/brz/remove-bazaar

To get this branch, use:
bzr branch http://gegoxaren.bato24.eu/bzr/brz/remove-bazaar
4634.39.32 by Ian Clatworthy
proper Contents panel in bzr-developers.chm
1
====================
2
Bazaar Testing Guide
3
====================
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
4
5
6
The Importance of Testing
7
=========================
8
5225.2.1 by Martin Pool
Mention Babune in test guide.
9
Reliability is a critical success factor for any version control system.
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
10
We want Bazaar to be highly reliable across multiple platforms while
11
evolving over time to meet the needs of its community.
12
13
In a nutshell, this is what we expect and encourage:
14
15
* New functionality should have test cases.  Preferably write the
16
  test before writing the code.
17
18
  In general, you can test at either the command-line level or the
19
  internal API level.  See `Writing tests`_ below for more detail.
20
21
* Try to practice Test-Driven Development: before fixing a bug, write a
22
  test case so that it does not regress.  Similarly for adding a new
23
  feature: write a test case for a small version of the new feature before
24
  starting on the code itself.  Check the test fails on the old code, then
25
  add the feature or fix and check it passes.
26
27
By doing these things, the Bazaar team gets increased confidence that
28
changes do what they claim to do, whether provided by the core team or
29
by community members. Equally importantly, we can be surer that changes
30
down the track do not break new features or bug fixes that you are
31
contributing today.
32
4665.2.2 by Martin Pool
Doc update that there are actually many more tests now
33
As of September 2009, Bazaar ships with a test suite containing over
34
23,000 tests and growing. We are proud of it and want to remain so. As
35
community members, we all benefit from it. Would you trust version control
36
on your project to a product *without* a test suite like Bazaar has?
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
37
38
39
Running the Test Suite
40
======================
41
5004.2.5 by Martin Pool
More docs on testing
42
As of Bazaar 2.1, you must have the testtools_ library installed to run
43
the bzr test suite.
44
45
.. _testtools: https://launchpad.net/testtools/
46
5004.2.4 by Martin Pool
More tips on running tests
47
To test all of Bazaar, just run::
48
49
  bzr selftest 
50
5004.2.5 by Martin Pool
More docs on testing
51
With ``--verbose`` bzr will print the name of every test as it is run.
52
5004.2.4 by Martin Pool
More tips on running tests
53
This should always pass, whether run from a source tree or an installed
54
copy of Bazaar.  Please investigate and/or report any failures.
55
56
57
Running particular tests
58
------------------------
59
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
60
Currently, bzr selftest is used to invoke tests.
61
You can provide a pattern argument to run a subset. For example,
62
to run just the blackbox tests, run::
63
64
  ./bzr selftest -v blackbox
65
66
To skip a particular test (or set of tests), use the --exclude option
67
(shorthand -x) like so::
68
69
  ./bzr selftest -v -x blackbox
70
71
To ensure that all tests are being run and succeeding, you can use the
72
--strict option which will fail if there are any missing features or known
73
failures, like so::
74
75
  ./bzr selftest --strict
76
77
To list tests without running them, use the --list-only option like so::
78
79
  ./bzr selftest --list-only
80
81
This option can be combined with other selftest options (like -x) and
82
filter patterns to understand their effect.
83
84
Once you understand how to create a list of tests, you can use the --load-list
85
option to run only a restricted set of tests that you kept in a file, one test
86
id by line. Keep in mind that this will never be sufficient to validate your
87
modifications, you still need to run the full test suite for that, but using it
88
can help in some cases (like running only the failed tests for some time)::
89
90
  ./bzr selftest -- load-list my_failing_tests
91
92
This option can also be combined with other selftest options, including
93
patterns. It has some drawbacks though, the list can become out of date pretty
94
quick when doing Test Driven Development.
95
96
To address this concern, there is another way to run a restricted set of tests:
97
the --starting-with option will run only the tests whose name starts with the
98
specified string. It will also avoid loading the other tests and as a
99
consequence starts running your tests quicker::
100
101
  ./bzr selftest --starting-with bzrlib.blackbox
102
103
This option can be combined with all the other selftest options including
104
--load-list. The later is rarely used but allows to run a subset of a list of
105
failing tests for example.
