The P4Test Backend is a tool designed for testing and debugging P4 programs. It supports both the P4-14 and P4-16 standards and can translate P4 code from one version to another. Additionally, it provides a syntax checker for P4 code, enabling the verification of the correctness of your P4 programs.
You can automatically translate a P4-14 program to a P4-16 program using the following command:
p4test --std p4-14 my-p4-14-prog.p4 --pp auto-translated-p4-16-prog.p4
This command takes the P4-14 program (my-p4-14-prog.p4) and generates a corresponding P4-16 program (auto-translated-p4-16-prog.p4).
The P4test Backend can check the syntax of P4 programs without being restricted by any specific compiler back end. This is useful for ensuring that your P4 code is syntactically correct.
For P4-16 code:
p4test my-p4-16-prog.p4
For P4-14 code:
p4test --std p4-14 my-p4-14-prog.p4
These commands will output error and/or warning messages if there are any issues with the syntax of your P4 code.