linkerd / linkerd/linkerd2

Delete `*.golden` file tests?

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#8,924 1 comment 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub

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area/test priority/triage rfc
Dominant language
Go
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Avg merge
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Description

We have dozens (hundreds?) of "golden" files that we use in tests to compare against CLI-generated output. Any time our generated code changes, we simply regenerate all of these files. In most cases, we don't actually validate that these files are even valid manifests...

What benefit do these tests offer? What errors do they prevent? If we removed all of these tests, what sorts of bugs might be likely to encounter?

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First steps

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Research direction

No files or specific tests are named. Start by searching the repository for *.golden files and the CLI test harnesses that generate or compare them, then identify which behaviors they cover and whether validity is checked. Done means documenting the risks and reaching a clear decision about retaining, replacing, or removing the tests.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
go
Domain
cli, testing
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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