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-rw-r--r--doc/rtd/topics/debugging.rst6
-rw-r--r--doc/rtd/topics/integration_tests.rst2
-rw-r--r--doc/rtd/topics/testing.rst173
3 files changed, 177 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/doc/rtd/topics/debugging.rst b/doc/rtd/topics/debugging.rst
index 0d416f32..fb3006fe 100644
--- a/doc/rtd/topics/debugging.rst
+++ b/doc/rtd/topics/debugging.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-********************************
-Testing and debugging cloud-init
-********************************
+********************
+Debugging cloud-init
+********************
Overview
========
diff --git a/doc/rtd/topics/integration_tests.rst b/doc/rtd/topics/integration_tests.rst
index 3cfca31e..6c124ad9 100644
--- a/doc/rtd/topics/integration_tests.rst
+++ b/doc/rtd/topics/integration_tests.rst
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ Overview
Integration tests are written using pytest and are located at
``tests/integration_tests``. General design principles
-laid out in :ref:`unit_testing` should be followed for integration tests.
+laid out in :ref:`testing` should be followed for integration tests.
Setup is accomplished via a set of fixtures located in
``tests/integration_tests/conftest.py``.
diff --git a/doc/rtd/topics/testing.rst b/doc/rtd/topics/testing.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5b702bd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/rtd/topics/testing.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+*******
+Testing
+*******
+
+cloud-init has both unit tests and integration tests. Unit tests can
+be found in-tree alongside the source code, as well as
+at ``tests/unittests``. Integration tests can be found at
+``tests/integration_tests``. Documentation specifically for integration
+tests can be found on the :ref:`integration_tests` page, but
+the guidelines specified below apply to both types of tests.
+
+cloud-init uses `pytest`_ to run its tests, and has tests written both
+as ``unittest.TestCase`` sub-classes and as un-subclassed pytest tests.
+
+Guidelines
+==========
+
+The following guidelines should be followed.
+
+Test Layout
+-----------
+
+* For ease of organisation and greater accessibility for developers not
+ familiar with pytest, all cloud-init unit tests must be contained
+ within test classes
+
+ * Put another way, module-level test functions should not be used
+
+* As all tests are contained within classes, it is acceptable to mix
+ ``TestCase`` test classes and pytest test classes within the same
+ test file
+
+ * These can be easily distinguished by their definition: pytest
+ classes will not use inheritance at all (e.g.
+ `TestGetPackageMirrorInfo`_), whereas ``TestCase`` classes will
+ subclass (indirectly) from ``TestCase`` (e.g.
+ `TestPrependBaseCommands`_)
+
+``pytest`` Tests
+----------------
+
+* pytest test classes should use `pytest fixtures`_ to share
+ functionality instead of inheritance
+
+* pytest tests should use bare ``assert`` statements, to take advantage
+ of pytest's `assertion introspection`_
+
+ * For ``==`` and other commutative assertions, the expected value
+ should be placed before the value under test:
+ ``assert expected_value == function_under_test()``
+
+
+``pytest`` Version Gotchas
+--------------------------
+
+As we still support Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial Xerus), we can only use pytest
+features that are available in v2.8.7. This is an inexhaustive list of
+ways in which this may catch you out:
+
+* Support for using ``yield`` in ``pytest.fixture`` functions was only
+ introduced in `pytest 3.0`_. Such functions must instead use the
+ ``pytest.yield_fixture`` decorator.
+
+* Only the following built-in fixtures are available [#fixture-list]_:
+
+ * ``cache``
+ * ``capfd``
+ * ``caplog`` (provided by ``python3-pytest-catchlog`` on xenial)
+ * ``capsys``
+ * ``monkeypatch``
+ * ``pytestconfig``
+ * ``record_xml_property``
+ * ``recwarn``
+ * ``tmpdir_factory``
+ * ``tmpdir``
+
+* On xenial, the objects returned by the ``tmpdir`` fixture cannot be
+ used where paths are required; they are rejected as invalid paths.
+ You must instead use their ``.strpath`` attribute.
+
+ * For example, instead of ``util.write_file(tmpdir.join("some_file"),
+ ...)``, you should write
+ ``util.write_file(tmpdir.join("some_file").strpath, ...)``.
