Multi-process mode previously execd bare test files with no environment
(children died on their first package require) and misreported the
crashes as missing-cleanupTests warnings with the stderr discarded.
- testsupport/child_test_runner.tcl (new): per-file child bootstrap.
Applies a runtests-generated environment payload (prefer latest, test
tm paths, auto_path, modpod ifneeded defs, tcltest options; per-file
-testdir computed child-side), warms 'clock format' before the
module-path wipe (first script-level clock use loads msgcat from the
runtime default paths, which the test paths do not supply), and
mirrors the testinterp preload: package require shellrun plus one
no-op runx -tcl call (runx execution pulls punk::lib; several suites
depend on preloaded punk::* commands).
- runtests.tcl: generate the payload per run; spawn children via plain
exec with file-captured stdout/stderr and immediate-EOF stdin
(mechanism reusable for future parallel -jobs scheduling); classify
nonzero child exits as file-level failures with the stderr tail
surfaced in all report styles (exit-0-no-summary remains the
missing-cleanupTests warning); warn under kit executables (children
boot with kit-stamped punk packages preloaded, shadowing src dev
modules - prefer a native tclsh).
- scriptlib/developer/runtests_parity.tcl (new): compares two
'-report json' captures on result identity (per-file counts,
failure/skip/warning identities; timings ignored), tolerating
preamble noise and the ANSI SGR reset emitted on the JSON line.
Verified on native tclsh 9.0.3: full suite singleproc vs multiproc
PARITY ok (87 files, 989 tests, 973/15/1 with the documented exec-14.3
baseline as the sole failure); crash and warning classification
exercised. Wall time ~5m50s in both modes.
Assisted-by: harness=claude; primary-model=claude-fable-5; api-location=anthropic.com
Julian Noble