106
5004.2.4 by Martin Pool
More tips on running tests
107
Disabling plugins
108
-----------------
109
110
To test only the bzr core, ignoring any plugins you may have installed,
111
use::
112
113
  ./bzr --no-plugins selftest 
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
114
5004.2.2 by Martin Pool
Recommend using -Dno_apport for development
115
Disabling crash reporting
116
-------------------------
117
118
By default Bazaar uses apport_ to report program crashes.  In developing
119
Bazaar it's normal and expected to have it crash from time to time, at
120
least because a test failed if for no other reason.
121
122
Therefore you should probably add ``debug_flags = no_apport`` to your
123
``bazaar.conf`` file (in ``~/.bazaar/`` on Unix), so that failures just
124
print a traceback rather than writing a crash file.
125
126
.. _apport: https://launchpad.net/apport/
127
128
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
129
Test suite debug flags
130
----------------------
131
132
Similar to the global ``-Dfoo`` debug options, bzr selftest accepts
133
``-E=foo`` debug flags.  These flags are:
134
135
:allow_debug: do *not* clear the global debug flags when running a test.
136
  This can provide useful logging to help debug test failures when used
137
  with e.g. ``bzr -Dhpss selftest -E=allow_debug``
138
5004.2.3 by Martin Pool
Caveat on -Eallow_debug
139
  Note that this will probably cause some tests to fail, because they
140
  don't expect to run with any debug flags on.
141
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
142
5004.2.5 by Martin Pool
More docs on testing
143
Using subunit
144
-------------
145
146
Bazaar can optionally produce output in the machine-readable subunit_
5060.2.1 by Robert Collins
* bzr now has a ``.testr.conf`` file in its source tree configured
147
format, so that test output can be post-processed by various tools. To
148
generate a subunit test stream::
149
150
 $ ./bzr selftest --subunit
151
152
Processing such a stream can be done using a variety of tools including:
153
154
* The builtin ``subunit2pyunit``, ``subunit-filter``, ``subunit-ls``,
155
  ``subunit2junitxml`` from the subunit project.
156
157
* tribunal_, a GUI for showing test results.
158
159
* testrepository_, a tool for gathering and managing test runs.
5004.2.5 by Martin Pool
More docs on testing
160
161
.. _subunit: https://launchpad.net/subunit/
5060.2.1 by Robert Collins
* bzr now has a ``.testr.conf`` file in its source tree configured
162
.. _tribunal: https://launchpad.net/tribunal/
163
164
165
Using testrepository
166
--------------------
167
168
Bazaar ships with a config file for testrepository_. This can be very
169
useful for keeping track of failing tests and doing general workflow
170
support. To run tests using testrepository::
171
172
  $ testr run
173
174
To run only failing tests::
175
176
  $ testr run --failing
177
178
To run only some tests, without plugins::
179
180
  $ test run test_selftest -- --no-plugins
181
182
See the testrepository documentation for more details.
183
184
.. _testrepository: https://launchpad.net/testrepository
5004.2.5 by Martin Pool
More docs on testing
185
5225.2.1 by Martin Pool
Mention Babune in test guide.
186
187
Babune continuous integration
188
-----------------------------
189
190
We have a Hudson continuous-integration system that automatically runs 
191
tests across various platforms.  In the future we plan to add more 
192
combinations including testing plugins.  See 
193
<http://babune.ladeuil.net:24842/>.  (Babune = Bazaar Buildbot Network.)
194
195
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
196
Writing Tests
197
=============
198
5004.2.5 by Martin Pool
More docs on testing
199
Normally you should add or update a test for all bug fixes or new features
200
in Bazaar.
201
202
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
203
Where should I put a new test?
204
------------------------------
205
206
Bzrlib's tests are organised by the type of test.  Most of the tests in
207
bzr's test suite belong to one of these categories:
208
209
 - Unit tests
210
 - Blackbox (UI) tests
211
 - Per-implementation tests
212
 - Doctests
213
214
A quick description of these test types and where they belong in bzrlib's
215
source follows.  Not all tests fall neatly into one of these categories;
216
in those cases use your judgement.
217
218
219
Unit tests
220
~~~~~~~~~~
221
222
Unit tests make up the bulk of our test suite.  These are tests that are
223
focused on exercising a single, specific unit of the code as directly
224
as possible.  Each unit test is generally fairly short and runs very
225
quickly.
226
227
They are found in ``bzrlib/tests/test_*.py``.  So in general tests should
228
be placed in a file named test_FOO.py where FOO is the logical thing under
229
test.
230
231
For example, tests for merge3 in bzrlib belong in bzrlib/tests/test_merge3.py.
232
See bzrlib/tests/test_sampler.py for a template test script.
