JUnit XML reporting file format for Jenkins

The JUnit testing framework has introduced a XML file format to report about the test suite execution. These XML files can be processed by programs like Jenkins with the JUnit plugin to display results of the tests. However there doesn't seem to exist a good description of the XML file format if you want to produce such files with your own program. This webpage provides a sample XML file which describes all valid elements and attributes as used by the Jenkins JUnit Plugin. It can also serve as a template for other programs that process JUnit style XML files like the Maven Surefire Plugin.
If you have additional information on these file formats, contact Dirk Jagdmann via email to <doj@cubic.org>. The files shown on this page are licensed with CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication.

sample JUnit XML file for Jenkins

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- a description of the JUnit XML format and how Jenkins parses it. See also junit.xsd -->

<!-- if only a single testsuite element is present, the testsuites
     element can be omitted. All attributes are optional.
     Not supported by maven surefire.
 -->
<testsuites disabled="" <!-- total number of disabled tests from all testsuites. -->
            errors=""   <!-- total number of tests with error result from all testsuites. -->
            failures="" <!-- total number of failed tests from all testsuites. -->
            name=""
            tests=""    <!-- total number of tests from all testsuites. Some software may expect to only see the number of successful tests from all testsuites though. -->
            time=""     <!-- time in seconds to execute all test suites. -->
	    >

  <!-- testsuite can appear multiple times, if contained in a testsuites element.
       It can also be the root element. -->
  <testsuite name=""      <!-- Full (class) name of the test for non-aggregated testsuite documents.
                               Class name without the package for aggregated testsuites documents. Required -->
	     tests=""     <!-- The total number of tests in the suite, required. -->
	     disabled=""  <!-- the total number of disabled tests in the suite. optional. not supported by maven surefire. -->
             errors=""    <!-- The total number of tests in the suite that errored. An errored test is one that had an unanticipated problem,
                               for example an unchecked throwable; or a problem with the implementation of the test. optional -->
             failures=""  <!-- The total number of tests in the suite that failed. A failure is a test which the code has explicitly failed
                               by using the mechanisms for that purpose. e.g., via an assertEquals. optional -->
             hostname=""  <!-- Host on which the tests were executed. 'localhost' should be used if the hostname cannot be determined. optional. not supported by maven surefire. -->
	     id=""        <!-- Starts at 0 for the first testsuite and is incremented by 1 for each following testsuite. optional. not supported by maven surefire. -->
	     package=""   <!-- Derived from testsuite/@name in the non-aggregated documents. optional. not supported by maven surefire. -->
	     skipped=""   <!-- The total number of skipped tests. optional -->
	     time=""      <!-- Time taken (in seconds) to execute the tests in the suite. optional -->
	     timestamp="" <!-- when the test was executed in ISO 8601 format (2014-01-21T16:17:18). Timezone may not be specified. optional. not supported by maven surefire. -->
	     >

    <!-- Properties (e.g., environment settings) set during test execution.
         The properties element can appear 0 or once. -->
    <properties>
      <!-- property can appear multiple times. The name and value attributres are required. -->
      <property name="" value=""/>
    </properties>

    <!-- testcase can appear multiple times, see /testsuites/testsuite@tests -->
    <testcase name=""       <!-- Name of the test method, required. -->
	      assertions="" <!-- number of assertions in the test case. optional. not supported by maven surefire. -->
	      classname=""  <!-- Full class name for the class the test method is in. required -->
	      status=""     <!-- optional. not supported by maven surefire. -->
	      time=""       <!-- Time taken (in seconds) to execute the test. optional -->
	      >

      <!-- If the test was not executed or failed, you can specify one of the skipped, error or failure elements. -->

      <!-- skipped can appear 0 or once. optional -->
      <skipped message=""   <!-- message/description string why the test case was skipped. optional -->
	  />

      <!-- error indicates that the test errored.
           An errored test had an unanticipated problem.
           For example an unchecked throwable (exception), crash or a problem with the implementation of the test.
           Contains as a text node relevant data for the error, for example a stack trace. optional -->
      <error message="" <!-- The error message. e.g., if a java exception is thrown, the return value of getMessage() -->
	     type=""    <!-- The type of error that occured. e.g., if a java execption is thrown the full class name of the exception. -->
	     >error description</error>

      <!-- failure indicates that the test failed.
           A failure is a condition which the code has explicitly failed by using the mechanisms for that purpose.
           For example via an assertEquals.
           Contains as a text node relevant data for the failure, e.g., a stack trace. optional -->
      <failure message="" <!-- The message specified in the assert. -->
	       type=""    <!-- The type of the assert. -->
	       >failure description</failure>

      <!-- Data that was written to standard out while the test was executed. optional -->
      <system-out>STDOUT text</system-out>

      <!-- Data that was written to standard error while the test was executed. optional -->
      <system-err>STDERR text</system-err>
    </testcase>

    <!-- Data that was written to standard out while the test suite was executed. optional -->
    <system-out>STDOUT text</system-out>
    <!-- Data that was written to standard error while the test suite was executed. optional -->
    <system-err>STDERR text</system-err>
  </testsuite>
</testsuites>

