Syntax error when using check unit testing framework with C99

Question

I'm running into a weird syntax error when I try to compile tests using the check unit testing framework with the -std=c99 flag.

So, I'm trying to compile the example.c:

#include <check.h>
START_TEST(example) {
  fail();
} END_TEST
int main(int argc, char** argv){ return 0; }

using autotools, with Makefile.am:

check_PROGRAMS = example
example_SOURCES = example.c
example_CFLAGS = @CHECK_CFLAGS@ -Wall -pedantic -std=c99
example_LDADD = @CHECK_LIBS@

and configure.ac:

AC_PREREQ([2.61])
AC_INIT([example], [1.0.0], [noreply@here.com])
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign -Wall -Werror])
AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([example.c])

AC_PROG_CC
AM_PROG_CC_C_O
AC_PROG_RANLIB

PKG_CHECK_MODULES([CHECK], [check >= 0.9.5])

AC_HEADER_STDC
AC_CHECK_HEADERS([stdlib.h string.h unistd.h])

AC_C_CONST
AC_TYPE_MODE_T
AC_TYPE_OFF_T
AC_TYPE_SIZE_T
AC_TYPE_UINT32_T

AC_FUNC_FORK
AC_FUNC_MALLOC
AC_FUNC_REALLOC
AC_FUNC_STAT
AC_CHECK_FUNCS([memset])

AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
AC_OUTPUT

However I get this weird error:

% make check
make  example
gcc -DPACKAGE_NAME=\"example\" -DPACKAGE_TARNAME=\"example\" -DPACKAGE_VERSION=\"1.0.0\" -DPACKAGE_STRING=\"example\ 1.0.0\" -DPACKAGE_BUGREPORT=\"noreply@here.com\" -DPACKAGE=\"example\" -DVERSION=\"1.0.0\" -DSTDC_HEADERS=1 -DHAVE_SYS_TYPES_H=1 -DHAVE_SYS_STAT_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_STRINGS_H=1 -DHAVE_INTTYPES_H=1 -DHAVE_STDINT_H=1 -DHAVE_UNISTD_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_UNISTD_H=1 -DHAVE_FORK=1 -DHAVE_VFORK=1 -DHAVE_WORKING_VFORK=1 -DHAVE_WORKING_FORK=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_MALLOC=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1 -DHAVE_REALLOC=1 -DHAVE_MEMSET=1 -I.    -I/opt/local/include   -std=c99 -g -O2 -MT example-example.o -MD -MP -MF .deps/example-example.Tpo -c -o example-example.o `test -f 'example.c' || echo './'`example.c
example.c: In function 'example':
example.c:3: error: parse error before ',' token
make[1]: *** [example-example.o] Error 1
make: *** [check-am] Error 2

So it's finding a syntax error in fail() (which I suppose check implements as a macro). If I remove the -std=c99 flag, the syntax error goes away, and it works fine.

Is there a way I can fix this? I definitely want -std=c99 so that my use (and check.h's use) of variadic macros is ok'd by the compiler.

Answer 1

The basic tutorial on that site always shows the fail called between START_TEST and END_TEST macros. They most likely set some things up for these macros. Done.

Now all you need to get that to compile is give fail() an argument.

It's defined like this:

#define fail(...) _fail_unless(0, __FILE__, __LINE__, "Failed" , ## __VA_ARGS__, NULL)

Which will have a stray , if no argument is given.