233
234
235
Blackbox (UI) tests
236
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
237
238
Tests can be written for the UI or for individual areas of the library.
239
Choose whichever is appropriate: if adding a new command, or a new command
240
option, then you should be writing a UI test.  If you are both adding UI
241
functionality and library functionality, you will want to write tests for
242
both the UI and the core behaviours.  We call UI tests 'blackbox' tests
243
and they belong in ``bzrlib/tests/blackbox/*.py``.
244
245
When writing blackbox tests please honour the following conventions:
246
247
 1. Place the tests for the command 'name' in
248
    bzrlib/tests/blackbox/test_name.py. This makes it easy for developers
249
    to locate the test script for a faulty command.
250
251
 2. Use the 'self.run_bzr("name")' utility function to invoke the command
252
    rather than running bzr in a subprocess or invoking the
253
    cmd_object.run() method directly. This is a lot faster than
254
    subprocesses and generates the same logging output as running it in a
255
    subprocess (which invoking the method directly does not).
4853.1.1 by Patrick Regan
Removed trailing whitespace from files in doc directory
256
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
257
 3. Only test the one command in a single test script. Use the bzrlib
258
    library when setting up tests and when evaluating the side-effects of
259
    the command. We do this so that the library api has continual pressure
260
    on it to be as functional as the command line in a simple manner, and
261
    to isolate knock-on effects throughout the blackbox test suite when a
262
    command changes its name or signature. Ideally only the tests for a
263
    given command are affected when a given command is changed.
264
265
 4. If you have a test which does actually require running bzr in a
266
    subprocess you can use ``run_bzr_subprocess``. By default the spawned
267
    process will not load plugins unless ``--allow-plugins`` is supplied.
268
269
270
Per-implementation tests
271
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
272
273
Per-implementation tests are tests that are defined once and then run
274
against multiple implementations of an interface.  For example,
4913.3.7 by John Arbash Meinel
Doc updates for permute_for_extension
275
``per_transport.py`` defines tests that all Transport implementations
276
(local filesystem, HTTP, and so on) must pass. They are found in
277
``bzrlib/tests/per_*/*.py``, and ``bzrlib/tests/per_*.py``.
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
278
279
These are really a sub-category of unit tests, but an important one.
280
4913.3.7 by John Arbash Meinel
Doc updates for permute_for_extension
281
Along the same lines are tests for extension modules. We generally have
282
both a pure-python and a compiled implementation for each module. As such,
283
we want to run the same tests against both implementations. These can
284
generally be found in ``bzrlib/tests/*__*.py`` since extension modules are
285
usually prefixed with an underscore. Since there are only two
286
implementations, we have a helper function
287
``bzrlib.tests.permute_for_extension``, which can simplify the
288
``load_tests`` implementation.
289
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
290
291
Doctests
292
~~~~~~~~
293
294
We make selective use of doctests__.  In general they should provide
295
*examples* within the API documentation which can incidentally be tested.  We
296
don't try to test every important case using doctests |--| regular Python
297
tests are generally a better solution.  That is, we just use doctests to
298
make our documentation testable, rather than as a way to make tests.
299
300
Most of these are in ``bzrlib/doc/api``.  More additions are welcome.
301
302
  __ http://docs.python.org/lib/module-doctest.html
303
304
4665.5.20 by Vincent Ladeuil
Fixed as per Martin's review.
305
Shell-like tests
4917.2.1 by Martin Pool
Add better example for ScriptRunner and tweak its place in the document hierarchy
306
----------------
4665.5.20 by Vincent Ladeuil
Fixed as per Martin's review.
307
308
``bzrlib/tests/script.py`` allows users to write tests in a syntax very close to a shell session,
309
using a restricted and limited set of commands that should be enough to mimic
310
most of the behaviours.
311
312
A script is a set of commands, each command is composed of:
313
314
 * one mandatory command line,
315
 * one optional set of input lines to feed the command,
316
 * one optional set of output expected lines,
317
 * one optional set of error expected lines.
318
319
Input, output and error lines can be specified in any order.
320
321
Except for the expected output, all lines start with a special
322
string (based on their origin when used under a Unix shell):
323
324
 * '$ ' for the command,
325
 * '<' for input,
326
 * nothing for output,
327
 * '2>' for errors,
328
329
Comments can be added anywhere, they start with '#' and end with
330
the line.
331
332
The execution stops as soon as an expected output or an expected error is not
4853.1.1 by Patrick Regan
Removed trailing whitespace from files in doc directory
333
matched.
