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1# curl test suite file format
2
3The curl test suite's file format is very simple and extensible, closely
4resembling XML. All data for a single test case resides in a single ASCII
5file. Labels mark the beginning and the end of all sections, and each label
6must be written in its own line.  Comments are either XML-style (enclosed with
7`<!--` and `-->`) or shell script style (beginning with `#`) and must appear
8on their own lines and not alongside actual test data.  Most test data files
9are syntactically valid XML, although a few files are not (lack of support for
10character entities and the preservation of CR/LF characters at the end of
11lines are the biggest differences).
12
13Each test case source exists as a file matching the format
14`tests/data/testNUM`, where NUM is the unique test number, and must begin with
15a 'testcase' tag, which encompasses the remainder of the file.
16
17# Preprocessing
18
19When a test is to be executed, the source file is first preprocessed and
20variables are substituted by the their respective contents and the output
21version of the test file is stored as `log/testNUM`. That version is what will
22be read and used by the test servers.
23
24## Base64 Encoding
25
26In the preprocess stage, a special instruction can be used to have runtests.pl
27base64 encode a certain section and insert in the generated output file. This
28is in particular good for test cases where the test tool is expected to pass
29in base64 encoded content that might use dynamic information that is unique
30for this particular test invocation, like the server port number.
31
32To insert a base64 encoded string into the output, use this syntax:
33
34    %b64[ data to encode ]b64%
35
36The data to encode can then use any of the existing variables mentioned below,
37or even percent-encoded individual bytes. As an example, insert the HTTP
38server's port number (in ASCII) followed by a space and the hexadecimal byte
399a:
40
41    %b64[%HTTPPORT %9a]b64%
42
43## Hexadecimal decoding
44
45In the preprocess stage, a special instruction can be used to have runtests.pl
46generate a sequence of binary bytes.
47
48To insert a sequence of bytes from a hex encoded string, use this syntax:
49
50    %hex[ %XX-encoded data to decode ]hex%
51
52For example, to insert the binary octets 0, 1 and 255 into the test file:
53
54    %hex[ %00%01%FF ]hex%
55
56## Repeat content
57
58In the preprocess stage, a special instruction can be used to have runtests.pl
59generate a repetetive sequence of bytes.
60
61To insert a sequence of repeat bytes, use this syntax to make the `<string>`
62get repeated `<number>` of times. The number has to be 1 or large and the
63string may contain `%HH` hexadecimal codes:
64
65    %repeat[<number> x <string>]%
66
67For example, to insert the word hello a 100 times:
68
69    %repeat[100 x hello]%
70
71# Variables
72
73When the test is preprocessed, a range of "variables" in the test file will be
74replaced by their content at that time.
75
76Available substitute variables include:
77
78- `%CLIENT6IP` - IPv6 address of the client running curl
79- `%CLIENTIP` - IPv4 address of the client running curl
80- `%CURL` - Path to the curl executable
81- `%FILE_PWD` - Current directory, on windows prefixed with a slash
82- `%FTP6PORT` - IPv6 port number of the FTP server
83- `%FTPPORT` - Port number of the FTP server
84- `%FTPSPORT` - Port number of the FTPS server
85- `%FTPTIME2` - Timeout in seconds that should be just sufficient to receive a
86  response from the test FTP server
87- `%FTPTIME3` - Even longer than %FTPTIME2
88- `%GOPHER6PORT` - IPv6 port number of the Gopher server
89- `%GOPHERPORT` - Port number of the Gopher server
90- `%HOST6IP` - IPv6 address of the host running this test
91- `%HOSTIP` - IPv4 address of the host running this test
92- `%HTTP6PORT` - IPv6 port number of the HTTP server
93- `%HTTPPORT` - Port number of the HTTP server
94- `%HTTP2PORT` - Port number of the HTTP/2 server
95- `%HTTPSPORT` - Port number of the HTTPS server
96- `%HTTPSPROXYPORT` - Port number of the HTTPS-proxy
97- `%HTTPTLS6PORT` - IPv6 port number of the HTTP TLS server
98- `%HTTPTLSPORT` - Port number of the HTTP TLS server
99- `%HTTPUNIXPATH` - Path to the Unix socket of the HTTP server
100- `%IMAP6PORT` - IPv6 port number of the IMAP server
101- `%IMAPPORT` - Port number of the IMAP server
102- `%MQTTPORT` - Port number of the MQTT server
103- `%TELNETPORT` - Port number of the telnet server
