NAME¶

Test::Valgrind - Generate suppressions, analyse and test any command with valgrind.

VERSION¶

Version 1.19

SYNOPSIS¶

    # From the command-line
    perl -MTest::Valgrind leaky.pl
    # From the command-line, snippet style
    perl -MTest::Valgrind -e 'leaky()'
    # In a test file
    use Test::More;
    eval 'use Test::Valgrind';
    plan skip_all => 'Test::Valgrind is required to test your distribution with valgrind' if $@;
    leaky();
    # In all the test files of a directory
    prove --exec 'perl -Iblib/lib -Iblib/arch -MTest::Valgrind' t/*.t

DESCRIPTION¶

This module is a front-end to the "Test::Valgrind::*" API that lets you run Perl code through the "memcheck" tool of the "valgrind" memory debugger, to test for memory errors and leaks. If they aren't available yet, it will first generate suppressions for the current "perl" interpreter and store them in the portable flavour of ~/.perl/Test-Valgrind/suppressions/$VERSION. The actual run will then take place, and tests will be passed or failed according to the result of the analysis.

The complete API is much more versatile than this. By declaring an appropriate Test::Valgrind::Command class, you can run any executable (that is, not only Perl scripts) under valgrind, generate the corresponding suppressions on-the-fly and convert the analysis result to TAP output so that it can be incorporated into your project's testsuite. If you're not interested in producing TAP, you can output the results in whatever format you like (for example HTML pages) by defining your own Test::Valgrind::Action class.

Due to the nature of perl's memory allocator, this module can't track leaks of Perl objects. This includes non-mortalized scalars and memory cycles. However, it can track leaks of chunks of memory allocated in XS extensions with "Newx" and friends or "malloc". As such, it's complementary to the other very good leak detectors listed in the "SEE ALSO" section.

METHODS¶

    Test::Valgrind->analyse(%options);

    use Test::Valgrind %options;

VARIABLES¶

CAVEATS¶

Perl 5.8 is notorious for leaking like there's no tomorrow, so the suppressions are very likely not to be complete on it. You also have a better chance to get more accurate results if your perl is built with debugging enabled. Using the latest "valgrind" available will also help.

This module is not really secure. It's definitely not taint safe. That shouldn't be a problem for test files.

What your tests output to "STDOUT" and "STDERR" is eaten unless you pass the "diag" option, in which case it will be reprinted as diagnostics.

DEPENDENCIES¶

XML::Twig, File::HomeDir, Env::Sanctify, Perl::Destruct::Level.

SEE ALSO¶

All the "Test::Valgrind::*" API, including Test::Valgrind::Command, Test::Valgrind::Tool, Test::Valgrind::Action and Test::Valgrind::Session.

The valgrind(1) man page.

Test::LeakTrace.

Devel::Leak, Devel::LeakTrace, Devel::LeakTrace::Fast.

AUTHOR¶

Vincent Pit, "<perl at profvince.com>", <http://www.profvince.com>.

You can contact me by mail or on "irc.perl.org" (vincent).

BUGS¶

Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-test-valgrind at rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Test-Valgrind>. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

SUPPORT¶

You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command.

    perldoc Test::Valgrind

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS¶

Rafaël Garcia-Suarez, for writing and instructing me about the existence of Perl::Destruct::Level (Elizabeth Mattijsen is a close second).

H.Merijn Brand, for daring to test this thing.

David Cantrell, for providing shell access to one of his smokers where the tests were failing.

The Debian-perl team, for offering all the feedback they could regarding the build issues they met.

All you people that showed interest in this module, which motivated me into completely rewriting it.

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE¶

Copyright 2008,2009,2010,2011,2013,2015,2016 Vincent Pit, all rights reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.