4665.5.20 by Vincent Ladeuil
Fixed as per Martin's review.
334
335
When no output is specified, any ouput from the command is accepted
4853.1.1 by Patrick Regan
Removed trailing whitespace from files in doc directory
336
and execution continue.
4665.5.20 by Vincent Ladeuil
Fixed as per Martin's review.
337
338
If an error occurs and no expected error is specified, the execution stops.
339
340
An error is defined by a returned status different from zero, not by the
341
presence of text on the error stream.
342
343
The matching is done on a full string comparison basis unless '...' is used, in
344
which case expected output/errors can be less precise.
345
346
Examples:
347
348
The following will succeeds only if 'bzr add' outputs 'adding file'::
349
350
  $ bzr add file
351
  >adding file
352
353
If you want the command to succeed for any output, just use::
354
355
  $ bzr add file
356
357
The following will stop with an error::
358
359
  $ bzr not-a-command
360
361
If you want it to succeed, use::
362
363
  $ bzr not-a-command
364
  2> bzr: ERROR: unknown command "not-a-command"
365
366
You can use ellipsis (...) to replace any piece of text you don't want to be
367
matched exactly::
368
369
  $ bzr branch not-a-branch
370
  2>bzr: ERROR: Not a branch...not-a-branch/".
371
372
This can be used to ignore entire lines too::
373
374
  $ cat
375
  <first line
376
  <second line
377
  <third line
378
  # And here we explain that surprising fourth line
379
  <fourth line
380
  <last line
381
  >first line
382
  >...
383
  >last line
384
385
You can check the content of a file with cat::
386
387
  $ cat <file
388
  >expected content
389
390
You can also check the existence of a file with cat, the following will fail if
391
the file doesn't exist::
392
393
  $ cat file
394
4917.2.1 by Martin Pool
Add better example for ScriptRunner and tweak its place in the document hierarchy
395
The actual use of ScriptRunner within a TestCase looks something like
396
this::
397
398
        def test_unshelve_keep(self):
399
                # some setup here
400
                sr = ScriptRunner()
401
                sr.run_script(self, '''
402
        $ bzr add file
403
        $ bzr shelve --all -m Foo
404
        $ bzr shelve --list
405
        1: Foo
406
        $ bzr unshelve --keep
407
        $ bzr shelve --list
408
        1: Foo
409
        $ cat file
410
        contents of file
411
        ''')
412
4665.5.20 by Vincent Ladeuil
Fixed as per Martin's review.
413
5017.2.2 by Martin Pool
Add import tariff tests
414
Import tariff tests
415
-------------------
416
417
`bzrlib.tests.test_import_tariff` has some tests that measure how many
418
Python modules are loaded to run some representative commands.
419
420
We want to avoid loading code unnecessarily, for reasons including:
421
422
* Python modules are interpreted when they're loaded, either to define
423
  classes or modules or perhaps to initialize some structures.
424
425
* With a cold cache we may incur blocking real disk IO for each module.
426
427
* Some modules depend on many others.
428
429
* Some optional modules such as `testtools` are meant to be soft
430
  dependencies and only needed for particular cases.  If they're loaded in
431
  other cases then bzr may break for people who don't have those modules.
432
  
5279.1.1 by Andrew Bennetts
lazy_import most things in merge.py; add a few representative modules to the import tariff tests; tweak a couple of other modules so that patiencediff is not necessarily imported; remove a bunch of unused imports from test_knit.py.
433
`test_import_tariff` allows us to check that removal of imports doesn't
5017.2.2 by Martin Pool
Add import tariff tests
434
regress.
435
436
This is done by running the command in a subprocess with
437
``--profile-imports``.  Starting a whole Python interpreter is pretty
438
slow, so we don't want exhaustive testing here, but just enough to guard
439
against distinct fixed problems.
440
441
Assertions about precisely what is loaded tend to be brittle so we instead
442
make assertions that particular things aren't loaded.
443
444
Unless selftest is run with ``--no-plugins``, modules will be loaded in
445
the usual way and checks made on what they cause to be loaded.  This is
446
probably worth checking into, because many bzr users have at least some
447
plugins installed (and they're included in binary installers).
448
449
In theory, plugins might have a good reason to load almost anything:
450
someone might write a plugin that opens a network connection or pops up a
451
gui window every time you run 'bzr status'.  However, it's more likely
452
that the code to do these things is just being loaded accidentally.  We
453
might eventually need to have a way to make exceptions for particular
454
plugins.
