[Python-Dev] cpython (2.7): Issue #18441: Make test.support.requires('gui') skip when it should.

[Ronald Oussoren]

On 22 Jul, 2013, at 7:35, Ned Deily <nad at acm.org> wrote:

> In article <51ECAE41.5060403 at udel.edu>, Terry Reedy <tjreedy at udel.edu> 
> wrote:
>> 
> 
> This is exactly what Issue8716 was about.  The buildbot has no way of 
> knowing ahead of time whether a test will cause a crash or not.  Yes, Tk 
> should not crash but it does in some cases.  Speaking of #8716, that 
> reminds me that there is an open issue with it (documented in 
> Issue17496).  There is the start of a patch there to use a more general 
> approach to testing for a working Tk that might be applicable on all 
> platforms.

Issue17496 contains a patch that might fix the crashing problem
for OSX (and possibly other Unix-y platforms). I haven't been able to test 
this in an environment that's simular enough to the buildbots (that is, a 
system where the user running the test does not have GUI access).

That patch starts wish (the TCL shell) in a subprocess, and skips tests
when that doesn't work (on OSX that would be because Tk crashed).

Ronald