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+# Test Suite
+
+Python-Markdown comes with a test suite which uses the [Nose][] testing
+framework.The test suite primarily serves to ensure that new bugs are not
+introduced as existing bugs are patched or new features are added. It also
+allows Python-Markdown to be tested with the tests from other implementations
+such as John Gruber's [Perl][] implementation or Michel Fortin's [PHP][]
+implementation.
+
+The test suite can be run by calling the `run_tests.py` command at the root of
+the distribution tarball or by calling the `nosetests` command directly. Either
+way, Nose will need to be installed on your system first (run `easy_install
+nose`). Any standard nosetests config options can be passed in on the command
+line (i.e.: verbosity level or use of a plugin like coverage).
+
+Additionally, a nicely formatted HTML report of all output is written to a
+temporary file in `tmp/test-output.html`. Open the file in a browser to view
+the report.
+
+The test suite contains three kinds of tests: Markdown Syntax Tests, Unit
+Tests, and Doc Tests.
+
+# Markdown Syntax Tests
+
+The Syntax Tests are in the various directories contained within the 'tests'
+directory of the packaged tarball. Each test consists of a matching pair of txt
+and html files. The txt file contains a snippet of Markdown source text
+formated for a specific syntax feature and the html file contains the expected
+HTML output of that snippet. When the test suite is run, each txt file is run
+through Markdown and the output is compared with the html file as a separate
+Unit Test.
+
+In fact, this is the primary reason for using Nose, it gives us an easy way to
+treat each of these tests as a separate unit test which is reported on
+separately. Additionally, with the help of a couple custom Nose plugins which
+are included with the Markdown Test Suite, we are able to get back an easy to
+read diff of the actual output compared to expected output when a test fails.
+
+Here is some sample output with a test that is failing because of some
+insignificant white space differences:
+
+    $ ./run-tests.py
+    ..........................................................M...........
+    ............................SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
+    SSSSSSSSSS.................S..........................................
+    .........
+    ======================================================================
+    MarkdownSyntaxError: TestSyntax: "misc/lists3"
+    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+    MarkdownSyntaxError: Output from "/home/waylan/code/python-markdown/te
+    sts/misc/lists3.txt" failed to match expected output.
+
+    --- /home/waylan/code/python-markdown/tests/misc/lists3.html 
+    +++ actual_output.html 
+    @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ 
+     <ul> 
+     <li>blah blah blah 
+    -sdf asdf asdf asdf asdf 
+    -asda asdf asdfasd</li> 
+    +    sdf asdf asdf asdf asdf 
+    +    asda asdf asdfasd</li> 
+     </ul>
+
+    ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
+    Ran 219 tests in 7.698s
+
+    FAILED (MarkdownSyntaxError=1, SKIP=53)
+
+Note that 219 tests were run, one of which failed with a `MarkdownSyntaxError`.
+Only Markdown Syntax Tests should fail with a `MarkdownSyntaxError`. Nose then
+formats the error reports for `MarkdownSyntaxError`s so that they only include
+useful information. Namely the txt file which failed and a unified diff showing
+the failure. Without the plugin, you would also get a useless traceback showing
+how the code stepped through the test framework, but nothing about how Markdown
+actually ran.
+
+If, on the other hand, a Syntax Test failed because some other exception gets
+raised by either Markdown or the test suite, then that would be reported as per
+a normal unit test failure with the appropriate traceback for debugging
+purposes.
+
+### Syntax Test Config Settings
+
+The other thing to note about the above example is that 53 tests were skipped.
+Those tests have been explicitly configured to be skipped as they are primarily
+tests from either PHP or Perl which are known to fail for various reasons. In
+fact, a number of different configuration settings can be set for any specific
+test.
+
+Each Syntax Test directory contains a `test.cfg` file in the ini format. The
+file may contain a separate section for each txt file named exactly as the file
+is named minus the file extension (i.e.; the section for a test in `foo.txt`
+would be `[foo]`). All settings are optional. Default settings for the entire
+directory can be set under the `[DEFAULT]` section (must be all caps). Any
+settings under a specific file section will override anything in the
+`[DEFAULT]` section for that specific test only.
+
+Below are each of the config options available and the defaults used when they
+are not explicitly set.
+
+* `normalize`: Switches whitespace normalization of the test output on or off. 
+  Defaults to `0` (off). Note: This requires that [uTidylib] be installed on 
+  the system. Otherwise the test will be skipped, regardless of any other 
+  settings.  
+* `skip`: Switches skipping of the test on and off. Defaults to `0` (off).  
+* `input_ext`: Extension of input file. Defaults to `.txt`. Useful for tests 
+  from other implementations.
+* `output_ext`: Extension of output file. Defaults to `.html`. Useful for tests
+  from other implementations.
+* Any keyword arguement accepted my Markdown. If not set, Markdown's defaults
+  are used. 
+
+## Unit Tests
+
+All Unit Tests shipped with Python-Markdown are standard Python Unit Tests and
+are currently all contained in `tests/test_apis.py`. Standard discovery methods
+are used to find and run the tests. Therefor, when writing new tests, those
+standards and naming conventions should be followed.
+
+## Doc Tests
+
+Some Python-Markdown extensions also include standard Python doctests, which
+are discovered and run in the standard manner; one Unit Test for each file.
+
+
+[Nose]: http://somethingaboutorange.com/mrl/projects/nose/ 
+[Perl]: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/ 
+[PHP]: http://michelf.com/projects/php-markdown/ 
+[uTidylib]: http://utidylib.berlios.de/