A dead-simple, yet extensible, C and C++ unit testing framework.
Philosophy
Most test frameworks for C require a lot of boilerplate code to set up tests and test suites -- you need to create a main, then register new test suites, then register the tests within these suites, and finally call the right functions.
This gives the user great control, at the unfortunate cost of simplicity.
Criterion follows the KISS principle, while keeping the control the user would have with other frameworks:
- C99 and C++11 compatible.
- Tests are automatically registered when declared.
- Implements a xUnit framework structure.
- A default entry point is provided, no need to declare a main unless you want to do special handling.
- Test are isolated in their own process, crashes and signals can be reported and tested.
- Unified interface between C and C++: include the criterion header and it just works.
- Supports parameterized tests and theories.
- Progress and statistics can be followed in real time with report hooks.
- TAP output format can be enabled with an option.
- Runs on Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, and Windows (Compiling with MinGW GCC and Visual Studio 2015+).
Downloads
Packages
| Platform | Command |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu (>=21.04) / Debian (>=11) | apt-get install libcriterion-dev |
| Gentoo | emerge -a dev-libs/criterion |
| Arch Linux (AUR) | pacaur -S criterion |
| macOS | brew install criterion |
| Nix | nix-env -iA nixpkgs.criterion |
If you'd like to see Criterion included in your favorite distribution, please reach out to their package maintainers team.
Binary archives
Binary releases for Linux x86_64 are available on the release page.
If you have a different platform, you can still build the library from source.
Developer Resources
Documentation
An online documentation is available on ReadTheDocs (PDF | Zip | Epub)
Samples
Sample tests can be found in the sample directory.
- A simple test
- Using multiple suites
- Writing assertions
- Adding test fixtures
- Tests with signals
- Using report hooks
Getting help
| Channel | Description |
|---|---|
 |
Ask a question in GitHub discussions |
 |
Criterion mailing list on freelists.org |
Misc
Credits
Criterion is built with the following projects:
Logo made by Paul Bouigue.