[Numpy-discussion] Switching to nose test framework (was: NumpyTest problem)

[Alan Jackson]

On Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:21:11 +0200
Gael Varoquaux <gael.varoquaux at normalesup.org> wrote:

> On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 02:51:51AM +0200, Stéfan van der Walt wrote:
> > > Build instructions don't really belong in docstrings. Put it in the
> > > README.txt or DEV_README.txt.
> 
> > No, but running the tests is something every user should do before
> > using NumPy.  Unless you object, I'll add that bit to the docstring.
> 
> I don't agrre. My users have no clue what tests are. They have installed
> a binary numpy, and can not remotely understand what the output of the
> test suite would be. I don't think they should have to run test before
> running numpy, they should have to if they run into strange problems, in
> which case I expect them to be instructed to do so. It is true that good
> documentation to run the tests when told so is useful, but it shouldn't
> jump at your face.
> 

Back in my perl and CPAN days, I really liked the paradigm where 
when doing an install, it was expected that you would run
make
make test
make install

Sometimes you couldn't do the install step without having run test. 

If it all works, great - don't even bother the installer. If a test fails, well
install time is a good time to know that something is broken. It could be
pretty ugly later on.


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