gnu tests: limit make jobs to nproc output by kevinburke · Pull Request #13991 · uutils/coreutils

kevinburke · 2026-08-17T17:39:57Z

run-gnu-test.sh passed the nproc executable path after a bare -j,
which enabled unlimited make parallelism and treated the path as a target.

Execute nproc, validate its output, and pass the count as an attached -j
argument. Add an end-to-end regression test for the effective MAKEFLAGS.

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This PR fixes run-gnu-test.sh to correctly limit make parallelism by executing nproc, validating its output, and passing the job count via -j<N>. It also adds a regression test and updates CI to run all Python tests under util/.

Changes:

Execute nproc, validate numeric output, and append -j<JOBS> to MAKEFLAGS in util/run-gnu-test.sh.
Add an end-to-end Python unittest that asserts the effective MAKEFLAGS contains -j<N> and rejects invalid nproc output.
Update GitHub Actions to discover and run all util/test_*.py Python unit tests.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
util/test_run_gnu_test.py	Adds an end-to-end regression test covering `MAKEFLAGS` and invalid `nproc` output behavior.
util/run-gnu-test.sh	Fixes job count handling by executing `nproc`, validating the result, and forming `-j<N>` correctly.
.github/workflows/code-quality.yml	Expands CI to run all Python unit tests in `util/` via unittest discovery.

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 # Use GNU nproc for *BSD
-NPROC=$(command -v ${path_GNU}/src/nproc||command -v nproc)
-MAKEFLAGS="${MAKEFLAGS} -j ${NPROC}"
+NPROC_COMMAND=$(command -v "${path_GNU}/src/nproc" || command -v nproc)


+        return subprocess.run(
+            ["bash", str(RUN_GNU_TEST)],
+            cwd=REPO_ROOT,
+            env=env,
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+            timeout=10,


+
+    def run_script(self, nproc_output):
+        nproc = self.gnu_dir / "src" / "nproc"
+        nproc.write_text(f"#!/bin/sh\nprintf '%s\\n' '{nproc_output}'\n")


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Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

Suppressed comments (1)

util/run-gnu-test.sh:38

With set -e, the script can exit without a clear error message when neither ${path_GNU}/src/nproc is executable nor nproc exists on PATH (and likewise if invoking nproc itself fails). Consider explicitly selecting an executable path (using -x for the in-tree binary), handling the “not found” case, and checking the nproc exit status so failures are reported deterministically.

NPROC_COMMAND=$(command -v "${path_GNU}/src/nproc" || command -v nproc)
JOBS=$("${NPROC_COMMAND}")

codspeed · 2026-08-17T18:12:16Z

Merging this PR will not alter performance

✅ 350 untouched benchmarks
⏩ 53 skipped benchmarks¹

_{Comparing kevinburke:ci-limit-gnu-test-jobs (e7ba126) with main (dc784af)}

53 benchmarks were skipped, so the baseline results were used instead. If they were deleted from the codebase, click here and archive them to remove them from the performance reports. ↩

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+NPROC_COMMAND=$(command -v "${path_GNU}/src/nproc" || command -v nproc)
+JOBS=$("${NPROC_COMMAND}")
+case "${JOBS}" in
+    '' | 0 | *[!0-9]*)
+        echo "Error: '${NPROC_COMMAND}' returned an invalid job count: '${JOBS}'" >&2
+        exit 1
+        ;;
+esac
+MAKEFLAGS="${MAKEFLAGS:+${MAKEFLAGS} }-j${JOBS}"


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Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

Suppressed comments (1)

util/run-gnu-test.sh:42

The job-count validation rejects 0 but still accepts values like 00/000 (these are effectively zero and would re-enable unlimited make parallelism). Since the intent is to require a positive integer, tighten the check to only allow 1.. and digits.

JOBS=$("${NPROC_COMMAND}")
case "${JOBS}" in
    '' | 0 | *[!0-9]*)
        echo "Error: '${NPROC_COMMAND}' returned an invalid job count: '${JOBS}'" >&2
        exit 1
        ;;
esac

github-actions · 2026-08-17T19:08:21Z

GNU testsuite comparison:

Skip an intermittent issue tests/date/date-locale-hour (fails in this run but passes in the 'main' branch)

oech3 · 2026-08-17T19:49:35Z

I don't think it is worth to have 100+ lines just for this. How about removing regression test which is unrelated with actual production?

sylvestre · 2026-08-17T20:22:15Z

+1, please make this shorter

kevinburke · 2026-08-17T21:00:42Z

OK - @oech3 @sylvestre I agree, removed all of the Python tests, there wasn't a good, short way to write them.

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Suppressed comments (2)

util/run-gnu-test.sh:35

util/build-gnu.sh falls back to gnproc on platforms where GNU coreutils are prefixed (e.g., macOS/Homebrew). This updated lookup only checks nproc, so run-gnu-test.sh can now hard-fail in environments that previously had a usable gnproc in PATH.

NPROC_COMMAND=$(command -v "${path_GNU}/src/nproc" || command -v nproc || :)
if [ -z "${NPROC_COMMAND}" ] || [ ! -x "${NPROC_COMMAND}" ]; then
    echo "Error: unable to find an executable nproc command at '${path_GNU}/src/nproc' or in PATH" >&2
    exit 1

util/run-gnu-test.sh:45

The PR description says an end-to-end regression test was added for the effective MAKEFLAGS, but this PR only changes run-gnu-test.sh and there is no test coverage protecting the new -j$(nproc) behavior from regressing (e.g., back to -j <path-to-nproc> or bare -j). Please add an integration test that runs util/run-gnu-test.sh against a minimal fake GNU tree + fake make, and asserts the MAKEFLAGS seen by make includes -j<N> where <N> is the mocked nproc output.

