> I think that *if* there is going to be a change to the standards, then it should > be that both "check" and "test" should be targets, one being an alias of the other. > Make check has been used for over thirty years in makefiles, whereas I can only > think of one significant project where this is called "test". It would certainly > set a cat among the pigeons if we were to start removing the "check" target.
Being old doesn't mean it is good - for the reason I've written. But I do agree that removing it would be too radical. Creating a "test" alias would be good enough and effectively would marginalize "check" over time. Adding "make test" would lead to confusion, and breakage: should I use this or that, will "make check" or "make test" work? > The only argument that has been presented so far in this discussion, amounts to > "because me and my friends are used to it that way". "test" is known, from various tools and languages, by most programmers in the world, so it seems that your statement refers to usage of "check". And I also agree that it is minority, that's why I suggested to reconsider "test". I don't know what you base that on, "make check" is very well established, and known by everyone who has ever used the GNU build system. It is also been used by the GNU build system for the last billion years to invoke a test suite. On the other hand, I don't think I have ever invoked "make test" -- my bubble is not your bubble. Standard is not mutually exclusive with evolution. Good standards should adapt to the changing world. "check" might have been good 30 years ago, because there were no other tools, but now the situation is totally different and only "a group of people" use "check". I've listed jut a few tools, but they are used by _most_ programmers in the world. How has "make check" become obsolete? It runs a test suite, that is it. "make test" does the exact same thing, but under a different name. One has been in use for 30 year by us, the other one has not and is in my experience never used. Nor is one more intuitive than the other.
