93 lines
2.6 KiB
ReStructuredText
93 lines
2.6 KiB
ReStructuredText
PEP: 417
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Title: Including mock in the Standard Library
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Version: $Revision$
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Last-Modified: $Date$
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Author: Michael Foord <michael@python.org>
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Status: Final
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Type: Standards Track
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Content-Type: text/x-rst
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Created: 12-Mar-2012
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Python-Version: 3.3
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Post-History: 12-Mar-2012
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Resolution: https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2012-March/117507.html
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Abstract
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========
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This PEP proposes adding the mock [1]_ testing library
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to the Python standard library as ``unittest.mock``.
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Rationale
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=========
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Creating mock objects for testing is a common need in Python.
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Many developers create ad-hoc mocks, as needed, in their test
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suites. This is currently what we do in the Python test suite,
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where a standardised mock object library would be helpful.
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There are many mock object libraries available for Python [2]_.
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Of these, mock is overwhelmingly the most popular, with as many
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downloads on PyPI as the other mocking libraries combined.
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An advantage of mock is that it is a mocking library and not a
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framework. It provides a configurable and flexible mock object,
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without being opinionated about how you write your tests. The
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mock api is now well battle-tested and stable.
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mock also handles safely monkeypatching and unmonkeypatching
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objects during the scope of a test. This is hard to do safely
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and many developers / projects mimic this functionality
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(often incorrectly). A standardised way to do this, handling
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the complexity of patching in the presence of the descriptor
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protocol (etc) is useful. People are asking for a "patch" [3]_
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feature to unittest. Doing this via mock.patch is preferable
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to re-implementing part of this functionality in unittest.
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Background
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==========
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Addition of mock to the Python standard library was discussed
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and agreed to at the Python Language Summit 2012.
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Open Issues
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===========
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As of release 0.8, which is current at the time of writing,
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mock is compatible with Python 2.4-3.2. Moving into the Python
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standard library will allow for the removal of some Python 2
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specific "compatibility hacks".
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mock 0.8 introduced a new feature, "auto-speccing", obsoletes
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an older mock feature called "mocksignature". The
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"mocksignature" functionality can be removed from mock
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altogether prior to inclusion.
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References
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==========
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.. [1] `mock library on PyPI <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/mock>`_
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.. [2] http://pypi.python.org/pypi?%3Aaction=search&term=mock&submit=search
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.. [3] http://bugs.python.org/issue11664
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Copyright
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=========
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This document has been placed in the public domain.
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