PHPUnit PHAR: Download and Run Tests¶

This guide shows how to run project tests with a fixed PHP binary:

PHP binary: /home/xc_vm/bin/php/bin/php (the bundled PHP on a VDS)
PHPUnit binary: local tools/.bin/phpunit.phar

Local vs VDS. The commands here use the VDS bundled PHP. When running on your own machine (see Development Workflow), use your local PHP 8.1 instead: php tools/.bin/phpunit.phar -c tests/phpunit.xml.dist. CI runs the same suite through the committed config, so a green local run should match CI.

Why this setup¶

phpunit.phar does not include PHP. It always runs through a PHP interpreter.

If you run ./phpunit.phar directly, it may use another php from PATH. Use the explicit binary path to keep runtime consistent.

Test layout & conventions¶

Tests live outside src/, under tests/:

tests/
├── phpunit.xml.dist        # config: suite "XC_VM Unit", bootstrap=bootstrap.php (PHPUnit 10.5)
├── bootstrap.php           # locates vendor/autoload.php + defines constants (MAIN_HOME, PHP_BIN, paths)
├── Support/                # test helpers (e.g. TestDb.php)
└── Unit/                   # the "XC_VM Unit" suite — one *Test.php per unit
    ├── CoreEnumTest.php
    ├── EventDispatcherTest.php
    └── ...

Conventions: a test class is <Thing>Test in tests/Unit/<Thing>Test.php, extends PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase. bootstrap.php wires the Composer autoloader (so XcVm\… classes resolve — this needs src/vendor/, i.e. run make dev-tools first) and defines the runtime constants tests rely on. A minimal test:

<?php
namespace XcVm\Tests\Unit;

use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
use XcVm\Core\Enum\BootContext;

final class MyThingTest extends TestCase
{
    public function testItWorks(): void
    {
        self::assertSame('admin', BootContext::Admin->value);
    }
}

If classes fail to load (Class "XcVm\…" not found), src/vendor/ is missing the autoloader — run make dev-tools.

1. Check PHP¶

/home/xc_vm/bin/php/bin/php -v

2. Download PHPUnit PHAR¶

This project is pinned to PHP 8.1, so use PHPUnit 10 (10.5). Do not fetch phpunit-11.phar — PHPUnit 11 requires PHP 8.2+ and will refuse to run on 8.1.

cd /home/xc_vm
mkdir -p tools/.bin
wget -O tools/.bin/phpunit.phar https://phar.phpunit.de/phpunit-10.phar
chmod +x tools/.bin/phpunit.phar

3. Verify PHPUnit¶

/home/xc_vm/bin/php/bin/php tools/.bin/phpunit.phar --version

4. Run all tests¶

Project config file:

tests/phpunit.xml.dist

Run:

/home/xc_vm/bin/php/bin/php tools/.bin/phpunit.phar -c tests/phpunit.xml.dist

5. Run a single test file¶

/home/xc_vm/bin/php/bin/php tools/.bin/phpunit.phar -c tests/phpunit.xml.dist tests/Unit/GitHubReleasesTest.php

6. Show which test is running now¶

Use debug mode to print the currently executing test:

/home/xc_vm/bin/php/bin/php tools/.bin/phpunit.phar -c tests/phpunit.xml.dist --debug --no-progress

7. Optional: Coverage output¶

If xdebug or pcov is installed:

XDEBUG_MODE=coverage /home/xc_vm/bin/php/bin/php tools/.bin/phpunit.phar -c tests/phpunit.xml.dist --coverage-text

Security note¶

Do not commit phpunit.phar into the repository. Keep it local (tools/.bin) and update independently.

File	Role
`tools/.bin/phpunit.phar`	Pinned PHPUnit binary
`tests/phpunit.xml.dist`	PHPUnit configuration
`tests/bootstrap.php`	Test bootstrap (Composer autoloader + constants)