
@@ -135,14 +135,14 @@ grep '^# FAIL: *1$' stdout
 grep '^# ERROR: *1$' stdout
 
 $MAKE clean
-env TEST_LOGS=baz.log $MAKE -e check > stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
+run_make TEST_LOGS=baz.log check > stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
 cat stdout
 grep foo.test stdout && exit 1
 grep bar.test stdout && exit 1
 grep baz.test stdout
 
 $MAKE clean
-env TESTS=baz.test $MAKE -e check > stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
+run_make TESTS=baz.test check > stdout && { cat stdout; exit 1; }
 cat stdout
 grep foo.test stdout && exit 1
 grep bar.test stdout && exit 1