455
456
Some things to check:
457
458
* non-GUI commands shouldn't load GUI libraries
459
460
* operations on bzr native formats sholudn't load foreign branch libraries
461
462
* network code shouldn't be loaded for purely local operations
463
464
* particularly expensive Python built-in modules shouldn't be loaded
465
  unless there is a good reason
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
466
467
4634.146.7 by Danny van Heumen
Updated documentation on how to approach testing locking behaviour.
468
Testing locking behaviour
469
-------------------------
470
471
In order to test the locking behaviour of commands, it is possible to install
472
a hook that is called when a write lock is: acquired, released or broken.
473
(Read locks also exist, they cannot be discovered in this way.)
474
475
A hook can be installed by calling bzrlib.lock.Lock.hooks.install_named_hook.
476
The three valid hooks are: `lock_acquired`, `lock_released` and `lock_broken`.
477
478
Example::
479
480
    locks_acquired = []
481
    locks_released = []
482
483
    lock.Lock.hooks.install_named_hook('lock_acquired',
484
        locks_acquired.append, None)
485
    lock.Lock.hooks.install_named_hook('lock_released',
486
        locks_released.append, None)
487
488
`locks_acquired` will now receive a LockResult instance for all locks acquired
489
since the time the hook is installed.
490
4634.146.10 by Danny van Heumen
Updated documentation: added case for BzrDir (removed "special case" remark) and removed explanation for LockResult representation.
491
The last part of the `lock_url` allows you to identify the type of object that is locked.
492
493
- BzrDir: `/branch-lock`
494
- Working tree: `/checkout/lock`
495
- Branch: `/branch/lock`
496
- Repository: `/repository/lock`
4634.146.7 by Danny van Heumen
Updated documentation on how to approach testing locking behaviour.
497
498
To test if a lock is a write lock on a working tree, one can do the following::
499
500
    self.assertEndsWith(locks_acquired[0].lock_url, "/checkout/lock")
501
502
See bzrlib/tests/commands/test_revert.py for an example of how to use this for
503
testing locks.
504
5077.3.1 by Martin Pool
Tip on testing locking behaviour
505
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
506
Skipping tests
507
--------------
508
509
In our enhancements to unittest we allow for some addition results beyond
510
just success or failure.
511
512
If a test can't be run, it can say that it's skipped by raising a special
513
exception.  This is typically used in parameterized tests |--| for example
514
if a transport doesn't support setting permissions, we'll skip the tests
515
that relating to that.  ::
516
517
    try:
518
        return self.branch_format.initialize(repo.bzrdir)
519
    except errors.UninitializableFormat:
520
        raise tests.TestSkipped('Uninitializable branch format')
521
522
Raising TestSkipped is a good idea when you want to make it clear that the
523
test was not run, rather than just returning which makes it look as if it
524
was run and passed.
525
526
Several different cases are distinguished:
527
528
TestSkipped
529
        Generic skip; the only type that was present up to bzr 0.18.
530
531
TestNotApplicable
532
        The test doesn't apply to the parameters with which it was run.
533
        This is typically used when the test is being applied to all
534
        implementations of an interface, but some aspects of the interface
535
        are optional and not present in particular concrete
536
        implementations.  (Some tests that should raise this currently
537
        either silently return or raise TestSkipped.)  Another option is
538
        to use more precise parameterization to avoid generating the test
539
        at all.
540
541
UnavailableFeature
542
        The test can't be run because a dependency (typically a Python
543
        library) is not available in the test environment.  These
544
        are in general things that the person running the test could fix
545
        by installing the library.  It's OK if some of these occur when
546
        an end user runs the tests or if we're specifically testing in a
547
        limited environment, but a full test should never see them.
548
549
        See `Test feature dependencies`_ below.
550
551
KnownFailure
552
        The test exists but is known to fail, for example this might be
553
        appropriate to raise if you've committed a test for a bug but not
554
        the fix for it, or if something works on Unix but not on Windows.
4853.1.1 by Patrick Regan
Removed trailing whitespace from files in doc directory
555
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
556
        Raising this allows you to distinguish these failures from the
557
        ones that are not expected to fail.  If the test would fail
558
        because of something we don't expect or intend to fix,
559
        KnownFailure is not appropriate, and TestNotApplicable might be
560
        better.
561
562
        KnownFailure should be used with care as we don't want a
563
        proliferation of quietly broken tests.
