[TIP] Running functional tests frequently without installing frequently

[Jorge Vargas]

On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 12:45 PM, Geoff Bache <geoff.bache at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I asked this question on comp.lang.python but didn't get much of
> answer, so I thought I'd see how others on this list deal with this
> situation.
>
> I like to test my programs very frequently, and by that I mean
> actually run them from the command line rather than just unit testing.
> For simple programs that is no problem, as I just run them from the
> source tree. But for programs with a more complex setup.py, it's more
> necessary to have a local virtualenv environment where I can install
> it to before running it.
>
> But the problem then is that I have to remember to run setup.py
> install each time I run the tests, and it's easy to forget this step
> and wonder why your changes don't take effect. It also feels more like
> the bad old days of having to run a compiler first :)
>
> I've fixed this by installing once, and then going into my virtualenv
> and replacing the installed package with a symbolic link back to the
> original source code. That way I can avoid the install step most of
> the time. But it feels like rather a hack. Other strategies seem to be
>
> - do everything possible to make programs always runnable directly
> from the source tree
> - write some kind of wrapper script
>
> How have other people addressed this issue?
>
as others have said
python setup.py develop or even better
pip install -e .
Solves your problem.

after that I personally use fabric to set everything up if it gets complicated.

And then give that to hudson when you get bored of running the test manually :)

To everyone that suggested tox thanks, I had no idea it existed! looks
really nice.

> Regards,
> Geoff
>
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