CTest

CTest is a test driver that ships with CMake. It is designed to run automated tests for CMake-based projects and to report their results in a consistent, machine-readable way. CTest acts as an orchestrator for test execution within a build tree and is commonly used in local development as well as in continuous integration workflows.

Tests are defined in a CMake project using the add_test command, typically after enabling testing with enable_testing(). Once a project is configured and built, ctest can be invoked from the build directory to execute the tests. CTest runs each test, interprets its exit status, and reports whether the test passed, failed, or was skipped. It can capture test output, show failures on demand, and generate results suitable for downstream processing, including XML that can be consumed by dashboards.

Features include running tests in parallel, selecting tests by name or regex, and controlling execution with timeouts and environment variables. CTest supports test labels, dependencies, and fixtures to model more complex suites.

With CDash integration, CTest can submit test results to a dashboard server, enabling centralized visibility of test status over time.

Because it is part of CMake, CTest is cross-platform and works on Windows, Linux, and macOS, supporting many compilers and build configurations.