rspec users - Feb 2009 - Run cucumber on a different DB than test?

Hi all:

Is it possible to run Rails Cucumber spec in a different DB than the test DB? 
I''d like to run the rspec and cucumber tests in parallel in my cc.rb
build, and as it is now, I get MYSQL deadlocks on occasion.  I could serialize
them, but I''d like the quicker feedback of running them in parallel.

Forrest

On Feb 26, 2009, at 1:19 PM, Forrest Chang wrote:
> Hi all:
>
> Is it possible to run Rails Cucumber spec in a different DB than the  
> test DB?  I''d like to run the rspec and cucumber tests in parallel
> in my cc.rb build, and as it is now, I get MYSQL deadlocks on  
> occasion.  I could serialize them, but I''d like the quicker
feedback
> of running them in parallel.
Why not create a new environment, and set RAILS_ENV="test_cucumber" ?

Scott
>
>
> Forrest
>
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users

On 26 Feb 2009, at 18:27, Scott Taylor wrote:
>
> On Feb 26, 2009, at 1:19 PM, Forrest Chang wrote:
>
>> Hi all:
>>
>> Is it possible to run Rails Cucumber spec in a different DB than  
>> the test DB?  I''d like to run the rspec and cucumber tests in
>> parallel in my cc.rb build, and as it is now, I get MYSQL deadlocks  
>> on occasion.  I could serialize them, but I''d like the quicker
>> feedback of running them in parallel.
>
> Why not create a new environment, and set
RAILS_ENV="test_cucumber" ?
>
> Scott
>
We do this, and it''s entirely possible, in fact I highly recommend it.
We call our environment ''features''

One gotcha is that rspec-rails and a certain file in rails[1] (which  
cucumber requires into Cucumber::Rails::World) will stomp all over  
your RAILS_ENV and set it back to ''test'', which means that if
you do
(and you really shouldn''t) have any code that depends on this being  
set correctly, it will break.

I think rspec-rails is now fixed, though you might need to use David''s
latest version from github.


Please let me know how you get on running them in parallel for CI, as  
I''d also like to do this. At the moment we just use the two  
environments for faster feedback when we''re regressions testing  
locally. How are you thinking about collecting the results, for  
example? Piping them to separate files?

Matt Wynne
http://blog.mattwynne.net
http://www.songkick.com

[1]http://github.com/rails/rails/blob/77b0994c7835610982d708ce7ce5cd95e6e99e5a/railties/lib/test_help.rb

On Feb 27, 2009, at 11:41 AM, Matt Wynne wrote:
>
> On 26 Feb 2009, at 18:27, Scott Taylor wrote:
>
>>
>> On Feb 26, 2009, at 1:19 PM, Forrest Chang wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all:
>>>
>>> Is it possible to run Rails Cucumber spec in a different DB than  
>>> the test DB?  I''d like to run the rspec and cucumber tests
in
>>> parallel in my cc.rb build, and as it is now, I get MYSQL  
>>> deadlocks on occasion.  I could serialize them, but I''d
like the
>>> quicker feedback of running them in parallel.
>>
>> Why not create a new environment, and set
RAILS_ENV="test_cucumber" ?
>>
>> Scott
>>
>
> We do this, and it''s entirely possible, in fact I highly recommend
> it. We call our environment ''features''
>
> One gotcha is that rspec-rails and a certain file in rails[1] (which  
> cucumber requires into Cucumber::Rails::World) will stomp all over  
> your RAILS_ENV and set it back to ''test'', which means
that if you do
> (and you really shouldn''t) have any code that depends on this
being
> set correctly, it will break.
Yeah, and certain rake tasks won''t work, if I recall properly.   
RAILS_ENV=another_env rake db:test:prepare still reset the test  
database, not the db in another_env.

Scott

>
>
> I think rspec-rails is now fixed, though you might need to use  
> David''s latest version from github.
>
>
> Please let me know how you get on running them in parallel for CI,  
> as I''d also like to do this. At the moment we just use the two  
> environments for faster feedback when we''re regressions testing  
> locally. How are you thinking about collecting the results, for  
> example? Piping them to separate files?
>
> Matt Wynne
> http://blog.mattwynne.net
> http://www.songkick.com
>
>
[1]http://github.com/rails/rails/blob/77b0994c7835610982d708ce7ce5cd95e6e99e5a/railties/lib/test_help.rb
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users

On 27 Feb 2009, at 16:54, Scott Taylor wrote:
>
> On Feb 27, 2009, at 11:41 AM, Matt Wynne wrote:
>
>>
>> On 26 Feb 2009, at 18:27, Scott Taylor wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On Feb 26, 2009, at 1:19 PM, Forrest Chang wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi all:
>>>>
>>>> Is it possible to run Rails Cucumber spec in a different DB
than
>>>> the test DB?  I''d like to run the rspec and cucumber
tests in
>>>> parallel in my cc.rb build, and as it is now, I get MYSQL  
>>>> deadlocks on occasion.  I could serialize them, but
I''d like the
>>>> quicker feedback of running them in parallel.
>>>
>>> Why not create a new environment, and set  
>>> RAILS_ENV="test_cucumber" ?
>>>
>>> Scott
>>>
>>
>> We do this, and it''s entirely possible, in fact I highly
recommend
>> it. We call our environment ''features''
>>
>> One gotcha is that rspec-rails and a certain file in rails[1]  
>> (which cucumber requires into Cucumber::Rails::World) will stomp  
>> all over your RAILS_ENV and set it back to ''test'',
which means that
>> if you do (and you really shouldn''t) have any code that
depends on
>> this being set correctly, it will break.
>
> Yeah, and certain rake tasks won''t work, if I recall properly.   
> RAILS_ENV=another_env rake db:test:prepare still reset the test  
> database, not the db in another_env.
>
> Scott
Indeed. I do have a fully-functioning rake db:features:prepare task  
which I can share if anyone''s interested.