MAKEFLAGS="${MAKEFLAGS:+${MAKEFLAGS} }-j${JOBS}"
export MAKEFLAGS
echo "GNU test make job count: ${JOBS}"

sylvestre · 2026-08-17T21:10:29Z

@kevinburke thanks
please double check in the future before submitting the PR

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oech3 · 2026-08-28T09:51:42Z

+if [ -z "${NPROC_COMMAND}" ] || [ ! -x "${NPROC_COMMAND}" ]; then
+    echo "Error: unable to find an executable nproc command at '${path_GNU}/src/nproc' or in PATH" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+JOBS=$("${NPROC_COMMAND}")
+case "${JOBS}" in
+    '' | 0 | *[!0-9]*)
+        echo "Error: '${NPROC_COMMAND}' returned an invalid job count: '${JOBS}'" >&2
+        exit 1
+        ;;
+esac


Suggested change

if [ -z "${NPROC_COMMAND}" ] || [ ! -x "${NPROC_COMMAND}" ]; then

echo "Error: unable to find an executable nproc command at '${path_GNU}/src/nproc' or in PATH" >&2

exit 1

fi

JOBS=$("${NPROC_COMMAND}")

case "${JOBS}" in

'' | 0 | *[!0-9]*)

echo "Error: '${NPROC_COMMAND}' returned an invalid job count: '${JOBS}'" >&2

exit 1

;;

esac

Assume that echo 2 always exist since it is builtin.

oech3 · 2026-08-28T09:52:33Z

 # Use GNU nproc for *BSD
-NPROC=$(command -v ${path_GNU}/src/nproc||command -v nproc)
-MAKEFLAGS="${MAKEFLAGS} -j ${NPROC}"
+NPROC_COMMAND=$(command -v "${path_GNU}/src/nproc" || command -v nproc || echo 2)


Suggested change

NPROC_COMMAND=$(command -v "${path_GNU}/src/nproc" || command -v nproc || echo 2)

NPROC_COMMAND=$(command -v "${path_GNU}/src/nproc" || command -v nproc || echo "echo 2")

Actually, we only need to define $JOBS.

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Copilot reviewed 1 out of 1 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

+NPROC_COMMAND=$(command -v "${path_GNU}/src/nproc" || command -v nproc || echo 2)
+if [ -z "${NPROC_COMMAND}" ] || [ ! -x "${NPROC_COMMAND}" ]; then
+    echo "Error: unable to find an executable nproc command at '${path_GNU}/src/nproc' or in PATH" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi


+MAKEFLAGS="${MAKEFLAGS:+${MAKEFLAGS} }-j${JOBS}"
 export MAKEFLAGS
+echo "GNU test make job count: ${JOBS}"


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Copilot reviewed 1 out of 1 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Suppressed comments (1)

util/run-gnu-test.sh:44

This change fixes incorrect MAKEFLAGS construction and introduces new validation/error behavior, but the PR description also calls for an end-to-end regression test of the effective MAKEFLAGS/-j handling. There doesn’t appear to be any test added in this PR for this behavior; per AGENTS.md, bug fixes/new behavior should come with a Rust test to prevent regression.

MAKEFLAGS="${MAKEFLAGS:+${MAKEFLAGS} }-j${JOBS}"
export MAKEFLAGS
echo "GNU test make job count: ${JOBS}"

+if NPROC_COMMAND=$(command -v "${path_GNU}/src/nproc" || command -v nproc); then
+    JOBS=$("${NPROC_COMMAND}")
+else
+    JOBS=2
+fi


oech3 · 2026-09-18T01:30:24Z

 # Use GNU nproc for *BSD
-NPROC=$(command -v ${path_GNU}/src/nproc||command -v nproc)
-MAKEFLAGS="${MAKEFLAGS} -j ${NPROC}"
+if NPROC_COMMAND=$(command -v "${path_GNU}/src/nproc" || command -v nproc); then


We don't need to assume missing nproc binary as we use GNU's one.

oech3 · 2026-09-18T01:31:15Z

+else
+    JOBS=2
+fi
+case "${JOBS}" in


Believe existing nproc and remove this if block.

run-gnu-test.sh put the nproc executable path after a bare -j. GNU make treated -j as unlimited parallelism and the path as another target, oversubscribing the test runner. Resolve and execute nproc, fall back to two jobs if it is unavailable, reject invalid output, and attach the resulting count to -j.

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Review effort: Lite
Findings: 1 · 5 · 2

Open (8)

NPROC_COMMAND=$(command -v ... || command -v nproc) is executed under set -e. If neither…
The PR description says this change adds an end-to-end regression test for the effective… · New
With set -e enabled, JOBS=$(${NPROC_COMMAND}) will cause the script to exit immediately if…
NPROC_COMMAND currently falls back to echo 2, but that produces a non-executable value and…
The hard-coded timeout=10 seconds is likely to be flaky in slower CI environments if…
If neither ${path_GNU}/src/nproc nor nproc is found, NPROC_COMMAND can end up empty and line…
The PR description mentions adding an end-to-end regression test for the effective MAKEFLAGS, but…
This embeds nproc_output inside single quotes in a shell script, which is brittle if future tests…

+        exit 1
+        ;;
+esac
+MAKEFLAGS="${MAKEFLAGS:+${MAKEFLAGS} }-j${JOBS}"


Copilot AI lite review requested due to automatic review settings August 17, 2026 17:39