Troubleshooting Misconfigured Main

Contents

• Symptoms
  • Linker errors about missing symbols
  • Error when running tests
• Solutions
  • Check the instructions for your test framework
  • Check Google Test Framework
  • Other Issues

Symptoms

Linker errors about missing symbols

When you link your test program - using ApprovalTest v.10.1.1 or later - you get linker errors about missing symbols, such as these:

• ApprovalTests::FileApprover::verify(...)
• ApprovalTests::StringWriter::StringWriter(...)
• ApprovalTests::DefaultNamerFactory::getDefaultNamer()
• ApprovalTests::Options::defaultReporter()
• ApprovalTests::Scrubbers::doNothing(...)
• ApprovalTests::Options::FileOptions::getFileExtension() const
• ApprovalTests::Options::fileOptions() const
• ApprovalTests::Options::getReporter() const
• ApprovalTests::Options::scrub(...) const

Error when running tests

Running tests - using ApprovalTest v.10.1.0 or earlier - gives the following output:

*****************************************************************************
*                                                                           *
* Welcome to Approval Tests.
*
* You have forgotten to configure your test framework for Approval Tests.
*
* To do this in Catch, add the following to your main.cpp:
*
*     #define APPROVALS_CATCH
*     #include "ApprovalTests.hpp"
*
* To do this in Google Test, add the following to your main.cpp:
*
*     #define APPROVALS_GOOGLETEST
*     #include "ApprovalTests.hpp"
*
* To do this in doctest, add the following to your main.cpp:
*
*     #define APPROVALS_DOCTEST
*     #include "ApprovalTests.hpp"
*
* To do this in Boost.Test, add the following to your main.cpp:
*
*     #define APPROVALS_BOOSTTEST
*     #include "ApprovalTests.hpp"
*
* To do this in CppUTest, add the following to your main.cpp:
*
*     #define APPROVALS_CPPUTEST
*     #include "ApprovalTests.hpp"
*
* To do this in [Boost].UT, add the following to your main.cpp:
*
*     #define APPROVALS_UT
*     #include "ApprovalTests.hpp"
*
* For more information, please visit:
* https://github.com/approvals/ApprovalTests.cpp/blob/master/doc/TroubleshootingMisconfiguredMain.md
*                                                                           *
*****************************************************************************

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Solutions

These are the things to check.

Check the instructions for your test framework

Approval Tests needs to know which test framework to connect to, and that usually involves making small changes to the main() function for your test program.

This error usually indicates that a problem in your test program's main() means that ApprovalTests.cpp is not correctly set up for your test framework.

The following resources should help:

• The text in the error message above may be enough to get you going.
• If not, see Getting Started - Creating your main() to find out what you need to do for your chosen test framework, or to select one, if you have not yet done so.

Check Google Test Framework

• Have you created a main.cpp that sets up ApprovalTests?
  • If not, the default Google Test main() will be used, which will not set up Approval Tests
  • To fix, copy in the non-comment code from tests/GoogleTest_Tests/main.cpp
• Is your main.cpp included in your project's build?
  • If not, the default Google Test main() will be used, which will not set up Approval Tests
  • To fix, e.g. check your CMakeLists.txt file
• Does your Google Test have its own custom main.cpp?
  • If so, perhaps you haven't yet added the code to set up Approval Tests?
  • To fix, copy in the Approvals-specific lines from examples/googletest_existing_main/main.cpp

Other Issues

• Is your code calling Approvals::verify() or any other methods in this library from outside a Google Test?
  • This is much less likely to be the cause, but the file-naming code in Approval Tests (ApprovalTestNamer) does require that approvals are used from inside a test method in a supported test framework.

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