How can I use Google Test with my project that builds via autotools?

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It seems like there are a few answers that kind-of, sort-of make sense, but that I don't know how to carry out. And I haven't found a comprehensive answer.

The First Problem

Google Test should not be an installed library, it should be built with the project. (See the FAQ.) As far as I can tell, this means the Google Test libraries are a dependency of my unit tests, and should be built when I run "make check" within my project for the first time. This should build Google Test libraries in some directory. I don't know how to do this. It mentions some autotools script that's deprecated, and I'm not sure what they're talking about or how to point my build at it properly.

The Second Problem

Assuming the build is successful, how do I write a test that uses my locally-compiled version of Google Test to run tests? I assume that there are a bunch of Makefile.am commands I put in my tests directory. But what are they? And what's an example of a unit test that uses Google Test?

automated-tests autotools googletest unit-testing c++
3 Answers

It's worth noting that Googletest doesn't officially maintain its Autotools integration anymore:

Before settling on CMake, we have been providing hand-maintained build projects/scripts for Visual Studio, Xcode, and Autotools. While we continue to provide them for convenience, they are not actively maintained any more. We highly recommend that you follow the instructions in the above sections to integrate Google Test with your existing build system.

https://github.com/google/googletest/tree/master/googletest#legacy-build-scripts

It's now recommended to build Googletest with CMake.

Making GoogleTest's source code available to the main build can be done a few different ways:

  • Download the GoogleTest source code manually and place it at a known location. This is the least flexible approach and can make it more difficult to use with continuous integration systems, etc.
  • Embed the GoogleTest source code as a direct copy in the main project's source tree. This is often the simplest approach, but is also the hardest to keep up to date. Some organizations may not permit this method.
  • Add GoogleTest as a git submodule or equivalent. This may not always be possible or appropriate. Git submodules, for example, have their own set of advantages and drawbacks.
  • Use CMake to download GoogleTest as part of the build's configure step. This is just a little more complex, but doesn't have the limitations of the other methods.

https://github.com/google/googletest/tree/master/googletest#incorporating-into-an-existing-cmake-project

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