104- `%NOLISTENPORT` - Port number where no service is listening
105- `%POP36PORT` - IPv6 port number of the POP3 server
106- `%POP3PORT` - Port number of the POP3 server
107- `%POSIX_PWD` - Current directory somewhat mingw friendly
108- `%PROXYPORT` - Port number of the HTTP proxy
109- `%PWD` - Current directory
110- `%RTSP6PORT` - IPv6 port number of the RTSP server
111- `%RTSPPORT` - Port number of the RTSP server
112- `%SMBPORT` - Port number of the SMB server
113- `%SMBSPORT` - Port number of the SMBS server
114- `%SMTP6PORT` - IPv6 port number of the SMTP server
115- `%SMTPPORT` - Port number of the SMTP server
116- `%SOCKSPORT` - Port number of the SOCKS4/5 server
117- `%SRCDIR` - Full path to the source dir
118- `%SSHPORT` - Port number of the SCP/SFTP server
119- `%SSHSRVMD5` - MD5 of SSH server's public key
120- `%SSH_PWD` - Current directory friendly for the SSH server
121- `%TFTP6PORT` - IPv6 port number of the TFTP server
122- `%TFTPPORT` - Port number of the TFTP server
123- `%USER` - Login ID of the user running the test
124- `%VERSION` - the full version number of the tested curl
125
126# `<testcase>`
127
128Each test is always specified entirely within the testcase tag. Each test case
129is split up in four main sections: `info`, `reply`, `client` and `verify`.
130
131- **info** provides information about the test case
132
133- **reply** is used for the server to know what to send as a reply for the
134requests curl sends
135
136- **client** defines how the client should behave
137
138- **verify** defines how to verify that the data stored after a command has
139been run ended up correctly
140
141Each main section has a number of available subsections that can be specified,
142that will be checked/used if specified.
143
144## `<info>`
145
146### `<keywords>`
147A newline-separated list of keywords describing what this test case uses and
148tests. Try to use an already used keyword.  These keywords will be used for
149statistical/informational purposes and for choosing or skipping classes
150of tests.  "Keywords" must begin with an alphabetic character, "-", "["
151or "{" and may actually consist of multiple words separated by spaces
152which are treated together as a single identifier.
153
154## `<reply>`
155
156### `<data [nocheck="yes"] [sendzero="yes"] [base64="yes"] [hex="yes"]>`
157
158data to be sent to the client on its request and later verified that it
159arrived safely. Set `nocheck="yes"` to prevent the test script from verifying
160the arrival of this data.
161
162If the data contains `swsclose` anywhere within the start and end tag, and
163this is a HTTP test, then the connection will be closed by the server after
164this response is sent. If not, the connection will be kept persistent.
165
166If the data contains `swsbounce` anywhere within the start and end tag, the
167HTTP server will detect if this is a second request using the same test and
168part number and will then increase the part number with one. This is useful
169for auth tests and similar.
170
171`sendzero=yes` means that the (FTP) server will "send" the data even if the
172size is zero bytes. Used to verify curl's behaviour on zero bytes transfers.
173
174`base64=yes` means that the data provided in the test-file is a chunk of data
175encoded with base64. It is the only way a test case can contain binary
176data. (This attribute can in fact be used on any section, but it doesn't make
177much sense for other sections than "data").
178
179`hex=yes` means that the data is a sequence of hex pairs. It will get decoded
180and used as "raw" data.
181
182For FTP file listings, the `<data>` section will be used *only* if you make
183sure that there has been a CWD done first to a directory named `test-[num]`
184where [num] is the test case number. Otherwise the ftp server can't know from
185which test file to load the list content.
186
187### `<dataNUM>`
188
189Send back this contents instead of the <data> one. The num is set by:
190
191 - The test number in the request line is >10000 and this is the remainder
192   of [test case number]%10000.
193 - The request was HTTP and included digest details, which adds 1000 to NUM
194 - If a HTTP request is NTLM type-1, it adds 1001 to num
195 - If a HTTP request is NTLM type-3, it adds 1002 to num
196 - If a HTTP request is Basic and num is already >=1000, it adds 1 to num
197 - If a HTTP request is Negotiate, num gets incremented by one for each
198   request with Negotiate authorization header on the same test case.