JUnit XSD file for Jenkins

The following XML Schema Definition is supposed to validate the JUnit format from the previous section.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!-- https://github.com/jenkinsci/xunit-plugin/blob/master/src/main/resources/org/jenkinsci/plugins/xunit/types/model/xsd/junit-10.xsd -->
<!--
The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2014, Gregory Boissinot

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.
-->
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
    <xs:simpleType name="SUREFIRE_TIME">
        <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
            <xs:pattern value="(([0-9]{0,3},)*[0-9]{3}|[0-9]{0,3})*(\.[0-9]{0,3})?"/>
        </xs:restriction>
    </xs:simpleType>

    <xs:complexType name="rerunType" mixed="true"> <!-- mixed (XML contains text) to be compatible with version previous than 2.22.1 -->
        <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element name="stackTrace" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" /> <!-- optional to be compatible with version previous than 2.22.1 -->
            <xs:element name="system-out" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" />
            <xs:element name="system-err" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0" />
        </xs:sequence>
        <xs:attribute name="message" type="xs:string" />
        <xs:attribute name="type" type="xs:string" use="required" />
    </xs:complexType>

    <xs:element name="failure">
        <xs:complexType mixed="true">
            <xs:attribute name="type" type="xs:string"/>
            <xs:attribute name="message" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    <xs:element name="error">
        <xs:complexType mixed="true">
            <xs:attribute name="type" type="xs:string"/>
            <xs:attribute name="message" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    <xs:element name="skipped">
        <xs:complexType mixed="true">
            <xs:attribute name="type" type="xs:string"/>
            <xs:attribute name="message" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    <xs:element name="properties">
        <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
                <xs:element ref="property" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
            </xs:sequence>
        </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    <xs:element name="property">
        <xs:complexType>
            <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
            <xs:attribute name="value" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
        </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    <xs:element name="system-err" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:element name="system-out" type="xs:string"/>
    <xs:element name="rerunFailure" type="rerunType"/>
    <xs:element name="rerunError" type="rerunType"/>
    <xs:element name="flakyFailure" type="rerunType"/>
    <xs:element name="flakyError" type="rerunType"/>

    <xs:element name="testcase">
        <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
                <xs:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
                    <xs:element ref="skipped"/>
                    <xs:element ref="error"/>
                    <xs:element ref="failure"/>
                    <xs:element ref="rerunFailure" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
                    <xs:element ref="rerunError" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
                    <xs:element ref="flakyFailure" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
                    <xs:element ref="flakyError" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
                    <xs:element ref="system-out"/>
                    <xs:element ref="system-err"/>
                </xs:choice>
            </xs:sequence>
            <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
            <xs:attribute name="time" type="xs:string"/>
            <xs:attribute name="classname" type="xs:string"/>
            <xs:attribute name="group" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    <xs:element name="testsuite">
        <xs:complexType>
            <xs:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
                <xs:element ref="testsuite"/>
                <xs:element ref="properties"/>
                <xs:element ref="testcase"/>
                <xs:element ref="system-out"/>
                <xs:element ref="system-err"/>
            </xs:choice>
            <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
            <xs:attribute name="tests" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
            <xs:attribute name="failures" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
            <xs:attribute name="errors" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
            <xs:attribute name="group" type="xs:string" />
            <xs:attribute name="time" type="SUREFIRE_TIME"/>
            <xs:attribute name="skipped" type="xs:string" />
            <xs:attribute name="timestamp" type="xs:string" />
            <xs:attribute name="hostname" type="xs:string" />
            <xs:attribute name="id" type="xs:string" />
            <xs:attribute name="package" type="xs:string" />
            <xs:attribute name="file" type="xs:string"/>
            <xs:attribute name="log" type="xs:string"/>
            <xs:attribute name="url" type="xs:string"/>
            <xs:attribute name="version" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

    <xs:element name="testsuites">
        <xs:complexType>
            <xs:sequence>
                <xs:element ref="testsuite" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
            </xs:sequence>
            <xs:attribute name="name" type="xs:string" />
            <xs:attribute name="time" type="SUREFIRE_TIME"/>
            <xs:attribute name="tests" type="xs:string" />
            <xs:attribute name="failures" type="xs:string" />
            <xs:attribute name="errors" type="xs:string" />
        </xs:complexType>
    </xs:element>

</xs:schema>

An alternative XSD is used by the maven surefire plugin. This software supports additional XML elements not shown above like <rerunFailure>, <flakyFailure>, <skipped>, <rerunError>, <flakyError>.

Another alternative XSD is the github JUnit-Schema repository with a XSD for Apache Ant's JUnit output.

XSLT transformations to JUnit XML format

The Jenkins source code contains several XSLT files to convert the result of other test suites (aunit, boost, cpptest, ppunit, ctest, embunit, fpcunit, gtester, mbunit, mstest, nunit, phpunit, qtestlib, tusar, unittest, valgrind, xunitdotnet) into JUnit XML format, see jenkins xunit plugin source code.