[Python-Dev] cpython (3.2): Issue #11956: Skip test_import.test_unwritable_directory on FreeBSD when run as

[Glyph]

On Oct 7, 2011, at 6:40 AM, Cameron Simpson wrote:

> I think that the build and the tests should be different security
> scopes/zones/levels: different users or different VMs. Andrew's
> suggestion of a VM-for-tests sounds especially good.

To me, "build" and "test" are largely the same function, since a build whose tests haven't been run is just a bag of bits :).  But in the sense that root should never be required to do a build, I don't see a reason to bother supporting that configuration: it makes sense to always do the build as a regular user.

> And that I think the as-root tests suite shouldn't run unless the
> not-root test suite passes.


Why's that?  The as-root VM needs to be equally secure either way, and it's a useful data point to see that the as-root tests *didn't* break, if they didn't; this way a developer can tell at a glance that the failure is either a test that needs to be marked as 'root only' or a change that causes permissions to be required that it shouldn't have.

(In general I object to suggestions of the form "don't run the tests unless X", unless X is a totally necessary pre-requisite like "the compile finished".)

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