199
200Dynamically changing num in this way allows the test harness to be used to
201test authentication negotiation where several different requests must be sent
202to complete a transfer. The response to each request is found in its own data
203section.  Validating the entire negotiation sequence can be done by specifying
204a datacheck section.
205
206### `<connect>`
207The connect section is used instead of the 'data' for all CONNECT
208requests. The remainder of the rules for the data section then apply but with
209a connect prefix.
210
211### `<datacheck [mode="text"] [nonewline="yes"]>`
212if the data is sent but this is what should be checked afterwards. If
213`nonewline=yes` is set, runtests will cut off the trailing newline from the
214data before comparing with the one actually received by the client.
215
216Use the `mode="text"` attribute if the output is in text mode on platforms
217that have a text/binary difference.
218
219### `<datacheckNUM [nonewline="yes"] [mode="text"]>`
220The contents of numbered datacheck sections are appended to the non-numbered
221one.
222
223### `<size>`
224number to return on a ftp SIZE command (set to -1 to make this command fail)
225
226### `<mdtm>`
227what to send back if the client sends a (FTP) MDTM command, set to -1 to
228have it return that the file doesn't exist
229
230### `<postcmd>`
231special purpose server-command to control its behavior *after* the
232reply is sent
233For HTTP/HTTPS, these are supported:
234
235`wait [secs]` - Pause for the given time
236
237### `<servercmd>`
238Special-commands for the server.
239
240The first line of this file will always be set to `Testnum [number]` by the
241test script, to allow servers to read that to know what test the client is
242about to issue.
243
244#### For FTP/SMTP/POP/IMAP
245
246- `REPLY [command] [return value] [response string]` - Changes how the server
247  responds to the [command]. [response string] is evaluated as a perl string,
248  so it can contain embedded \r\n, for example. There's a special [command]
249  named "welcome" (without quotes) which is the string sent immediately on
250  connect as a welcome.
251- `REPLYLF` (like above but sends the response terminated with LF-only and not
252   CRLF)
253- `COUNT [command] [num]` - Do the `REPLY` change for `[command]` only `[num]`
254  times and then go back to the built-in approach
255- `DELAY [command] [secs]` - Delay responding to this command for the given
256  time
257- `RETRWEIRDO` - Enable the "weirdo" RETR case when multiple response lines
258   appear at once when a file is transferred
259- `RETRNOSIZE` - Make sure the RETR response doesn't contain the size of the
260  file
261- `NOSAVE` - Don't actually save what is received
262- `SLOWDOWN` - Send FTP responses with 0.01 sec delay between each byte
263- `PASVBADIP` - makes PASV send back an illegal IP in its 227 response
264- `CAPA [capabilities]` - Enables support for and specifies a list of space
265   separated capabilities to return to the client for the IMAP `CAPABILITY`,
266   POP3 `CAPA` and SMTP `EHLO` commands
267- `AUTH [mechanisms]` - Enables support for SASL authentication and specifies
268   a list of space separated mechanisms for IMAP, POP3 and SMTP
269- `STOR [msg]` respond with this instead of default after `STOR`
270
271#### For HTTP/HTTPS
272
273- `auth_required` if this is set and a POST/PUT is made without auth, the
274  server will NOT wait for the full request body to get sent
275- `idle` - do nothing after receiving the request, just "sit idle"
276- `stream` - continuously send data to the client, never-ending
277- `writedelay: [secs]` delay this amount between reply packets
278- `skip: [num]` - instructs the server to ignore reading this many bytes from
279  a PUT or POST request
280- `rtp: part [num] channel [num] size [num]` - stream a fake RTP packet for
281  the given part on a chosen channel with the given payload size
282- `connection-monitor` - When used, this will log `[DISCONNECT]` to the
283  `server.input` log when the connection is disconnected.
