enable_testing

Enables testing for the current directory and below:

enable_testing()

This command should be invoked in the top-level source directory because ctest(1) expects to find a test file in the top-level build directory.

This command is also automatically invoked when the CTest module is included, except if the BUILD_TESTING option is turned off.

The following restrictions apply to where enable_testing() may be called:

• It must be called in file scope, not in a function() call nor inside a block().

Examples

In the following example, this command is conditionally called depending on how the project is used. For instance, when the Example project is added via the FetchContent module as a subdirectory of a parent project that defines its own tests, testing for the Example project is disabled.

CMakeLists.txt

project(Example)

option(Example_ENABLE_TESTING "Enable testing" ${PROJECT_IS_TOP_LEVEL})

if(Example_ENABLE_TESTING)
  enable_testing()
endif()

# ...

if(Example_ENABLE_TESTING)
  add_test(...)
endif()

See Also

• The add_test() command.