Makefile.SH: Add 'test_regex_tests' as make target

[jkeenan]

With variant make-regex-tests. This runs make test_prep, then runs the harness over all the re/*.t ../ext/re/t/*.t tests you expect.

Today I was in a situation where I wanted to run all the customary tests exercising regular expressions. I vaguely recalled that we had a make target called make test_reonly and naively called:

$ sh ./Configure -des -Dusedevel && make test_reonly

But that ended with:

...
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/jkeenan/gitwork/perl2/ext/re'
cd t && (rm -f perl; /usr/bin/ln -s ../perl perl)
TEST_ARGS='re/*.t ../ext/re/t/*.t' PERL_TEST_HARNESS_ASAP=1 TESTFILE=harness  ./runtests choose
Can't locate File/Spec.pm in @INC (you may need to install the File::Spec module) (@INC entries checked: ../lib) at ../lib/TAP/Harness.pm line 7.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at ../lib/TAP/Harness.pm line 7.
Compilation failed in require at harness line 60.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at harness line 60.
make: *** [makefile:874: test_reonly] Error 2

I spent some time peering into Makefile.SH and noted that test_reonly had a dependency on test_prep_reonly but not on test_prep.

test_reonly test-reonly: test_prep_reonly
    TEST_ARGS='re/*.t ../ext/re/t/*.t' PERL_TEST_HARNESS_ASAP=1 TESTFILE=harness $(RUN_TESTS) choose

To make a long story short, I didn't get a DWIM result until I added this target with a patch:

$ gitshowf |cat
commit 8c4c47cb730dc3cb0a3790e43b997f99278f627d
Author:     James E Keenan <jamesekeenan@yahoo.com>
AuthorDate: Mon Aug 10 14:21:42 2026 -0400
Commit:     James E Keenan <jamesekeenan@yahoo.com>
CommitDate: Mon Aug 10 14:38:16 2026 -0400

    Makefile.SH: Add 'make_regex_tests'
    
    With variant 'make-regex-tests'.  This runs 'make test_prep', then runs
    the harness over all the 're/*.t ../ext/re/t/*.t' tests you expect.

diff --git a/Makefile.SH b/Makefile.SH
index 6351ef6630..d8b5f788ce 100755
--- a/Makefile.SH
+++ b/Makefile.SH
@@ -1697,6 +1697,9 @@ test_reonly test-reonly: test_prep_reonly
 test_porting test-porting: test_prep
 	TEST_ARGS='porting/*.t lib/diagnostics.t' TESTFILE=harness $(RUN_TESTS) choose
 
+test_regex_tests test-regex-tests: test_prep
+	TEST_ARGS='re/*.t ../ext/re/t/*.t' PERL_TEST_HARNESS_ASAP=1 TESTFILE=harness $(RUN_TESTS) choose
+
 !NO!SUBS!
 
 $spitshell>>$Makefile <<!GROK!THIS!

... which ends nicely with this:

re/uniprops10.t ............... ok                                      
re/uniprops06.t ............... ok                                      
re/uniprops07.t ............... ok                                      
re/uniprops08.t ............... ok                                      
re/uniprops09.t ............... ok       
All tests successful.
Files=89, Tests=558456, 25 wallclock secs (21.22 usr  0.66 sys + 81.37 cusr 14.89 csys = 118.14 CPU)
Result: PASS

Let's add this to Makefile.SH.

---

• This set of changes requires a perldelta entry, and I will submit in a later commit.

[tonycoz]

Wouldn't it be better to just fix test_reonly?

This could be by depending on test_prep as you've done.

Otherwise you could depend on the dynamic lib/auto/Cwd/Cwd.so object in the same way it depends on the dynamic re object.

I suspect that might be pushing your technical knowledge a bit.

(looking at it, I think test_reonly is just plain broken for static builds, or static_ext=re builds, but I don't think it's trying to handle that case.)

[jkeenan]

One change I'm considering in this pull request ...

The target name test_regex_tests seems verbose, as it repeats test. I think we could get by with just:

make test_regex

Thoughts?

[tonycoz]

test_reonly works just fine (as a name).

I still don't think we need another name here.

[jkeenan]

test_reonly works just fine (as a name).

I still don't think we need another name here.

@tonycoz, if you think that the existing test_reonly make target is broken, you should open a separate issue explaining what's wrong with it. That's not an argument I feel a need to take on at present. What I want is a target which you don't have to be a complete expert to understand and whose name is a reasonable description of what it does.