Reduce test compile times (spike)

Two changes roughly halve the CPU time needed to build the unit tests
(clang 21: ~300 s -> ~150 s, GCC 16: ~750-820 s -> ~395-420 s, Debug):

- Move the C++14/17/20-dependent tests into separate
  unit-<name>-cpp<N>.cpp files. A test file is built for every standard
  whose JSON_HAS_CPP_<N> macro it mentions, so far whole large files were
  rebuilt for C++14/17/20 because of a few #ifdef sections. The main files
  are now built for C++11 only; the ci_test_*_cxx<N> jobs still build
  every file for every standard.

- Add the CMake option JSON_TestUnityBuild (ON by default, OFF with
  MinGW): compatible test files are compiled in batches as one
  translation unit so they share the template instantiations of the
  library. Each file keeps its own CTest test, which runs the batch
  executable filtered to that file's test cases. The binary-format tests
  form an explicit group; the rest is batched by JSON_TestUnityBatchSize.

Fix the name clashes that merging files exposed, document the rules for
test files in tests/README.md, and point CONTRIBUTING.md to it.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
This commit is contained in:
Niels Lohmann committed 2026-10-09 16:49:45 +02:00
1 parent d33068da73
commit 993e37e7ec
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@@ -235,6 +235,17 @@ Build the unit tests against the [simdutf](https://github.com/simdutf/simdutf) U
its version is set by the cache variable `JSON_SIMDUTF_VERSION`. This option is `OFF` by default. Depends on
`JSON_BuildTests`.
### `JSON_TestUnityBuild`
Build the unit tests in batches of several test files per executable to speed up compilation: the files of a batch are
compiled as one translation unit, so the template instantiations of the library are shared. Every test file still gets
its own CTest test (e.g., `test-foo_cpp11`), which runs only the test cases of that file from the shared executable.
This option is `ON` by default (and `OFF` with MinGW). Set it to `OFF` to get one executable per test file, e.g., when
debugging a single file. The number of files per executable is set by the cache variable `JSON_TestUnityBatchSize`
(default: `8`). Related test files (e.g., all binary formats) are grouped explicitly in `tests/CMakeLists.txt`; each
group is compiled as one executable per C++ standard regardless of the batch size, and only the remaining files are
batched by size. Depends on `JSON_BuildTests`.
### `JSON_Valgrind`
Execute the test suite with [Valgrind](https://valgrind.org). This option is `OFF` by default. Depends on `JSON_BuildTests`.