564
4873.2.4 by John Arbash Meinel
Add a NEWS entry and an entry in the testing docs about ModuleAvailableFeature
565
566
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
567
We plan to support three modes for running the test suite to control the
568
interpretation of these results.  Strict mode is for use in situations
569
like merges to the mainline and releases where we want to make sure that
570
everything that can be tested has been tested.  Lax mode is for use by
571
developers who want to temporarily tolerate some known failures.  The
572
default behaviour is obtained by ``bzr selftest`` with no options, and
573
also (if possible) by running under another unittest harness.
574
575
======================= ======= ======= ========
576
result                  strict  default lax
577
======================= ======= ======= ========
578
TestSkipped             pass    pass    pass
579
TestNotApplicable       pass    pass    pass
3619.3.2 by Andrew Bennetts
Remove references to unimplemented TestPlatformLimit, remove some redundant (and misplaced) text from 'Test feature dependencies'.
580
UnavailableFeature      fail    pass    pass
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
581
KnownFailure            fail    pass    pass
582
======================= ======= ======= ========
4853.1.1 by Patrick Regan
Removed trailing whitespace from files in doc directory
583
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
584
585
Test feature dependencies
586
-------------------------
587
588
Writing tests that require a feature
589
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
590
591
Rather than manually checking the environment in each test, a test class
592
can declare its dependence on some test features.  The feature objects are
593
checked only once for each run of the whole test suite.
594
595
(For historical reasons, as of May 2007 many cases that should depend on
596
features currently raise TestSkipped.)
597
598
For example::
599
600
    class TestStrace(TestCaseWithTransport):
601
602
        _test_needs_features = [StraceFeature]
603
3619.3.2 by Andrew Bennetts
Remove references to unimplemented TestPlatformLimit, remove some redundant (and misplaced) text from 'Test feature dependencies'.
604
This means all tests in this class need the feature.  If the feature is
605
not available the test will be skipped using UnavailableFeature.
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
606
607
Individual tests can also require a feature using the ``requireFeature``
608
method::
609
610
    self.requireFeature(StraceFeature)
611
5004.2.1 by Martin Pool
Better documentation of ModuleAvailableFeature
612
The old naming style for features is CamelCase, but because they're
613
actually instances not classses they're now given instance-style names
614
like ``apport``.
615
616
Features already defined in ``bzrlib.tests`` and ``bzrlib.tests.features``
617
include:
618
619
 - apport
620
 - paramiko
621
 - SymlinkFeature
622
 - HardlinkFeature
623
 - OsFifoFeature
624
 - UnicodeFilenameFeature
625
 - FTPServerFeature
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
626
 - CaseInsensitiveFilesystemFeature.
5094.3.1 by Martin Pool
``.bazaar``, ``.bazaar/bazaar.conf`` and ``.bzr.log`` inherit user and group ownership from the containing directory. This allow bzr to work better with sudo.
627
 - chown_feature: The test can rely on OS being POSIX and python
5051.4.6 by Parth Malwankar
documented ChownFeature in testing.txt
628
   supporting os.chown.
5094.3.1 by Martin Pool
``.bazaar``, ``.bazaar/bazaar.conf`` and ``.bzr.log`` inherit user and group ownership from the containing directory. This allow bzr to work better with sudo.
629
 - posix_permissions_feature: The test can use POSIX-style
630
   user/group/other permission bits.
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
631
632
633
Defining a new feature that tests can require
634
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
635
636
New features for use with ``_test_needs_features`` or ``requireFeature``
637
are defined by subclassing ``bzrlib.tests.Feature`` and overriding the
638
``_probe`` and ``feature_name`` methods.  For example::
639
640
    class _SymlinkFeature(Feature):
4853.1.1 by Patrick Regan
Removed trailing whitespace from files in doc directory
641
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
642
        def _probe(self):
643
            return osutils.has_symlinks()
4853.1.1 by Patrick Regan
Removed trailing whitespace from files in doc directory
644
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
645
        def feature_name(self):
646
            return 'symlinks'
4853.1.1 by Patrick Regan
Removed trailing whitespace from files in doc directory
647
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
648
    SymlinkFeature = _SymlinkFeature()
649
5004.2.1 by Martin Pool
Better documentation of ModuleAvailableFeature
650
A helper for handling running tests based on whether a python
651
module is available. This can handle 3rd-party dependencies (is
652
``paramiko`` available?) as well as stdlib (``termios``) or
653
extension modules (``bzrlib._groupcompress_pyx``). You create a
654
new feature instance with::
655
656
    # in bzrlib/tests/features.py
657
    apport = tests.ModuleAvailableFeature('apport')
658
659
660
    # then in bzrlib/tests/test_apport.py
661
    class TestApportReporting(TestCaseInTempDir):
662
663
        _test_needs_features = [features.apport]
664
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
665
666
Testing exceptions and errors
667
-----------------------------
668
669
It's important to test handling of errors and exceptions.  Because this
670
code is often not hit in ad-hoc testing it can often have hidden bugs --
671
it's particularly common to get NameError because the exception code
672
references a variable that has since been renamed.
