At 02:27 PM 2/26/2010 -0500, Olemis Lang wrote:

test_suite is ( supported | introduced | defined ) by setuptools.comand.test.test class

...

Is it required to be a callable

yep

No. test_suite is to be an object recognized by the test_loader as convertible to a unittest TestSuite. For example, a module, TestCase subclass, etc.

You are probably thinking of the test_runner option, not test_suite.

test command performs test discovery (as a last recourse AFAICR, /me cc-ing to P.J. Eby because probably he has further updates ;o) using a loader: setuptools.comand.test.xxx

Setuptools' test loader will scan modules and packages, but you still have to tell it where your top-level test package or module is. (The test_suite.)

BTW, I am strongly -1 for using the discovery protocol introduced in 2.7 (AFAICR), specially because it collides with test_suite and many other arguments ... so it would be very nice when defining packaging conventions, layout ... not to enforce the use of that protocol, so that if another discovery is used then it could still be compatible with the more abstract good practices. (all this said from my selfish position, I confess)

I'm not sure what you're talking about here; I'm not much in the loop for what's going on with distutils updates, and even more so for unittest updates.