284- `upgrade` - when an HTTP upgrade header is found, the server will upgrade to
285  http2
286- `swsclose` - instruct server to close connection after response
287- `no-expect` - don't read the request body if Expect: is present
288
289#### For TFTP
290`writedelay: [secs]` delay this amount between reply packets (each packet
291  being 512 bytes payload)
292
293## `<client>`
294
295### `<server>`
296What server(s) this test case requires/uses. Available servers:
297
298- `file`
299- `ftp-ipv6`
300- `ftp`
301- `ftps`
302- `http-ipv6`
303- `http-proxy`
304- `http-unix`
305- `http/2`
306- `http`
307- `https`
308- `httptls+srp-ipv6`
309- `httptls+srp`
310- `imap`
311- `mqtt`
312- `none`
313- `pop3`
314- `rtsp-ipv6`
315- `rtsp`
316- `scp`
317- `sftp`
318- `smtp`
319- `socks4`
320- `socks5`
321
322Give only one per line.  This subsection is mandatory.
323
324### `<features>`
325A list of features that MUST be present in the client/library for this test to
326be able to run. If a required feature is not present then the test will be
327SKIPPED.
328
329Alternatively a feature can be prefixed with an exclamation mark to indicate a
330feature is NOT required. If the feature is present then the test will be
331SKIPPED.
332
333Features testable here are:
334
335- `alt-svc`
336- `cookies`
337- `crypto`
338- `debug`
339- `DoH`
340- `getrlimit`
341- `GnuTLS`
342- `GSS-API`
343- `HTTP-auth`
344- `http/2`
345- `idn`
346- `ipv6`
347- `Kerberos`
348- `large_file`
349- `ld_preload`
350- `libz`
351- `manual`
352- `Metalink`
353- `Mime`
354- `netrc`
355- `NSS`
356- `NTLM`
357- `OpenSSL`
358- `parsedate`
359- `proxy`
360- `PSL`
361- `Schannel`
362- `shuffle-dns`
363- `socks`
364- `SPNEGO`
365- `SSL`
366- `SSLpinning`
367- `SSPI`
368- `threaded-resolver`
369- `TLS-SRP`
370- `TrackMemory`
371- `typecheck`
372- `unittest`
373- `unix-sockets`
374- `verbose-strings`
375- `win32`
376
377as well as each protocol that curl supports.  A protocol only needs to be
378specified if it is different from the server (useful when the server
379is `none`).
380
381### `<killserver>`
382Using the same syntax as in `<server>` but when mentioned here these servers
383are explicitly KILLED when this test case is completed. Only use this if there
384is no other alternatives. Using this of course requires subsequent tests to
385restart servers.
386
387### `<precheck>`
388A command line that if set gets run by the test script before the test. If an
389output is displayed by the command or if the return code is non-zero, the test
390will be skipped and the (single-line) output will be displayed as reason for
391not running the test.
392
393### `<postcheck>`
394A command line that if set gets run by the test script after the test. If
395the command exists with a non-zero status code, the test will be considered
396to have failed.
397
398### `<tool>`
399Name of tool to invoke instead of "curl". This tool must be built and exist
400either in the libtest/ directory (if the tool name starts with 'lib') or in
401the unit/ directory (if the tool name starts with 'unit').
402
403### `<name>`
404Brief test case description, shown when the test runs.
405
406### `<setenv>`
407    variable1=contents1
408    variable2=contents2
409
410Set the given environment variables to the specified value before the actual
411command is run. They are cleared again after the command has been run.
412
413### `<command [option="no-output/no-include/force-output/binary-trace"] [timeout="secs"][delay="secs"][type="perl/shell"]>`
414Command line to run.
415
416Note that the URL that gets passed to the server actually controls what data
417that is returned. The last slash in the URL must be followed by a number. That
418number (N) will be used by the test-server to load test case N and return the
419data that is defined within the `<reply><data></data></reply>` section.
420
421If there's no test number found above, the HTTP test server will use the
422number following the last dot in the given hostname (made so that a CONNECT
423can still pass on test number) so that "foo.bar.123" gets treated as test case
424123. Alternatively, if an IPv6 address is provided to CONNECT, the last
425hexadecimal group in the address will be used as the test number! For example
426the address "[1234::ff]" would be treated as test case 255.
427
428Set `type="perl"` to write the test case as a perl script. It implies that
429there's no memory debugging and valgrind gets shut off for this test.
430
431Set `type="shell"` to write the test case as a shell script. It implies that
432there's no memory debugging and valgrind gets shut off for this test.
433
434Set `option="no-output"` to prevent the test script to slap on the `--output`
435argument that directs the output to a file. The `--output` is also not added
436if the verify/stdout section is used.
