new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bitten/slave_tests/recipe.py
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2005-2007 Christopher Lenz <cmlenz@gmx.de>
+# Copyright (C) 2007 Edgewall Software
+# All rights reserved.
+#
+# This software is licensed as described in the file COPYING, which
+# you should have received as part of this distribution. The terms
+# are also available at http://bitten.edgewall.org/wiki/License.
+
+import os
+import shutil
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+
+from bitten.build.config import Configuration
+from bitten.recipe import Context, Recipe, InvalidRecipeError
+from bitten.util import xmlio
+
+
+class ContextTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.basedir = os.path.realpath(tempfile.mkdtemp())
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        shutil.rmtree(self.basedir)
+
+    def test_vars_basedir(self):
+        config = Configuration(properties={'foo.bar': 'baz'})
+        ctxt = Context('%s/${path}/${foo.bar}' % os.path.realpath('/foo'),
+                        config, {'path': 'bar'})
+
+        self.assertEquals(os.path.realpath('/foo/bar/baz'),
+                        ctxt.vars['basedir'])
+
+
+class RecipeTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.basedir = os.path.realpath(tempfile.mkdtemp())
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        shutil.rmtree(self.basedir)
+
+    def test_empty_recipe(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build/>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        self.assertEqual(self.basedir, recipe.ctxt.basedir)
+        steps = list(recipe)
+        self.assertEqual(0, len(steps))
+
+    def test_empty_step(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build>'
+                          ' <step id="foo" description="Bar"></step>'
+                          '</build>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        steps = list(recipe)
+        self.assertEqual(1, len(steps))
+        self.assertEqual('foo', steps[0].id)
+        self.assertEqual('Bar', steps[0].description)
+        self.assertEqual('fail', steps[0].onerror)
+
+    def test_validate_bad_root(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<foo></foo>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        self.assertRaises(InvalidRecipeError, recipe.validate)
+
+    def test_validate_no_steps(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build></build>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        self.assertRaises(InvalidRecipeError, recipe.validate)
+
+    def test_validate_child_not_step(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build><foo/></build>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        self.assertRaises(InvalidRecipeError, recipe.validate)
+
+    def test_validate_child_not_step(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build><foo/></build>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        self.assertRaises(InvalidRecipeError, recipe.validate)
+
+    def test_validate_step_without_id(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build><step><cmd/></step></build>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        self.assertRaises(InvalidRecipeError, recipe.validate)
+
+    def test_validate_step_with_empty_id(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build><step id=""><cmd/></step></build>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        self.assertRaises(InvalidRecipeError, recipe.validate)
+
+    def test_validate_step_without_commands(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build><step id="test"/></build>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        self.assertRaises(InvalidRecipeError, recipe.validate)
+
+    def test_validate_step_with_command_children(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build><step id="test">'
+                          '<somecmd><child1/><child2/></somecmd>'
+                          '</step></build>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        self.assertRaises(InvalidRecipeError, recipe.validate)
+
+    def test_validate_step_with_duplicate_id(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build>'
+                          '<step id="test"><somecmd></somecmd></step>'
+                          '<step id="test"><othercmd></othercmd></step>'
+                          '</build>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        self.assertRaises(InvalidRecipeError, recipe.validate)
+
+    def test_validate_successful(self):
+        xml = xmlio.parse('<build>'
+                          '<step id="foo"><somecmd></somecmd></step>'
+                          '<step id="bar"><othercmd></othercmd></step>'
+                          '</build>')
+        recipe = Recipe(xml, basedir=self.basedir)
+        recipe.validate()
+
+def suite():
+    suite = unittest.TestSuite()
+    suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(ContextTestCase, 'test'))
+    suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(RecipeTestCase, 'test'))
+    return suite
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main(defaultTest='suite')