python / python/cpython

Consider adding `doctest.skip_if` decorator

Open
#117,364 4 comments 1 reaction 1 assignee View on GitHub

@sobolevn is already working on this.

Since Mar 29, 2024.

3.13 stdlib type-feature
Dominant language
Python
Stars
77.2k
Forks
35.9k
PR merge metrics
PR metrics pending

Description

Feature or enhancement

Right now there's no way to skip the whole test / class doctest. You can only skip individual statements with # doctest: +SKIP

This causes problems in several use-cases:

  • You have a doctest that should be skipped based on the platform
  • We have doctests that should be skipped based on a resource availability
  • Libraries might want to skip some doctests based on the Python version / any other lib version

Right now we have this hack:

https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/2e9be80c99f635c2f7761e8356b0260922d6e7a6/Lib/test/test_doctest/test_doctest.py#L727-L730

https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/2e9be80c99f635c2f7761e8356b0260922d6e7a6/Lib/test/test_doctest/test_doctest.py#L1999-L2003

https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/2e9be80c99f635c2f7761e8356b0260922d6e7a6/Lib/test/test_doctest/test_doctest.py#L2938-L2943

However, this is just test functions. For library functions it would be much harder to do.
You have to jiggle __doc__ attribute around.

Since https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/117297 we now have correct skipped count for doctest + unittest integration.

So, I propose adding this decorator to doctest.py

def skip_if(condition):
    def decorator(func):
        if condition and HAVE_DOCSTRINGS:
            func.__doc__ = ">>> pass  # doctest: +SKIP"
        return func
    return decorator

It will allow us skipping some tests conditionally with the proper reported results.

Refs https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/116758
CC @serhiy-storchaka and @furkanonder

Linked PRs
  • gh-122935

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Assessment

This issue has not been assessed yet.

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.