Fix conda package tests to avoid make check in test phase

Co-authored-by: ilaflott <6273252+ilaflott@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: Copilot

meta.yaml

@@ -29,14 +29,26 @@ requirements:
 
 test:
   commands:
-    - echo 'yay! we made it!'
-    - echo "whereami? what is here...?" && pwd && ls
-#    - autoreconf -i
-#    - ./configure
-    - echo "which timavg is it...?  " && which timavg
-    - echo "timavg -help is...?" && timavg -help
-    - echo "make check RUN_EXPENSIVE_TESTS=no...?" && make check RUN_EXPENSIVE_TESTS=no
-#    - make check
+    - echo 'Testing FRE-NCtools conda package installation...'
+    - echo "Installation directory:" && pwd && ls
+    
+    # Test key installed programs with help flags (allow help commands to exit with any status)
+    - echo "Testing timavg script..." && which timavg && (timavg -h || echo "timavg help command completed")
+    - echo "Testing ncexists program..." && which ncexists && (ncexists --help || echo "ncexists help command completed")
+    - echo "Testing combine-ncc program..." && which combine-ncc && (combine-ncc --help || echo "combine-ncc help command completed")
+    - echo "Testing fregrid program..." && which fregrid && (fregrid --help || echo "fregrid help command completed")
+    - echo "Testing make_hgrid program..." && which make_hgrid && (make_hgrid --help || echo "make_hgrid help command completed")
+    
+    # Test some key script utilities exist
+    - echo "Testing list_ncvars.sh script..." && which list_ncvars.sh && echo "list_ncvars.sh found"
+    - echo "Testing split_ncvars.pl script..." && which split_ncvars.pl && echo "split_ncvars.pl found"
+    
+    # Test version reporting for programs that support it (allow version commands to exit with any status)
+    - echo "Testing version reporting..." && (ncexists --version || echo "ncexists version command completed")
+    - echo "Testing combine-ncc version..." && (combine-ncc --version || echo "combine-ncc version command completed")  
+    - echo "Testing timavg version..." && (timavg -V || echo "timavg version command completed")
+    
+    - echo 'All basic tests passed - FRE-NCtools installation is working!'
 
 about:
   license: LGPL-3.0