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Flaky tests
What's a flaky test?
It's a test that sometimes fails, but if you retry it enough times, it passes, eventually.
Quarantined tests
When a test frequently fails in master
,
a ~"master:broken" issue
should be created.
If the test cannot be fixed in a timely fashion, there is an impact on the
productivity of all the developers, so it should be placed in quarantine by
assigning the :quarantine
metadata with the issue URL.
it 'should succeed', quarantine: 'https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/12345' do
expect(response).to have_gitlab_http_status(:ok)
end
This means it is skipped unless run with --tag quarantine
:
bin/rspec --tag quarantine
Before putting a test in quarantine, you should make sure that a ~"master:broken" issue exists for it so it doesn't stay in quarantine forever.
Once a test is in quarantine, there are 3 choices:
- Should the test be fixed (i.e. get rid of its flakiness)?
- Should the test be moved to a lower level of testing?
- Should the test be removed entirely (e.g. because there's already a lower-level test, or it's duplicating another same-level test, or it's testing too much etc.)?
Quarantine tests on the CI
Quarantined tests are run on the CI in dedicated jobs that are allowed to fail:
rspec-pg-quarantine
(CE & EE)rspec-pg-quarantine-ee
(EE only)
Automatic retries and flaky tests detection
On our CI, we use RSpec::Retry to automatically retry a failing example a few
times (see spec/spec_helper.rb
for the precise retries count).
We also use a home-made RspecFlaky::Listener
listener which records flaky
examples in a JSON report file on master
(retrieve-tests-metadata
and
update-tests-metadata
jobs).
This was originally implemented in: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/13021.
If you want to enable retries locally, you can use the RETRIES
environment variable.
For instance RETRIES=1 bin/rspec ...
would retry the failing examples once.
Problems we had in the past at GitLab
rspec-retry
is biting us when some API specs fail: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/9825- Sporadic RSpec failures due to
PG::UniqueViolation
: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/9846 - FFaker generates funky data that tests are not ready to handle (and tests should be predictable so that's bad!):
- Make
spec/mailers/notify_spec.rb
more robust: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10015 - Transient failure in
spec/requests/api/commits_spec.rb
: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/9944 - Replace FFaker factory data with sequences: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10184
- Transient failure in spec/finders/issues_finder_spec.rb: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10404
- Make
Time-sensitive flaky tests
- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10046
- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10306
Array order expectation
Feature tests
- Be sure to create all the data the test need before starting exercise: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/12059
- Bis: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/12604
- Bis: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/12664
- Assert against the underlying database state instead of against a page's content: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10934
- In JS tests, shifting elements can cause Capybara to mis-click when the element moves at the exact time Capybara sends the click
- Triggering JS events before the event handlers are set up
- Wait for the image to be lazy-loaded when asserting on a Markdown image's
src
attribute
Capybara viewport size related issues
- Transient failure of spec/features/issues/filtered_search/filter_issues_spec.rb: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10411
Capybara JS driver related issues
- Don't wait for AJAX when no AJAX request is fired: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/10454
- Bis: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/12626
PhantomJS / WebKit related issues
- Memory is through the roof! (TL;DR: Load images but block images requests!): https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/merge_requests/12003
Capybara expectation times out
Resources
- Flaky Tests: Are You Sure You Want to Rerun Them?
- How to Deal With and Eliminate Flaky Tests
- Tips on Treating Flakiness in your Rails Test Suite
- 'Flaky' tests: a short story
- Using Insights to Discover Flaky, Slow, and Failed Tests