---
name: "dh_auto_test"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "debhelper"
version: "13.24.2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dh_auto_test"
---

# dh\_auto\_test(1)

automatically runs a package's test suites

## NAME

dh\_auto\_test - automatically runs a package's test suites

## SYNOPSIS

**dh\_auto\_test** \[*build system options*\] \[*debhelper options*\] \[**--** *params*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**dh\_auto\_test** is a debhelper program that tries to automatically run a package's test suite. It does so by running the appropriate command for the build system it detects the package uses. For example, if there's a Makefile and it contains a **test** or **check** target, then this is done by running **make** (or **MAKE**, if the environment variable is set). If the test suite fails, the command will exit nonzero. If there's no test suite, it will exit zero without doing anything.

This is intended to work for about 90% of packages with a test suite. If it doesn't work, you're encouraged to skip using **dh\_auto\_test** at all, and just run the test suite manually.

## OPTIONS

See "**BUILD SYSTEM OPTIONS**" in [**debhelper**(7)](/debhelper/7.md) for a list of common build system selection and control options.

- **--** *params*

  Pass *params* to the program that is run, after the parameters that **dh\_auto\_test** usually passes.

## NOTES

If the **DEB\_BUILD\_OPTIONS** environment variable contains **nocheck**, no tests will be performed.

## SEE ALSO

[**debhelper**(7)](/debhelper/7.md)

This program is a part of debhelper.

## AUTHOR

Joey Hess \<joeyh@debian.org\>