In general, we are trying to ensure that new tests are good. So what makes a good test?
Tests that depend on wall time will fail. As a bonus, they run very slowly. Do
not use reactor.callLater to wait "long enough" for something to happen.
For testing things that themselves depend on time, consider using
twisted.internet.tasks.Clock. This may mean passing a clock instance to
the code under test, and propagating that instance as necessary to ensure that
all of the code using callLater uses it. Refactoring code for
testability is difficult, but wortwhile.
For testing things that do not depend on time, but for which you cannot detect the "end" of an operation: add a way to detect the end of the operation!
Make your tests readable. This is no place to skimp on comments! Others will
attempt to learn about the expected behavior of your class by reading the
tests. As a side note, if you use a Deferred chain in your test, write
the callbacks as nested functions, rather than using object methods with funny
names:
def testSomething(self):
d = doThisFirst()
def andThisNext(res):
pass # ...
d.addCallback(andThisNext)
return d
This isolates the entire test into one indented block. It is OK to add methods for common functionality, but give them real names and explain in detail what they do.
Your test module should be named after the package or class it tests, replacing
. with _ and omitting the buildbot_. For example,
test_status_web_authz_Authz.py tests the Authz class in
buildbot/status/web/authz.py. Modules with only one class, or a few
trivial classes, can be tested in a single test module. For more complex
situations, prefer to use multiple test modules.
Test method names should follow the pattern test_METHOD_CONDITION where METHOD is the method being tested, and CONDITION is the condition under which it's tested. Since we can't always test a single method, this is not a hard-and-fast rule.
Each test should have a single assertion. This may require a little bit of work to get several related pieces of information into a single Python object for comparison. The problem with multiple assertions is that, if the first assertion fails, the remainder are not tested. The test results then do not tell the entire story.
If you need to make two unrelated assertions, you should be running two tests.
Mocks assert that they are called correctly. Stubs provide a predictable base on which to run the code under test. See Mock Object and Method Stub.
Mock objects can be constructed easily using the aptly-named mock module, which is a requirement for Buildbot's tests.
One of the difficulties with Buildbot is that interfaces are unstable and poorly documented, which makes it difficult to design stubs. A common repository for stubs, however, will allow any interface changes to be reflected in only one place in the test code.
The shorter each test is, the better. Test as little code as possible in each test.
It is fine, and in fact encouraged, to write the code under test in such a way as to facilitate this. As an illustrative example, if you are testing a new Step subclass, but your tests require instantiating a BuildMaster, you're probably doing something wrong! (Note that this rule is almost universally violated in the existing buildbot tests).
This also applies to test modules. Several short, easily-digested test modules are preferred over a 1000-line monster.
Each test should be maximally independent of other tests. Do not leave files laying around after your test has finished, and do not assume that some other test has run beforehand. It's fine to use caching techniques to avoid repeated, lengthy setup times.
Tests should be as robust as possible, which at a basic level means using the available frameworks correctly. All deferreds should have callbacks and be chained properly. Error conditions should be checked properly. Race conditions should not exist (see "Independent of Time", above).
Note that tests will pass most of the time, but the moment when they are most useful is when they fail.
When the test fails, it should produce output that is helpful to the person chasing it down. This is particularly important when the tests are run remotely, in which case the person chasing down the bug does not have access to the system on which the test fails. A test which fails sporadically with no more information than "AssertionFailed?" is a prime candidate for deletion if the error isn't obvious. Making the error obvious also includes adding comments describing the ways a test might fail.
Do not define setUp and tearDown directly in a mixin. This is the path to
madness. Instead, define a myMixinNameSetUp and
myMixinNameTearDown, and call them explicitlyi from the subclass's
setUp and tearDown. This makes it perfectly clear what is being
set up and torn down from a simple analysis of the test case.