Hi Branden,
> > All that is needed is to
> >
> > 1) Change the top-level Makefile.am
> >
> > AM_TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
> > abs_top_srcdir=$(abs_top_srcdir) \
> > abs_top_builddir=$(abs_top_builddir) \
> > export abs_top_srcdir abs_top_builddir;
> >
> > →
> >
> > AM_TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = \
> > abs_top_srcdir=$(abs_top_srcdir) \
> > abs_top_builddir=$(abs_top_builddir) \
> > GREP=$(GREP) \
> > export abs_top_srcdir abs_top_builddir GREP;
> >
> > The configure-time finding for GREP will then be passed through
> > the environment.
>
> Ahhhh, haaaa. </TomBaker>
>
> Thanks for teaching me this about Automake!
>
> This brings the cost of change way down.
>
> > 2) Change the 203 tests that use 'grep' to use ${GREP} instead.
> > Or ${GREP:-grep} if you want to preserve the ability to run
> > individual tests without going through 'make check'.
>
> I do want that
A variant that does not require to list the default for each variable
and _still_ have the ability to run each set separately, without 'make',
is to substitute the values into a shell script called 'tests/init-env',
that is then sourced from each test. As done in GNU gettext:
https://gitweb.git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=gettext.git;a=blob;f=gettext-tools/tests/init-env.in
https://gitweb.git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=gettext.git;a=blob;f=gettext-tools/configure.ac;h=7fe2d28a480328a4a361abdd8ab31f8313392a7c;hb=HEAD
line 860
https://gitweb.git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=gettext.git;a=blob;f=gettext-tools/tests/intl-1;h=f9bace6a3c3e3e2dda542a1385811321fdc7d7e3;hb=HEAD
line 2
https://gitweb.git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=gnulib.git;a=blob;f=tests/init.sh;h=e2e4ce8df71a487df10de185ef6ae8c09b3e6f4b;hb=HEAD
line 745
https://gitweb.git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=gettext.git;a=blob;f=gettext-tools/tests/init.cfg;h=fc1328837770a66c21cbd7fff8c07a8e3eda71b6;hb=HEAD
line 4
As you can see, it's a little more involved, but it keeps the references
to the many variables short in the tests files.
Bruno