673
674
.. TODO: Something about how to provoke errors in the right way?
675
676
In general we want to test errors at two levels:
677
678
1. A test in ``test_errors.py`` checking that when the exception object is
679
   constructed with known parameters it produces an expected string form.
680
   This guards against mistakes in writing the format string, or in the
681
   ``str`` representations of its parameters.  There should be one for
682
   each exception class.
683
684
2. Tests that when an api is called in a particular situation, it raises
685
   an error of the expected class.  You should typically use
686
   ``assertRaises``, which in the Bazaar test suite returns the exception
687
   object to allow you to examine its parameters.
688
689
In some cases blackbox tests will also want to check error reporting.  But
690
it can be difficult to provoke every error through the commandline
691
interface, so those tests are only done as needed |--| eg in response to a
692
particular bug or if the error is reported in an unusual way(?)  Blackbox
693
tests should mostly be testing how the command-line interface works, so
694
should only test errors if there is something particular to the cli in how
695
they're displayed or handled.
696
697
698
Testing warnings
699
----------------
700
701
The Python ``warnings`` module is used to indicate a non-fatal code
702
problem.  Code that's expected to raise a warning can be tested through
703
callCatchWarnings.
704
705
The test suite can be run with ``-Werror`` to check no unexpected errors
706
occur.
707
708
However, warnings should be used with discretion.  It's not an appropriate
709
way to give messages to the user, because the warning is normally shown
710
only once per source line that causes the problem.  You should also think
711
about whether the warning is serious enought that it should be visible to
712
users who may not be able to fix it.
713
714
715
Interface implementation testing and test scenarios
716
---------------------------------------------------
717
718
There are several cases in Bazaar of multiple implementations of a common
719
conceptual interface.  ("Conceptual" because it's not necessary for all
720
the implementations to share a base class, though they often do.)
721
Examples include transports and the working tree, branch and repository
722
classes.
723
724
In these cases we want to make sure that every implementation correctly
725
fulfils the interface requirements.  For example, every Transport should
726
support the ``has()`` and ``get()`` and ``clone()`` methods.  We have a
727
sub-suite of tests in ``test_transport_implementations``.  (Most
728
per-implementation tests are in submodules of ``bzrlib.tests``, but not
729
the transport tests at the moment.)
730
731
These tests are repeated for each registered Transport, by generating a
732
new TestCase instance for the cross product of test methods and transport
733
implementations.  As each test runs, it has ``transport_class`` and
734
``transport_server`` set to the class it should test.  Most tests don't
735
access these directly, but rather use ``self.get_transport`` which returns
736
a transport of the appropriate type.
737
738
The goal is to run per-implementation only the tests that relate to that
739
particular interface.  Sometimes we discover a bug elsewhere that happens
740
with only one particular transport.  Once it's isolated, we can consider
741
whether a test should be added for that particular implementation,
742
or for all implementations of the interface.
743
744
The multiplication of tests for different implementations is normally
745
accomplished by overriding the ``load_tests`` function used to load tests
746
from a module.  This function typically loads all the tests, then applies
747
a TestProviderAdapter to them, which generates a longer suite containing
748
all the test variations.
749
750
See also `Per-implementation tests`_ (above).
751
752
753
Test scenarios
754
--------------
755
756
Some utilities are provided for generating variations of tests.  This can
757
be used for per-implementation tests, or other cases where the same test
758
code needs to run several times on different scenarios.
759
760
The general approach is to define a class that provides test methods,
761
which depend on attributes of the test object being pre-set with the
762
values to which the test should be applied.  The test suite should then
763
also provide a list of scenarios in which to run the tests.
764
765
Typically ``multiply_tests_from_modules`` should be called from the test
766
module's ``load_tests`` function.
