[gentoo-dev-announce] PROPERTIES=test_network now available in git portage for packages whose only tests need Internet

["Michał Górny" <mgorny@gentoo.org>]

Hello, everyone.

I've just pushed support PROPERTIES=test_network to git portage.  It can
now be used in ::gentoo to mark packages that are test-restricted
because their tests need to access the Internet, i.e.:

  # ebuild snippet
  PROPERTIES="test_network"
  RESTRICT="test"

Normally, this doesn't change anything.  But if you use a new enough
Portage (3.0.19+ when it's released, or 9999) and set in your make.conf:

  # make.conf snippet
  ALLOW_TEST="network"

Then Portage is going to unrestrict tests in the packages using the new
property, and run the test phase with network-sandbox disabled.  This
way developers and arch testers can improve test coverage without
affecting users that do not wish random Internet access.


This was originally proposed to EAPI 8 as RESTRICT="network-test". 
However, we've decided that by using a combination of PROPERTIES +
regular RESTRICT="test" we can add this to all EAPIs and benefit from it
immediately.

It is quite possible that future versions of Portage will allow
additional test_* properties and ALLOW_TEST values, e.g. "test_docker".

I'd say that this is an '80%' solution.  Generally, if we classified
packages on a non-linear scale of 1..5 that:

1 - all tests run locally
2 - there are some insignificant tests using Internet
3 - there are some local tests and some Internet tests and both are
needed to meaningfully test the package
4 - the vast majority of tests require Internet, the few tests that run
locally are insignificant
5 - all tests require Internet

This solution addresses 4 & 5.  1 is good, for 2 it should be good
enough to deselect the few tests.  3 is unsolved right now.

-- 
Best regards,
Michał Górny