Bug#1053413: RFP: tox-current-env -- tox plugin to run tests in current Python environment
Package: wnpp
Severity: wishlist
X-Debbugs-Cc: debian-python@lists.debian.org
* Package name : tox-current-env
Version : 0.0.11
Upstream Contact: Miro Hrončok <miro@hroncok.cz>
* URL : https://github.com/fedora-python/tox-current-env
* License : MIT
Programming Lang: Python
Description : tox plugin to run tests in current Python environment
The tox-current-env plugin adds these options:
tox --current-env
Runs the tox testenv's commands in the current Python environment
(that is, the environment where tox is invoked from and installed
in). Unlike regular tox invocation, this installs no dependencies
declared in deps. An attempt to run this with a Python version
that doesn't match will fail (if tox is invoked from an Python 3.7
environment, any non 3.7 testenv will fail).
tox --print-deps-to=FILE
Instead of running any commands, simply prints the declared
dependencies in deps to the specified FILE. This is useful for
preparing the current environment for tox --current-env. Use - for
FILE to print to standard output.
tox --print-extras-to=FILE
Instead of running any commands, simply prints the names of the
declared extras in extras to the specified FILE. This is useful
for preparing the current environment for tox --current-env. Use -
for FILE to print to standard output.
It is possible to use the two printing options together, as long as
the FILE is different.
Invoking tox without any of the above options should behave as regular
tox invocation without this plugin. Any deviation from this behavior
is considered a bug.
The plugin disables tox's way of providing a testing environment, but
assumes that you supply one in some other way. Always run tox with
this plugin in a fresh isolated environment, such as Python
virtualenv, Linux container or chroot. See other caveats below.
Obviously, tox was created to run tests in isolated Python virtual
environments. The --current-env flag totally defeats the purpose of
tox. Why would anybody do that, you might ask?
Well, it turns out that tox became too popular and gained another purpose.
The Python ecosystem now has formal specifications for many pieces of
package metadata like versions or dependencies. However, there is no
standardization yet for declaring test dependencies or running
tests. The most popular de-facto standard for that today is tox, and
we expect a future standard to evolve from tox.ini. This plugin lets
us use tox's dependency lists and testing commands for environments
other than Python venvs.
We hope this plugin will enable community best practices around tox
configuration to grow to better accomodate non-virtualenv environments
in general – for example, Linux distros, Conda, or containers.
Specifically, this plugin was created for Fedora's needs. When we
package Python software as RPM packages, we try to run the project's
test suite during package build. However, we need to test if the
software works integrated into Fedora, not with packages downloaded
from PyPI into a fresh environment. By running the tests in current
environment, we can achieve that.
----
In my case, I want to avoid constantly downloading unverified code
from the internet, or, even worse, *compile* code (e.g. for
python3-ldap, in my case) which involves a whole other pile of stuff
to install.
Other Tox plugins are currently maintained by the Python team (and
Peter Pentchev), so it would probably be the same for this one.
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