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(autoconf.info)Guidelines

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Guidelines for Test Programs
----------------------------

   Test programs should not write anything to the standard output.  They
should return 0 if the test succeeds, nonzero otherwise, so that success
can be distinguished easily from a core dump or other failure;
segmentation violations and other failures produce a nonzero exit
status.  Test programs should `exit', not `return', from `main',
because on some systems (old Suns, at least) the argument to `return'
in `main' is ignored.

   Test programs can use `#if' or `#ifdef' to check the values of
preprocessor macros defined by tests that have already run.  For
example, if you call `AC_HEADER_STDC', then later on in `configure.in'
you can have a test program that includes an ANSI C header file
conditionally:

     #if STDC_HEADERS
     # include <stdlib.h>
     #endif

   If a test program needs to use or create a data file, give it a name
that starts with `conftest', such as `conftestdata'.  The `configure'
script cleans up by running `rm -rf conftest*' after running test
programs and if the script is interrupted.