# testing gitolite

Here's how to *run* the tests.

<font color="red">**WARNING: they will clobber lots of things in your `$HOME`,
so be sure to use a throwaway userid**.</font>

    git clone git://github.com/sitaramc/gitolite
    cd gitolite
    git checkout -f g3
    prove

Gitolite's test suite is mostly written using [tsh][] -- the "testing shell".
Take a look at some of the scripts and you will see what it looks like.  It
has a few quirks and nuances; if you really care, email me.

[tsh]: http://github.com/sitaramc/tsh

The tests also use a somewhat convoluted system of environment variables in
order to run *entirely* as a local user, without going through ssh at all.
This lets a complete test suite run in about a fifth or less of the time it
would otherwise take.

If you think that defeats the purpose of the testing, you haven't read
[this][auth] yet.