Build and test sqlsimtools

Developer skill for working with this repository's source. Each tool builds and tests independently and owns its own scripts. Always run a tool's scripts from that tool's directory.

Order of operations

1. Check prerequisites.
2. Build the tool.
3. Run its smoke test.
4. Run its full test suite if behavior changed.

Studio depends on step 2 for sqlsim: its build copies the compiled binary out of sqlsim/build/<arch>/Release/. Build sqlsim before building Studio.

Prerequisites

All tools need Microsoft ODBC Driver 18 to reach a live SQL target. sqlsim also needs CMake 3.15+ and a C++17 toolchain: Visual Studio 2022 or 2026 Build Tools on Windows, build-essential and unixodbc-dev on Ubuntu.

Build

# sqlsim, Windows. Default builds x64 and ARM64.
cd sqlsim
.\build.ps1 -Clean -Architecture x64

# sqlsim Studio, Windows. Requires sqlsim built first.
cd sqlsimstudio
.\build.ps1 -Runtime win-x64

# sqlsim, Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04 LTS x64
cd sqlsim
bash ./build-linux.sh --clean

# sqlsim Studio, Linux
cd sqlsimstudio
bash ./build-linux.sh linux-x64

sqlpysim has no build step:

cd sqlpysim
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Build outputs:

Install a source build into a project

To install sqlsim (and optionally sqlpysim) with its manual, examples, skill, and Workload Builder into another project, use the wrapper from the repository root rather than copying files:

.\scripts\install-local.ps1 -Workspace C:\myproject -Build
.\scripts\install-local.ps1 -Workspace C:\myproject -Tool sqlsim, sqlpysim -Preview

It checks prerequisites, builds, installs, validates offline, and prints a receipt. It never deletes project files and stops before writing if a file it installs already differs; re-run with -Force only after the user agrees to replace those files. On Ubuntu use bash sqlsim/publish-linux.sh --skip-build --release-dir <project>, which accepts --preview and --force. Re-check an installed project with release\validate-package-layout.ps1.

Test

Smoke tests are fast and validate core behavior. The full suites are the gate for any behavior or CLI change.

cd sqlsim
.\smoke-test.ps1 -SkipBuild
.\full-test-suite.ps1 -SkipBuild

cd sqlsim
bash ./smoke-test-linux.sh
bash ./full-test-suite-linux.sh

Shared parameters for sqlsim smoke-test.ps1 and full-test-suite.ps1: -Server, -Database, -UseToken, -Username, -Password, -SkipBuild, -Verbose, -OutputFile. full-test-suite.ps1 also accepts -SkipScale to skip the 1024-thread test on constrained targets.

sqlpysim Windows tests use smoke-test.ps1 and full-test-suite.ps1. Native Linux/WSL Bash suites are supported for both tools, so PowerShell is not required. They take the target as options and work from any Linux VM, container, or WSL distribution that can reach the server over TCP:

cd sqlpysim   # or sqlsim
bash ./smoke-test-linux.sh --server HOST --database DB \
  --username USER --password-file FILE
bash ./full-test-suite-linux.sh --server HOST --database DB \
  --username USER --password-file FILE

For token authentication, use --token-file FILE instead of the username and password options. Secret files are read from their first line, and a Windows CRLF ending is ignored. Every suite, PowerShell and Bash, hands the token or password to the engine on stdin (-T -, -P -), so it never appears in a process list. When adding a test, build its arguments from the suite's auth array and launch the engine through the suite's launcher ($runSqlsim, $runSqlPySim, or with_secret) so this stays true. All four suites support --list-tests and --help. The sqlpysim suites also take --python and --skip-install. The sqlsim full suite takes --sqlsim, --skip-scale, and --stop-on-error, and needs jq. A WSL distribution in NAT mode cannot reach SQL Server on the Windows host via localhost; target a reachable server name or address instead.

Studio smoke-test.ps1 takes -SkipBuild, -StartupOnly, -StudioExecutable, and -QueryStoreDatabase. -StartupOnly is what CI uses to verify a packaged build starts without touching SQL Server. Interactive GUI coverage is manual and tracked in sqlsimstudio/MANUAL-TEST.md.

Azure SQL targets are auto-detected by server name. Prefer -UseToken over interactive authentication so runs stay non-interactive:

$token = az account get-access-token --resource https://database.windows.net --query accessToken -o tsv
.\full-test-suite.ps1 -SkipBuild -Server myserver.database.windows.net -Database mydb -UseToken $token

Suite parity

The PowerShell and native Bash suites are deliberate parity counterparts for sqlsim and sqlpysim, so Linux and WSL users do not need PowerShell for the supported test suites. Adding or changing a test in only one counterpart is a defect. Check with:

./scripts/check-suite-parity.ps1

Plugin packages

Canonical skills live under .github/skills/. Plugin copies are generated.

./scripts/sync-plugins.ps1      # after editing a canonical skill
./scripts/validate-plugins.ps1  # gate; also runs in CI

Never edit plugins/<tool>/skills/ directly.

Rules

1. Use each tool's own scripts. Do not call cmake, msbuild, or dotnet publish directly.
2. Never append 2>&1, > file, or | Select-String to a tool invocation. Capture into a variable instead, or use the script's -OutputFile.
3. Supply exactly one authentication mode. Nothing defaults.
4. Keep credentials out of process arguments. Use -P - or -T - with redirected stdin where a script supports it.
5. Do not scale thread counts against a shared or production SQL instance.
6. Treat a failing test as a real defect until proven otherwise. Do not skip or disable tests to get a green run.