Megatest

    
    (if (not (null? test-names)) ;; BEGIN test-names loop
	(let loop ((hed (car test-names))   ;; NOTE: This is the main loop that iterates over the test-names
		   (tal (cdr test-names)))         ;; 'return-procs tells the config reader to prep running system but return a proc
          (debug:print-info 4 *default-log-port* "\n\ntestpatt elaboration loop => hed="hed " tal="tal" test-patts="test-patts" test-names="test-names)
	  (change-directory *toppath*) ;; PLEASE OPTIMIZE ME!!! I think this should be a no-op but there are several places where change-directories could be happening.
	  (setenv "MT_TEST_NAME" hed) ;; 
	  (let*-values (((waitons waitors config) (tests:get-waitons hed all-tests-registry))
	  (let*-values (((waitons waitors config) (tests:get-waitons hed all-tests-registry (tests:get-global-waitons)))

			;; NOTE: Have the config - can extract [waitons] section
			
                        ((hed-mode)
                         (let ((m (configf:lookup config "requirements" "mode")))
                           (if m (map string->symbol (string-split m)) '(normal))))
                        ((hed-itemized-waiton) ;; are items in hed waiting on items of waiton?

	  ;; (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "res=" res)
	  (cond
	   ((string? res) res) ;;; FIX THE ROOT CAUSE HERE ....
	   ((null? res)   #f)
	   ((string? (cdr res)) (cdr res))  ;; it is a pair
	   ((string? (cadr res))(cadr res)) ;; it is a list
	   (else cadr res))))))

(define (tests:get-global-waitons rconfig)
  (let* ((global-waitons (runconfigs-get config "!GLOBAL_WAITONS")))
    (if (string? global-waitons)
	(string-split global-waitons)
	'())))

;; return items given config
;;
(define (tests:get-items tconfig)
  (let ((items      (hash-table-ref/default tconfig "items" #f)) ;; items 4
	(itemstable (hash-table-ref/default tconfig "itemstable" #f))) 
    ;; if either items or items table is a proc return it so test running

			"    items: " items " itemstable: " itemstable)
      (items:get-items-from-config tconfig))
     (else #f))))                           ;; not iterated


;; returns waitons waitors tconfigdat
;;
(define (tests:get-waitons test-name all-tests-registry)
(define (tests:get-waitons test-name all-tests-registry global-waitons)
   (let* ((config  (tests:get-testconfig test-name #f all-tests-registry 'return-procs))) ;; assuming no problems with immediate evaluation, this could be simplified ('return-procs -> #t)
     (let ((instr (if config 
		      (configf:lookup config "requirements" "waiton")
		      (begin ;; No config means this is a non-existant test
			(debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* "non-existent required test \"" test-name "\"")
			(exit 1))))
	   (instr2 (if config
		       (configf:lookup config "requirements" "waitor")
		       "")))
       (debug:print-info 8 *default-log-port* "waitons string is " instr ", waitors string is " instr2)
       (let ((newwaitons
       (let ((newwaitons-tmp
	      (string-split (cond
			     ((procedure? instr) ;; here 
			      (let ((res (instr)))
				(debug:print-info 8 *default-log-port* "waiton procedure results in string " res " for test " test-name)
				res))
			     ((string? instr)     instr)
			     (else 
			      ;; NOTE: This is actually the case of *no* waitons! ;; (debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* "something went wrong in processing waitons for test " test-name)
			      ""))))
	     (newwaitors
	      (string-split (cond
			     ((procedure? instr2)
			      (let ((res (instr2)))
				(debug:print-info 8 *default-log-port* "waitor procedure results in string " res " for test " test-name)
				res))
			     ((string? instr2)     instr2)
			     (else 
			      ;; NOTE: This is actually the case of *no* waitons! ;; (debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* "something went wrong in processing waitons for test " test-name)
			      "")))))
			      ""))))
	     (newwaitons (if global-waitons
			     (append newwaitons-tmp  global-waitons)
			     newwaitons-tmp)))
	 (values
	  ;; the waitons
	  (filter (lambda (x)
		    (if (hash-table-ref/default all-tests-registry x #f)
			#t
			(begin
			  (debug:print-error 0 *default-log-port* "test " test-name " has unrecognised waiton testname " x)