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5th chunk of `doc/manual/source/development/testing.md`
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We run the functional tests not just in the build, but also in VM tests.
This helps us ensure that Nix works correctly on NixOS, and environments that have similar characteristics that are hard to reproduce in a build environment.

These can be run with:

```shell
nix build .#hydraJobs.tests.functional_user
```

Generally, this build is sufficient, but in nightly or CI we also test the attributes `functional_root` and `functional_trusted`, in which the test suite is run with different levels of authorization.

## Integration tests

The integration tests are defined in the Nix flake under the `hydraJobs.tests` attribute.
These tests include everything that needs to interact with external services or run Nix in a non-trivial distributed setup.
Because these tests are expensive and require more than what the standard github-actions setup provides, they only run on the master branch (on <https://hydra.nixos.org/jobset/nix/master>).

You can run them manually with `nix build .#hydraJobs.tests.{testName}` or `nix-build -A hydraJobs.tests.{testName}`.

## Installer tests

After a one-time setup, the Nix repository's GitHub Actions continuous integration (CI) workflow can test the installer each time you push to a branch.

Creating a Cachix cache for your installer tests and adding its authorisation token to GitHub enables [two installer-specific jobs in the CI workflow](https://github.com/NixOS/nix/blob/88a45d6149c0e304f6eb2efcc2d7a4d0d569f8af/.github/workflows/ci.yml#L50-L91):

- The `installer` job generates installers for the platforms below and uploads them to your Cachix cache:
  - `x86_64-linux`
  - `armv6l-linux`
  - `armv7l-linux`
  - `x86_64-darwin`

- The `installer_test` job (which runs on `ubuntu-24.04` and `macos-14`) will try to install Nix with the cached installer and run a trivial Nix command.

### One-time setup

1. Have a GitHub account with a fork of the [Nix repository](https://github.com/NixOS/nix).
2. At cachix.org:
    - Create or log in to an account.
    - Create a Cachix cache using the format `<github-username>-nix-install-tests`.
    - Navigate to the new cache > Settings > Auth Tokens.
    - Generate a new Cachix auth token and copy the generated value.
3. At github.com:
Title: Integration and Installer Tests
Summary
This section describes integration and installer tests for Nix. Integration tests interact with external services and run in a distributed setup, running on the master branch due to resource requirements. They can be manually executed with `nix build .#hydraJobs.tests.{testName}`. Installer tests are run in CI and test the installer for various platforms. To set up installer tests, you need a GitHub account with a Nix repository fork, a Cachix account with a cache named `<github-username>-nix-install-tests`, and a Cachix auth token configured in GitHub secrets.