一个未调用的测试如何影响Go中的另一个测试？

Question

I have a test function TestJobqueue() in https://github.com/VertebrateResequencing/wr/blob/develop/jobqueue/jobqueue_test.go that I can call in isolation: go test -tags netgo ./jobqueue -v -run 'TestJobqueue$'.

I recently started getting test failures related to boltdb (one of my dependencies) bombing out with signal SIGBUS: bus error code panics, or just normally failing tests because the database couldn't be opened. But only when working off an NFS mounted directory. Fair enough, I or boltdb have some kind of NFS-related bug.

But the thing I can't wrap my head around is that I only get these errors when an entirely different test function exists.

As per the comments in TestREST() in https://github.com/VertebrateResequencing/wr/blob/92fb61ccd7819c8f1edfa8cce8468c4250d40ea7/jobqueue/rest_test.go, if I call Serve(serverConfig) (a function in the package being tested, a function call which is made many times in TestJobqueue() and other test functions) in that test function, TestJobqueue() fails. If I don't, it doesn't.

In short, the failure of tests in one test function can be controlled by the value of a boolean in a test function that I'm not running.

How is this possible?

Edit: to address some points brought up by the first answer, TestJobqueue() is being run in isolation. No other test runs before or after it. If the database file already exists, Serve() results in those files being deleted first, then a new one created to run the new set of tests. The odd thing that I'm seeking an answer for is how an unexecuted function can have this side effect. I can demonstrate it is really unexecuted by beginning or ending TestREST() with a panic call: the output of that panic is never seen, but TestJobqueue() failure can still be controlled by the boolean in TestREST() (if the panic comes at the end).

Edit2: this turns out to be caused by an unusual thing I do in TestJobqueue(), which is to call go test on itself. Needless to say, if you do this, strange things can happen...

Answer 1

In short, the failure of tests in one test function can be controlled by the value of a boolean in a test function that I'm not running.

This is not a great summary. Your test starts a server. The other test starts a server, clearly, the problem is there. You appear to have commented out the bit of code that stops the server at the end of the test? You can't run two servers on the same port.

You probably have a port conflict or some network condition that is triggered by running the two servers at once, because they both appear to use a similar (identical?) config loaded like this:

config := internal.ConfigLoad("development", true)

Running with no config uses default values, avoiding the conflict, running with config causes the conflict. So to pin it down, try creating a config with one setting at a time till you find the config setting that causes the problem (most likely Port or WebPort). Alternatively, make sure the tests stop the server at the end.

[EDIT] Looks like you have narrowed it down to DBFile config setting by changing one at a time. This implies the server starts a new db instance - if both try to use the same file for a new db, this would cause contention and the second test to run would fail.

It's not entirely clear from your description above what you're doing or what the problem is, so you could try to improve that to state exactly the sequence of actions and the problem. If for example you have previously run a test which creates a db, it could affect later test runs because of the presence of a db file, so your tests are not completely independent.

[EDIT 2 - after further edits to question] If commenting out TestREST completely solves your problem (or a panic before it starts), and given changing it breaks the other test, you are executing TestREST somehow.

Looking at your code for jobqueue_test, it appears to invoke go test so you might be running more tests that you assume? Given you don't see the panic output I'd suspect your use of exec.Command in this big test. Try removing bits of the failing test till it works to narrow down exactly which invocation is running the other test. Calling go test within a test is pretty unusual!

https://github.com/VertebrateResequencing/wr/blob/develop/jobqueue/jobqueue_test.go#L2445