It''s kind of a shame - this aspect of Rails is not nearly so  
extensible as it looks. I really should spend some effort pushing them  
some patches instead of just bodging it in our codebase.


Matt Wynne
http://blog.mattwynne.net
http://www.songkick.com

On Feb 27, 2009, at 12:01 PM, Matt Wynne wrote:
>
> On 27 Feb 2009, at 16:54, Scott Taylor wrote:
>
>>
>> On Feb 27, 2009, at 11:41 AM, Matt Wynne wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On 26 Feb 2009, at 18:27, Scott Taylor wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Feb 26, 2009, at 1:19 PM, Forrest Chang wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi all:
>>>>>
>>>>> Is it possible to run Rails Cucumber spec in a different DB
than
>>>>> the test DB?  I''d like to run the rspec and
cucumber tests in
>>>>> parallel in my cc.rb build, and as it is now, I get MYSQL  
>>>>> deadlocks on occasion.  I could serialize them, but
I''d like the
>>>>> quicker feedback of running them in parallel.
>>>>
>>>> Why not create a new environment, and set  
>>>> RAILS_ENV="test_cucumber" ?
>>>>
>>>> Scott
>>>>
>>>
>>> We do this, and it''s entirely possible, in fact I highly
recommend
>>> it. We call our environment ''features''
>>>
>>> One gotcha is that rspec-rails and a certain file in rails[1]  
>>> (which cucumber requires into Cucumber::Rails::World) will stomp  
>>> all over your RAILS_ENV and set it back to
''test'', which means
>>> that if you do (and you really shouldn''t) have any code
that
>>> depends on this being set correctly, it will break.
>>
>> Yeah, and certain rake tasks won''t work, if I recall properly.
>> RAILS_ENV=another_env rake db:test:prepare still reset the test  
>> database, not the db in another_env.
>>
>> Scott
>
> Indeed. I do have a fully-functioning rake db:features:prepare task  
> which I can share if anyone''s interested.
>
> It''s kind of a shame - this aspect of Rails is not nearly so  
> extensible as it looks. I really should spend some effort pushing  
> them some patches instead of just bodging it in our codebase.
Of course one of the issues is that they *do* want to provide checks  
for certain tasks.

You''d probably want an error RAILS_ENV=development rake db:test:prepare

Scott
>
>
>
> Matt Wynne
> http://blog.mattwynne.net
> http://www.songkick.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users

----- Original Message ----
> Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:41:53 +0000
> From: Matt Wynne 
> Please let me know how you get on running them in parallel for CI, as  
> I''d also like to do this. At the moment we just use the two  
> environments for faster feedback when we''re regressions testing  
> locally. How are you thinking about collecting the results, for  
> example? Piping them to separate files?
> 
I have 2 projects in cc.rb.  Each is the same codebase but runs a different
target, so when a git change is pushed, they both kick off in parallel.

I was going to put html output into the custom build artifacts, and possibly
making a 3rd page to put all the results on one page.

Forrest

Hi Matt:

> > Yeah, and certain rake tasks won''t work, if I recall
properly.
> > RAILS_ENV=another_env rake db:test:prepare still reset the test  
> > database, not the db in another_env.
> >
> > Scott
> 
> Indeed. I do have a fully-functioning rake db:features:prepare task  
> which I can share if anyone''s interested.
> 
I ran into this very same issue that Scott points out and you have apparently
solved, so I''m definitely interested.

So with this setup you can do a ''rake spec'' and have it run on
the test DB, and ''rake features'' and have it run on the
features DB?

Forrest

On 27 Feb 2009, at 19:59, Forrest Chang wrote:
> Hi Matt:
>
>
>>> Yeah, and certain rake tasks won''t work, if I recall
properly.
>>> RAILS_ENV=another_env rake db:test:prepare still reset the test
>>> database, not the db in another_env.
>>>
>>> Scott
>>
>> Indeed. I do have a fully-functioning rake db:features:prepare task
>> which I can share if anyone''s interested.
>>
>
> I ran into this very same issue that Scott points out and you have  
> apparently solved, so I''m definitely interested.
voila: http://gist.github.com/71918
> So with this setup you can do a ''rake spec'' and have it
run on the
> test DB, and ''rake features'' and have it run on the
features DB?
Exactly. I usually have a couple of tabs open in the terminal and run  
one in each.

On 27 Feb 2009, at 19:56, Forrest Chang wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----
>
>> Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:41:53 +0000
>> From: Matt Wynne
>
>> Please let me know how you get on running them in parallel for CI, as
>> I''d also like to do this. At the moment we just use the two
>> environments for faster feedback when we''re regressions
testing
>> locally. How are you thinking about collecting the results, for
>> example? Piping them to separate files?
>>
>
> I have 2 projects in cc.rb.  Each is the same codebase but runs a  
> different target, so when a git change is pushed, they both kick off  
> in parallel.
Of course! I''ve been meaning to do this for ages, with a third build  
that does the both sets of tests and then deploys to the demo  
environment.

I also did something which you might be interested in with our build  
to dynamically build a new database for the tests / features to run  
in. Looking back I can''t actually see a why I did this, and you might  
not need it. I think at the time I suspected that cruise was building  
the same project multiple times in parallel if a second commit came in  
while a build was already happening. I''m not sure if that''s
actually
the case right now.

FWIW, here''s our cruise rake task. It uses an erb template for  
database.yml which you''ll see from looking at the code.

http://gist.github.com/71920


Matt Wynne
http://blog.mattwynne.net
http://www.songkick.com