+/**
+ * tl_zebra_start - do a zebra_start with a decent config name
+ * Takes care of checking the environment for srcdir (as needed by distcheck)
+ * and uses that if need be.
+ * The name defaults to zebra.cfg, if null or emtpy
+ */
+ZebraService tl_zebra_start(const char *cfgname);
+
+/**
+ * close_down closes it all down
+ * Does a zebra_close on zh, if not null.
+ * Does a zebra_stop on zs, if not null
+ * Writes a log message, OK if retcode is zero, error if not
+ * closes down nmem and xmalloc
+ * returns the retcode, for use in return or exit in main()
+ */
+int tl_close_down(ZebraHandle zh, ZebraService zs
+ ) ZEBRA_GCC_ATTR((warn_unused_result));
+
+/** inits the database and inserts test data */
+int tl_init_data(ZebraHandle zh, const char **recs
+ ) ZEBRA_GCC_ATTR((warn_unused_result));
+
+/**
+ * tl_query does a simple query, and checks that the number of hits matches
+ */
+int tl_query(ZebraHandle zh, const char *query, zint exphits
+ ) ZEBRA_GCC_ATTR((warn_unused_result));
+
+
+/**
+ * tl_query does a simple query, and checks that error is what is expected
+ */
+int tl_query_x(ZebraHandle zh, const char *query, zint exphits,
+ int experror
+ ) ZEBRA_GCC_ATTR((warn_unused_result));
+
+/**
+ * tl_scan is a utility for scan testing
+ */
+int tl_scan(ZebraHandle zh, const char *query,
+ int pos, int num, /* input params */
+ int exp_pos, int exp_num, int exp_partial, /* expected result */
+ const char **exp_entries /* expected entries (or NULL) */
+ ) ZEBRA_GCC_ATTR((warn_unused_result));
+
+int tl_sort(ZebraHandle zh, const char *query, zint hits, zint *exp
+ ) ZEBRA_GCC_ATTR((warn_unused_result));
+
+/**
+ * ranking_query makes a query, checks number of hits, and for
+ * the first hit, that it contains the given string, and that it
+ * gets the right score
+ */
+int tl_ranking_query(ZebraHandle zh, char *query,
+ int exphits, char *firstrec, int firstscore
+ ) ZEBRA_GCC_ATTR((warn_unused_result));
+
+/**
+ * meta_query makes a query, checks number of hits, and for
+ * checks that the all records in result set has the proper identifiers (ids)
+ */
+int tl_meta_query(ZebraHandle zh, char *query, int exphits,
+ zint *ids
+ ) ZEBRA_GCC_ATTR((warn_unused_result));
+
+/**
+ * if filter given by name does not exist, exit nicely but warn in log
+ */
+void tl_check_filter(ZebraService zs, const char *name);