[Distutils] test suite support

Moore, Paul Paul.Moore@atosorigin.com
Wed Jan 16 09:50:00 2002


From: Thomas Heller [mailto:thomas.heller@ion-tof.com]
> You fear endless discussions resulting in no released code?

Exactly. Happens too often for my liking...

> Now that distutils doesn't have a named maintainer,
> how are we supposed to proceed? Anyone writes a PEP, or
> is this overkill?

I'd suggest that a PEP is overkill. I see PEPs as more related to Python
language changes, rather than library issues (unless the library issue is
far-reaching or fundamental).

I'd suggest a proposal to distutils-sig (basically, just a repost of your
message with the suggested code in it), with a suggested discussion period
of (say) 1 week. If no-one raises a showstopper objection in that time,
check it in. Any discussion over the exact details of features should be
noted but treated as requests for changes which can be submitted as patches
*after* the release (unless they are small and non-controversial, when they
can just be done).

Actually, I'd just check it in and wait for comments, but I like to live
dangerously... :-)

> Anyway, lets try to clear this *fast*.

Yes.

Treating your suggested code as a proposal, I've a couple of comments. None
to be treated as showstoppers - count me as +1 on checking this in
regardless - but possibly worth consideration:

1. What happens if there are no tests? Rather than silently doing nothing,
I'd suggest printing "No tests defined", to act as a reminder that tests
would be nice...

2. What is the code_coverage module? It's not standard, so I guess it should
not be included in a standard distutils command. Although including code
coverage reports in test results is nice, so using it if it is available,
and skipping the coverage tests if not, might be good.

Paul.