767
768
769
Test support
770
------------
771
772
We have a rich collection of tools to support writing tests. Please use
773
them in preference to ad-hoc solutions as they provide portability and
774
performance benefits.
775
776
777
TestCase and its subclasses
778
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
779
780
The ``bzrlib.tests`` module defines many TestCase classes to help you
781
write your tests.
782
783
TestCase
784
    A base TestCase that extends the Python standard library's
5200.3.3 by Robert Collins
Lock methods on ``Tree``, ``Branch`` and ``Repository`` are now
785
    TestCase in several ways.  TestCase is build on
786
    ``testtools.TestCase``, which gives it support for more assertion
787
    methods (e.g.  ``assertContainsRe``), ``addCleanup``, and other
788
    features (see its API docs for details).  It also has a ``setUp`` that
789
    makes sure that global state like registered hooks and loggers won't
790
    interfere with your test.  All tests should use this base class
791
    (whether directly or via a subclass).  Note that we are trying not to
792
    add more assertions at this point, and instead to build up a library
793
    of ``bzrlib.tests.matchers``.
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
794
795
TestCaseWithMemoryTransport
796
    Extends TestCase and adds methods like ``get_transport``,
797
    ``make_branch`` and ``make_branch_builder``.  The files created are
798
    stored in a MemoryTransport that is discarded at the end of the test.
799
    This class is good for tests that need to make branches or use
800
    transports, but that don't require storing things on disk.  All tests
801
    that create bzrdirs should use this base class (either directly or via
802
    a subclass) as it ensures that the test won't accidentally operate on
803
    real branches in your filesystem.
804
805
TestCaseInTempDir
806
    Extends TestCaseWithMemoryTransport.  For tests that really do need
807
    files to be stored on disk, e.g. because a subprocess uses a file, or
808
    for testing functionality that accesses the filesystem directly rather
809
    than via the Transport layer (such as dirstate).
810
811
TestCaseWithTransport
812
    Extends TestCaseInTempDir.  Provides ``get_url`` and
813
    ``get_readonly_url`` facilities.  Subclasses can control the
814
    transports used by setting ``vfs_transport_factory``,
815
    ``transport_server`` and/or ``transport_readonly_server``.
816
817
818
See the API docs for more details.
819
820
821
BranchBuilder
822
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
823
824
When writing a test for a feature, it is often necessary to set up a
825
branch with a certain history.  The ``BranchBuilder`` interface allows the
826
creation of test branches in a quick and easy manner.  Here's a sample
827
session::
828
829
  builder = self.make_branch_builder('relpath')
830
  builder.build_commit()
831
  builder.build_commit()
832
  builder.build_commit()
833
  branch = builder.get_branch()
834
835
``make_branch_builder`` is a method of ``TestCaseWithMemoryTransport``.
836
837
Note that many current tests create test branches by inheriting from
838
``TestCaseWithTransport`` and using the ``make_branch_and_tree`` helper to
839
give them a ``WorkingTree`` that they can commit to. However, using the
840
newer ``make_branch_builder`` helper is preferred, because it can build
841
the changes in memory, rather than on disk. Tests that are explictly
842
testing how we work with disk objects should, of course, use a real
843
``WorkingTree``.
844
845
Please see bzrlib.branchbuilder for more details.
846
4070.5.2 by Martin Pool
Recommend setting timestamp in BranchBuilder
847
If you're going to examine the commit timestamps e.g. in a test for log
848
output, you should set the timestamp on the tree, rather than using fuzzy
849
matches in the test.
850
3619.3.1 by Andrew Bennetts
Move the notes on writing tests out of HACKING into a new file, and improve
851
852
TreeBuilder
853
~~~~~~~~~~~
854
855
The ``TreeBuilder`` interface allows the construction of arbitrary trees
856
with a declarative interface. A sample session might look like::
857
858
  tree = self.make_branch_and_tree('path')
859
  builder = TreeBuilder()
860
  builder.start_tree(tree)
861
  builder.build(['foo', "bar/", "bar/file"])
862
  tree.commit('commit the tree')
863
  builder.finish_tree()
864
865
Usually a test will create a tree using ``make_branch_and_memory_tree`` (a
866
method of ``TestCaseWithMemoryTransport``) or ``make_branch_and_tree`` (a
867
method of ``TestCaseWithTransport``).
868
869
Please see bzrlib.treebuilder for more details.
870
871
872
.. |--| unicode:: U+2014
873
874
..
875
   vim: ft=rst tw=74 ai