This looks very similar to how I test my configuration management tool Holo: I just run the compiled binary in a chroot and compare its output and the resulting filesystem tree to the recorded expectation. [1]<p>So no unit tests at all. I think that unit tests work very well for pure functions, but their utility decreases the more side effects your code has. Also, unit tests usually just add confusion when the unit tested is really an internal implementation detail, rather than refering to some object in the application's or library's external domain model.<p>[1] <a href="https://github.com/holocm/holo/tree/master/test" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/holocm/holo/tree/master/test</a> for the core parts
> I assume that the reason why most of these failing tests are failing is not a regression in core functionality of Make but rather because of new features were added to GNU Make since 2006.<p>There were a number of bugs in the 3.81 release that I assume they now have tests for, since 4.x has been rock solid. (Off the top of my head, if you made a certain shape in the dependency graph with .PHONY targets, then .DELETE_ON_ERROR stopped working)
> GNU Make’s source code is available from Github repository<p>It's not GitHub, it's Savannah, as just linked literally 2 lines below :<p>> <a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=make" rel="nofollow">http://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=make</a>