X-Git-Url: https://git.notmuchmail.org/git?p=notmuch;a=blobdiff_plain;f=test%2FREADME;h=44ff653aa2bd5b56c73b795ee06341b7d87f7bba;hp=2e757e0eeca8d1c7641848bbb744ee681008fb9c;hb=8ae753f30fb90419c50b9bb1fc87618dd1663bc9;hpb=7bf1f6e85a1af283c62fcf5f305b762e20706a42

diff --git a/test/README b/test/README
index 2e757e0e..44ff653a 100644
--- a/test/README
+++ b/test/README
@@ -6,6 +6,19 @@ When fixing bugs or enhancing notmuch, you are strongly encouraged to
 add tests in this directory to cover what you are trying to fix or
 enhance.
 
+Prerequisites
+-------------
+Some tests require external dependencies to run. Without them, they
+will be skipped, or (rarely) marked failed. Please install these, so
+that you know if you break anything.
+
+  - dtach(1)
+  - emacs(1)
+  - emacsclient(1)
+  - gdb(1)
+  - gpg(1)
+  - python(1)
+
 Running Tests
 -------------
 The easiest way to run tests is to say "make test", (or simply run the
@@ -56,6 +69,13 @@ can be specified as follows:
 
 	make test OPTIONS="--verbose"
 
+You can choose an emacs binary to run the tests in one of the
+following ways.
+
+	TEST_EMACS=my-special-emacs make test
+	TEST_EMACS=my-special-emacs ./emacs
+	make test TEST_EMACS=my-special-emacs
+
 Skipping Tests
 --------------
 If, for any reason, you need to skip one or more tests, you can do so
@@ -188,8 +208,8 @@ library for your script to use.
    is to summarize successes and failures in the test script and
    exit with an appropriate error code.
 
-There are also a number of mail-specific functions which are useful in
-writing tests:
+There are also a number of notmuch-specific auxiliary functions and
+variables which are useful in writing tests:
 
   generate_message
 
@@ -213,3 +233,15 @@ writing tests:
     will initialize the mail database to a known state of 50 sample
     messages, (culled from the early history of the notmuch mailing
     list).
+
+  notmuch_counter_reset
+  $notmuch_counter_command
+  notmuch_counter_value
+
+    These allow to count how many times notmuch binary is called.
+    notmuch_counter_reset() function generates a script that counts
+    how many times it is called and resets the counter to zero.  The
+    function sets $notmuch_counter_command variable to the path to the
+    generated script that should be called instead of notmuch to do
+    the counting.  The notmuch_counter_value() function prints the
+    current counter value.