LSpec

A testing framework for Lean 4, inspired by Haskell's Hspec package.

Usage

Composing tests

Sequences of tests are represented by the TestSeq datatype. In order to instantiate terms of TestSeq, use the test helper function:

#check
  test "Nat equality" (4 = 4) $
  test "Nat inequality" (4 ≠ 5)
-- test "Nat equality" (4 = 4) (test "Nat inequality" (4 ≠ 5)) : TestSeq

test consumes a description a proposition and a next test The proposition, however, must have its own instance of Testable.

You can also collect TestSeq into conceptual test groups by using the helper function group:

#check
  test "Nat equality" (42 = 42) $
  group "manual group" $
    test "Nat equality inside group" (4 = 4)

The Testable class

Testable is how Lean is instructed to decide whether certain propositions are resolved as true or false.

This is an example of a simple instance for decidability of equalities:

instance (x y : α) [DecidableEq α] [Repr α] : Testable (x = y) :=
  if h : x = y then
    .isTrue h
  else
    .isFalse h s!"Not equal: {repr x} and {repr y}"

The custom failure message is optional.

There are more examples of Testable instances in LSpec/Instances.lean.

The user is, of course, free to provide their own instances.

Actually running the tests

The #lspec command

The #lspec command allows you to test interactively in a file.

Examples:

#lspec
  test "four equals four" (4 = 4) $
  test "five equals five" (5 = 5)
-- ✓ four equals four
-- ✓ five equals five

An important note is that a failing test will raise an error, interrupting the building process.

The lspecIO function

lspecIO is meant to be used in files to be compiled and integrated in a testing infrastructure, as shown soon.

def fourIO : IO Nat :=
  return 4

def fiveIO : IO Nat :=
  return 5

def main := do
  let four ← fourIO
  let five ← fiveIO
  lspecIO $
    test "fourIO equals 4" (four = 4) $
    test "fiveIO equals 5" (five = 5)

Integration with SlimCheck

There are 3 main typeclasses associated with any SlimCheck test:

• Shrinkable : The typeclass that takes a type a : α and returns a List α of elements which should be thought of as being "smaller" than a (in some sense dependent on the type α being considered).
• SampleableExt : The typeclass of a . This is roughly equivalent to QuickCheck's Arbitrary typeclass.
• Checkable : The property to be checked by SlimCheck must have a Checkable instance.

In order to use SlimCheck tests for custom data types, the user will need to implement instances of the typeclasses Shrinkable and SampleableExt for the custom types appearing in the properties being tested.

The module LSpec.SlimCheck.Checkable contains may of the useful definitions and instances that can be used to derive a Checkable instance for a wide variety of properties given just the instances above. If all else fails, the user can also define the Checkable instance by hand.

Once this is done a Slimcheck test is evaluated in a similar way to LSpec tests:

#lspec check "add_comm" $ ∀ n m : Nat, n + m = m + n

#lspec check "add_comm" $ ∀ n m : Nat, n + m = m + m
-- × add_comm

-- ===================
-- Found problems!
-- n := 1
-- m := 0
-- issue: 1 = 0 does not hold
-- (0 shrinks)
-- -------------------

Setting up a testing infra

The LSpec package also provides a binary that runs test files automatically. Run lake exe lspec to build it (if it hasn't been built yet) and execute it.

The lspec binary searches for binary executables defined in lakefile.lean whose module name starts with "Tests". Then it builds and runs each of them.

For instance, suppose you want to run the test suites defined in Tests/F1.lean and Tests/Some/Dir/F2.lean. In this case, you need to add the following lines to your lakefile.lean:

lean_exe Tests.F1
lean_exe Tests.Some.Dir.F2

Running specific test suites

The lspec binary also accepts specific test suites as input. For example, you can call lake exe lspec Tests/Foo.lean Tests/Some/Bar.lean and it will build and run those.

This is particularly useful for running test suites locally.

Using LSpec on CI

To integrate LSpec to GitHub workflows, run lake exe lspec-ci branch1 branch2. The singleton containing main is the default branch list. lspec-ci will create a file .github/workflows/lspec.yml with the content:

name: "LSpec CI"
on:
  pull_request:
  push:
    branches:
      - <branch1>
      - <branch2>
      - ...
jobs:
  build:
    name: Build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: install elan
        run: |
          set -o pipefail
          curl -sSfL https://github.com/leanprover/elan/releases/download/v1.4.2/elan-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz | tar xz
          ./elan-init -y --default-toolchain none
          echo "$HOME/.elan/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: run LSpec binary
        run: lake exe lspec