using previous =#+results= when =:eval never=

[Greg Minshall <minshall@umich.edu>]

hi.

i am trying to simplify adding regression test cases to a program.

to generate the base, "compared-to" results, i want to write some code
in a source block, then evaluate it, producing the "true" value.

then, later during development, i want to check if the code that ran in
that block gives the same results.  to do this, i preface the test check
block with, e.g., =:var fu=bar=.  obviously, i do *not* want to
re-create the base results; so, after producing the base case results, i
tried marking the source block that produces the results =:eval never=.

but, doing that, using `:var fu=bar` on a test check source block, fu's
value is nil. (*)

is there a way to convince org-mode to, in the face of =:eval never=, go
ahead and pass the *previous* results?  or, some other idea of how to do
this?  there will be a large number of these test cases.

cheers, Greg

(*) this is sort of confusing, so here's an example:

#+begin_src org
  ,#+name: testcountsdecompose
  ,#+begin_src R :eval never
    mtcars[1:3,]
  ,#+end_src
  
  ,#+RESULTS: testcountsdecompose
  |   21 | 6 | 160 | 110 |  3.9 |  2.62 | 16.46 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
  |   21 | 6 | 160 | 110 |  3.9 | 2.875 | 17.02 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
  | 22.8 | 4 | 108 |  93 | 3.85 |  2.32 | 18.61 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
  
  ,#+name: testcounts
  ,#+header: :var testcountsdecompose=testcountsdecompose :results output
  ,#+begin_src R
    str(testcountsdecompose)
  ,#+end_src
  
  ,#+RESULTS: testcounts
  :  chr "nil"
#+end_src

whereas, if the =testcountsdecompose= source block does *not* have
=:eval never=, my =testcountsdecompse= variable has all the rows and
columns i was hoping for.