+
+* The `pytest.param`_ function cannot be used. It was introduced in
+ pytest 3.1, which means it is not available on xenial. The more
+ limited mechanism it replaced was removed in pytest 4.0, so is not
+ available in focal or later. The only available alternatives are to
+ write mark-requiring test instances as completely separate tests,
+ without utilising parameterisation, or to apply the mark to the
+ entire parameterized test (and therefore every test instance).
+
+Mocking and Assertions
+----------------------
+
+* Variables/parameter names for ``Mock`` or ``MagicMock`` instances
+ should start with ``m_`` to clearly distinguish them from non-mock
+ variables
+
+ * For example, ``m_readurl`` (which would be a mock for ``readurl``)
+
+* The ``assert_*`` methods that are available on ``Mock`` and
+ ``MagicMock`` objects should be avoided, as typos in these method
+ names may not raise ``AttributeError`` (and so can cause tests to
+ silently pass). An important exception: if a ``Mock`` is
+ `autospecced`_ then misspelled assertion methods *will* raise an
+ ``AttributeError``, so these assertion methods may be used on
+ autospecced ``Mock`` objects.
+
+ For non-autospecced ``Mock`` s, these substitutions can be used
+ (``m`` is assumed to be a ``Mock``):
+
+ * ``m.assert_any_call(*args, **kwargs)`` => ``assert
+ mock.call(*args, **kwargs) in m.call_args_list``
+ * ``m.assert_called()`` => ``assert 0 != m.call_count``
+ * ``m.assert_called_once()`` => ``assert 1 == m.call_count``
+ * ``m.assert_called_once_with(*args, **kwargs)`` => ``assert
+ [mock.call(*args, **kwargs)] == m.call_args_list``
+ * ``m.assert_called_with(*args, **kwargs)`` => ``assert
+ mock.call(*args, **kwargs) == m.call_args_list[-1]``
+ * ``m.assert_has_calls(call_list, any_order=True)`` => ``for call in
+ call_list: assert call in m.call_args_list``
+
+ * ``m.assert_has_calls(...)`` and ``m.assert_has_calls(...,
+ any_order=False)`` are not easily replicated in a single
+ statement, so their use when appropriate is acceptable.
+
+ * ``m.assert_not_called()`` => ``assert 0 == m.call_count``
+
+* When there are multiple patch calls in a test file for the module it
+ is testing, it may be desirable to capture the shared string prefix
+ for these patch calls in a module-level variable. If used, such
+ variables should be named ``M_PATH`` or, for datasource tests,
+ ``DS_PATH``.
+
+Test Argument Ordering
+----------------------
+
+* Test arguments should be ordered as follows:
+
+ * ``mock.patch`` arguments. When used as a decorator, ``mock.patch``
+ partially applies its generated ``Mock`` object as the first
+ argument, so these arguments must go first.
+ * ``pytest.mark.parametrize`` arguments, in the order specified to
+ the ``parametrize`` decorator. These arguments are also provided
+ by a decorator, so it's natural that they sit next to the
+ ``mock.patch`` arguments.
+ * Fixture arguments, alphabetically. These are not provided by a
+ decorator, so they are last, and their order has no defined
+ meaning, so we default to alphabetical.
+
+* It follows from this ordering of test arguments (so that we retain
+ the property that arguments left-to-right correspond to decorators
+ bottom-to-top) that test decorators should be ordered as follows:
+
+ * ``pytest.mark.parametrize``
+ * ``mock.patch``
+
+.. [#fixture-list] This list of fixtures (with markup) can be
+ reproduced by running::
+
+ py.test-3 --fixtures -q | grep "^[^ -]" | grep -v '\(no\|capturelog\)' | sort | sed 's/.*/* ``\0``/'
+
+ in a xenial lxd container with python3-pytest-catchlog installed.
+
+.. _pytest: https://docs.pytest.org/
+.. _pytest fixtures: https://docs.pytest.org/en/latest/fixture.html
+.. _TestGetPackageMirrorInfo: https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/blob/42f69f410ab8850c02b1f53dd67c132aa8ef64f5/cloudinit/distros/tests/test_init.py\#L15
+.. _TestPrependBaseCommands: https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/blob/master/cloudinit/tests/test_subp.py#L9
+.. _assertion introspection: https://docs.pytest.org/en/latest/assert.html
+.. _pytest 3.0: https://docs.pytest.org/en/latest/changelog.html#id1093
+.. _pytest.param: https://docs.pytest.org/en/latest/reference.html#pytest-param
+.. _autospecced: https://docs.python.org/3.8/library/unittest.mock.html#autospeccing