[Python-Dev] OS X buildbots: why am I skipping these tests?

[Brett Cannon]

On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 09:03, Bill Janssen <janssen at parc.com> wrote:
> Martin v. Löwis <martin at v.loewis.de> wrote:
>
>> > Seems to work fine.  So this I don't understand.  Any ideas, anyone?
>>
>> Didn't we discuss this before?
>
> Possibly, but I don't recall doing so.
>
>> The buildbot slave has no controlling
>> terminal anymore, hence it cannot open /dev/tty. If you are curious,
>> just patch your checkout to output the exact errno (e.g. to stdout),
>> and trigger a build through the web.
>
> So, why is skipping this test "unexpected"?  I see "x86 Tiger" is also
> showing this as an unexpected skip.  Should I just add it to the list of
> expected skips on Darwin?  Actually, will it run on any platform?

The whole "unexpected" skipping is somewhat of a mess. In an ideal
situation modules that are optionally built should be allowed to skip,
and on a per-platform basis certain OS-specific tests (whether they be
exclusive to a specific OS or run on all OSs except Windows) should be
skipped. Otherwise any import failure should be a test failure. The
"unexpected" test skipping was meant to solve both of these
situations, but in an imperfect way.

My PSF grant proposal to work on Python full-time for two to three
months after my Ph.D. is complete (assuming the PSF gives me the grant
this would start most likely in November or December) includes
cleaning up the test suite and this would be the first thing I tackle.