pybuild-autopkgtest(1)

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version 7.20260623ubuntu2 · 2 versions
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💖 pybuild-autopkgtest 💖

okay bestie, this one lives in the General Commands Manual section, and it's genuinely one of the most "just vibes, no config" tools out there. it's called pybuild-autopkgtest and it's here to make your Debian packaging life so much easier. 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

pybuild-autopkgtest — invokes the test suite against requested Python versions and installed packages 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

pybuild-autopkgtest

that's it. that's the whole call. iconic behavior honestly. 👑

✨ OPTIONS ✨

bestie. listen. pybuild-autopkgtest takes no options or arguments. none. zero. nada. 🎀

all configuration is done via the same mechanisms you use to control pybuild itself, namely:

  • by having build dependencies on the right packages, or
  • by setting PYBUILD_* environment variables in debian/rules.

so if you were about to type --help and hope for a flag menu… no ma'am. the config is vibes-based and it's giving "read your build deps." 🌸

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so pybuild-autopkgtest is an autopkgtest test runner that reuses all the pybuild infrastructure to run tests against installed packages, exactly the way autopkgtest expects. ✨

to enable it for your package you need to add this to the source stanza in debian/control:

Testsuite: autopkgtest-pkg-pybuild

and that alone will cause autodep8(1) to produce the correct contents for debian/tests/control. slay. 🦋

pybuild-autopkgtest will run the tests in exactly the same way pybuild will during the build — with one exception: the tests are not run in the build directory. instead, the test files get copied to a temporary directory, so the tests run against the installed Python modules and not against anything sitting around in your source tree. that's the whole point. 💖

because all the pybuild infrastructure is used, for most packages you don't need to add any extra code to configure pybuild-autopkgtest. for example: just having python3-pytest as a build dependency is enough to make the test runner use pytest to run the tests. that's it. no extra config. no cap. 🙈

the tests are executed via a temporary makefile that includes debian/rules from the package — so any environment variables defined there will also be available during autopkgtest, including but not limited to PYBUILD_* variables for configuring the behavior of pybuild itself. cute AND functional. 🎀

✨ ADOPTING PYBUILD-AUTOPKGTEST ✨

since pybuild-autopkgtest reuses environment variables set in debian/rules, migrating packages over to it should not require much effort. lowkey a free win. 🫶

maybe you have a debian/tests/control that already does what pybuild-autopkgtest does — like copying the test files to a temporary directory, cd-ing into it, and running the tests from there. bestie, those test entries can usually be removed in favor of just adding:

Testsuite: autopkgtest-pkg-pybuild

to debian/control. bye redundant boilerplate. 💅

in general, you want to move any test-related command line arguments to pybuild into environment variables in debian/rules. that's the move.

you can also keep specialized, manually-written test cases alongside the ones autogenerated by autodep8. for that, you do both: set

Testsuite: autopkgtest-pkg-pybuild

in debian/control and keep your custom tests in debian/tests/control. both. at the same time. main character energy. 👑

✨ VARYING BEHAVIOR UNDER AUTOPKGTEST ✨

ideally, the behavior of the tests should be the same during the build and under autopkgtest — except for the fact that during autopkgtest the tests should load the code from the installed package. pybuild-autopkgtest should do this correctly most of the time. ✨

there are situations, however, where you need a slightly different behavior during the autopkgtest run. there are a few mechanisms to support that: 🌈

  • pybuild-autopkgtest sets the PYBUILD_AUTOPKGTEST environment variable to 1 during the test run. this way, you can add conditional behavior in debian/rules. 💖
  • before and after running the tests, pybuild-autopkgtest will call the debian/rules targets before-pybuild-autopkgtest and after-pybuild-autopkgtest, respectively, if they exist. 🎀

✨ SAMPLE TEST CONTROL FILE ✨

the control file produced by autodep8(1) looks like this:

Test-Command: pybuild-autopkgtest
Depends: @, @builddeps@,
Restrictions: allow-stderr, skippable,
Features: test-name=pybuild-autopkgtest
bestie, you should never need to hardcode this in debian/tests/control. let autodep8 cook. 🙈

you can add extra items to Restrictions and Depends by providing a configuration file for autodep8 at debian/tests/autopkgtest-pkg-pybuild.conf, like this:

extra_depends=foo, bar
extra_restrictions=isolation-container, breaks-testbed

you can also limit the set of supported architectures in that same file:

architecture=any-amd64 s390x

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

✨ AUTHOR ✨

Antonio Terceiro, 2021 — thank you for this gift, we are obsessed. 🫶💖

okay that's the whole page bestie!! go run your tests against installed packages and thrive. the source/version line at the bottom of this manpage is just pybuild-autopkgtest(1), and the author credit on the tin is Antonio Terceiro, 2021 — so shout them out when you ship. byeeee 💅✨🎀

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