437
438Set `option="force-output"` to make use of `--output` even when the test is
439otherwise written to verify stdout.
440
441Set `option="no-include"` to prevent the test script to slap on the
442`--include` argument.
443
444Set `option="binary-trace"` to use `--trace` instead of `--trace-ascii` for
445tracing.  Suitable for binary-oriented protocols such as MQTT.
446
447Set `timeout="secs"` to override default server logs advisor read lock
448timeout.  This timeout is used by the test harness, once that the command has
449completed execution, to wait for the test server to write out server side log
450files and remove the lock that advised not to read them. The "secs" parameter
451is the not negative integer number of seconds for the timeout. This `timeout`
452attribute is documented for completeness sake, but is deep test harness stuff
453and only needed for very singular and specific test cases. Avoid using it.
454
455Set `delay="secs"` to introduce a time delay once that the command has
456completed execution and before the `<postcheck>` section runs. The "secs"
457parameter is the not negative integer number of seconds for the delay. This
458'delay' attribute is intended for very specific test cases, and normally not
459needed.
460
461### `<file name="log/filename" [nonewline="yes"]>`
462This creates the named file with this content before the test case is run,
463which is useful if the test case needs a file to act on.
464
465If 'nonewline="yes"` is used, the created file will have the final newline
466stripped off.
467
468### `<stdin [nonewline="yes"]>`
469Pass this given data on stdin to the tool.
470
471If 'nonewline' is set, we will cut off the trailing newline of this given data
472before comparing with the one actually received by the client
473
474## `<verify>`
475### `<errorcode>`
476numerical error code curl is supposed to return. Specify a list of accepted
477error codes by separating multiple numbers with comma. See test 237 for an
478example.
479
480### `<strip>`
481One regex per line that is removed from the protocol dumps before the
482comparison is made. This is very useful to remove dependencies on dynamically
483changing protocol data such as port numbers or user-agent strings.
484
485### `<strippart>`
486One perl op per line that operates on the protocol dump. This is pretty
487advanced. Example: `s/^EPRT .*/EPRT stripped/`.
488
489### `<protocol [nonewline="yes"]>`
490
491the protocol dump curl should transmit, if 'nonewline' is set, we will cut off
492the trailing newline of this given data before comparing with the one actually
493sent by the client The `<strip>` and `<strippart>` rules are applied before
494comparisons are made.
495
496### `<proxy [nonewline="yes"]>`
497
498The protocol dump curl should transmit to a HTTP proxy (when the http-proxy
499server is used), if 'nonewline' is set, we will cut off the trailing newline
500of this given data before comparing with the one actually sent by the client
501The `<strip>` and `<strippart>` rules are applied before comparisons are made.
502
503### `<stderr [mode="text"] [nonewline="yes"]>`
504This verifies that this data was passed to stderr.
505
506Use the mode="text" attribute if the output is in text mode on platforms that
507have a text/binary difference.
508
509If 'nonewline' is set, we will cut off the trailing newline of this given data
510before comparing with the one actually received by the client
511
512### `<stdout [mode="text"] [nonewline="yes"]>`
513This verifies that this data was passed to stdout.
514
515Use the mode="text" attribute if the output is in text mode on platforms that
516have a text/binary difference.
517
518If 'nonewline' is set, we will cut off the trailing newline of this given data
519before comparing with the one actually received by the client
520
521### `<file name="log/filename" [mode="text"]>`
522The file's contents must be identical to this after the test is complete.  Use
523the mode="text" attribute if the output is in text mode on platforms that have
524a text/binary difference.
525
526### `<file1>`
5271 to 4 can be appended to 'file' to compare more files.
528
529### `<file2>`
530
531### `<file3>`
532
533### `<file4>`
534
535### `<stripfile>`
536One perl op per line that operates on the output file or stdout before being
537compared with what is stored in the test file. This is pretty
538advanced. Example: "s/^EPRT .*/EPRT stripped/"
539
540### `<stripfile1>`
5411 to 4 can be appended to 'stripfile' to strip the corresponding <fileN>
542content
543
544### `<stripfile2>`
545
546### `<stripfile3>`
547
548### `<stripfile4>`
549
550### `<upload>`
551the contents of the upload data curl should have sent
552
553### `<valgrind>`
554disable - disables the valgrind log check for this test
555