[Distutils] Where should I put my tests in my package?

[Ernesto Posse]

On Wed, Nov 17, 2010 at 11:26 AM, Marius Gedminas <marius at pov.lt> wrote:

> 1.  I would like to put lots of tests/ folders next to the code they
> test, rather than at the top level of the project.  How do I make sure
> the tests folders don't get installed?

> 3.  Is there any pattern I should follow for organizing my tests
> within my project?

My approach is a bit different from what has been suggested. I create
a separate tests directory which mirrors the structure of the packages
I want to test, and install them in a (share) data directory. So, in
setup.py I have

import os, os.path
...
data_dir            = 'share/pitz/'
data_files          = \
    [(os.path.join(data_dir, root), [os.path.join(root, file_name) for
file_name in files])
     for root, dirs, files in os.walk('tests')] + other_data_files
...

and in MANIFEST.in I have

recursive-include tests *.py

so the directory structure would look like this:

pitz/
    src/
        pitz/
            cmdline/
            webapp/
                handlers/
                    __init__.py
                    statichandler.py
            entity/

    tests/
        pitz/
            cmdline/
            webapp/
                handlers/
                    __init__.py
                    test_statichandler.py
            entity/

    setup.py
    MANIFEST.in


I like this approach because it cleanly separates the tests from the
actual package code, the tests go into the data directory, rather than
with the package itself, and I can easily decide whether to include or
not the tests with the distribution.




-- 
Ernesto Posse

Applied Formal Methods Group - Software Technology Lab
School of Computing
Queen's University - Kingston, Ontario, Canada