catch3/tests/TestScripts/DiscoverTests/TestDecomposeJsonArray.cmake, branch 0.2.0 Progmasoft Catch3: an independently maintained C++17 test framework with a parallel runner, property checks, snapshots and structured results. Avoid quadratic JSON array parse behaviour in `catch_discover_tests` 2026-07-26T17:51:58+00:00 Martin Hořeňovský 2026-07-26T11:15:10+00:00 1079da4c5f5fea2a31d795bba95eacaa2f622849 Using CMake's `string(JSON` to parse JSON array leads to quadratic running time in number of tests, see https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/work_items/27985 This leads to _terrible_ runtime for `catch_discover_tests` when called on binaries with lot of tests (1k+). To get reasonable runtimes, we have to avoid using `string(JSON` to parse out the individual test objects from the array with all tests. This commit replaces the sane approach of using real JSON parser with a set of terrible hacks, where we use CMake's string APIs to split the JSON array on what looks like object boundary (`}<ws>*,<ws>*{`), and then checking whether the resulting thing can be parsed as JSON object. If not, we append the next piece and check again. And again, and again, until we get a proper JSON object. This is all around a hilariously terrible idea, however: 1) It works in practice for all tested inputs. 2) It improves the time it takes to run `catch_discover_tests` on binary with 1k tests from 4.2s to 1.1s and 2k tests from 16s to 3.9s. 
Using CMake's `string(JSON` to parse JSON array leads to quadratic
running time in number of tests, see https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/work_items/27985

This leads to _terrible_ runtime for `catch_discover_tests` when called
on binaries with lot of tests (1k+). To get reasonable runtimes, we have
to avoid using `string(JSON` to parse out the individual test objects
from the array with all tests.

This commit replaces the sane approach of using real JSON parser with
a set of terrible hacks, where we use CMake's string APIs to split the
JSON array on what looks like object boundary (`}<ws>*,<ws>*{`), and then
checking whether the resulting thing can be parsed as JSON object. If not,
we append the next piece and check again. And again, and again, until we
get a proper JSON object.

This is all around a hilariously terrible idea, however:

1) It works in practice for all tested inputs.
2) It improves the time it takes to run `catch_discover_tests` on binary
   with 1k tests from 4.2s to 1.1s and 2k tests from 16s to 3.9s.