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new 287c749468 MINOR: [Docs][C++] Clarify ARROW_TEST_DATA requirement for
tests (#48789)
287c749468 is described below
commit 287c749468bb0254ca910a9053efd04834ec32d6
Author: meher745 <[email protected]>
AuthorDate: Fri Sep 4 17:30:30 2026 +0530
MINOR: [Docs][C++] Clarify ARROW_TEST_DATA requirement for tests (#48789)
### Rationale for this change
While setting up the C++ build on macOS, I encountered an IOError during
testing because ARROW_TEST_DATA and PARQUET_TEST_DATA were not set. The current
documentation lacks a clear warning that these exports are mandatory for a
successful test pass.
### What changes are included in this PR?
I added a .. note:: block to building.rst clarifying the need to initialize
submodules and export absolute paths for test data folders.
### Are these changes tested?
Yes, I built the documentation locally using Sphinx (make html) to verify
the formatting renders correctly.
### Are there any user-facing changes?
Yes, this updates the developer-facing documentation for C++ building.
Authored-by: Meher <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Nic Crane <[email protected]>
---
docs/source/developers/cpp/building.rst | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 19 insertions(+)
diff --git a/docs/source/developers/cpp/building.rst
b/docs/source/developers/cpp/building.rst
index 33530779f5..fb68152287 100644
--- a/docs/source/developers/cpp/building.rst
+++ b/docs/source/developers/cpp/building.rst
@@ -314,6 +314,25 @@ The unit tests are not built by default. After building,
one can also invoke
the unit tests using the ``ctest`` tool provided by CMake (note that ``test``
depends on ``python`` being available).
+.. note::
+ If you are building with tests (``-DARROW_BUILD_TESTS=ON``), you must ensure
+ the test data submodules are initialized and the environment variables
+ ``ARROW_TEST_DATA`` and ``PARQUET_TEST_DATA`` are set. Without these,
several
+ tests (especially IPC and Parquet tests) will fail with an ``IOError``.
+
+ To initialize submodules, run:
+
+ .. code-block:: shell
+
+ $ git submodule update --init --recursive
+
+ Then set the variables to the absolute paths of your testing data folders:
+
+ .. code-block:: shell
+
+ $ export ARROW_TEST_DATA="<absolute_path_to_arrow>/testing/data"
+ $ export
PARQUET_TEST_DATA="<absolute_path_to_arrow>/cpp/submodules/parquet-testing/data"
+
On some Linux distributions, running the test suite might require setting an
explicit locale. If you see any locale-related errors, try setting the
environment variable (which requires the ``locales`` package or equivalent):
