Re: [PATCH v4 7/7] t/README: Document the do's and don'ts of tests

On Tue, Jul 6, 2010 at 08:35, Jakub Narebski [off-list ref] wrote:

Junio C Hamano [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

+Do:
+
+ - Put as much code as possible inside test_expect_success and other
+   assertions.
+
+   Even code that isn't a test per se, but merely some setup code
+   should be inside a test assertion if at all possible. Test scripts
+   should only have trivial code outside of their assertions.

Let's make it even stronger; "should only have trivial" -> "shouldn't have
any ... unless there is a good reason."

I think that the only thing that can and *should* be put outside
test_expect_* is creating helper file: test vectors ('expect' files),
configuration files, files that are to be arguments to commands, etc.
Is it covered by "there is a good reason"?  Isn't it too severe?

Personally I'd put `.. >expect && .. >actual && test_cmp' inside
test_expect_* too if they're only going to be used by that test, but
outside them at the top of the file if they're files that are used by
multiple tests for the duration of the test run.

There probably should be description when to put creating such files
in test script, and when to put them as pre-made files in tXXXX/
subdirectory (non US-ASCII is one reason to put it as pre-made file).

I don't know which one would be preferrable. We have a lot of things
in t/t*/* that could be generated by a test, and vice-versa.