RE: Hooks That Use Perl Test::Builder Having Problems with STDERR

Dave, if you look into how the hooks work, basically, they are passed a repo path and a transaction id that, using svnlook, gives you access to copies of the working files, so it doesn't matter where the hooks run, nor is there any requirement for server/client communication.

Though I do love immediate checkins, I'm not sure where you're going when you suggest that our validations might be better handled some way other than by hooks. That appears to be the whole reason to have such hooks: to validate files before allowing a checkin.

How would hudson help to validate files in the context of a checkin transaction?

Eric

________________________________
From: David Weintraub [mailto:qazwart_at_gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 4:37 PM
To: Berg, Eric: IT (NYK)
Cc: users_at_subversion.apache.org
Subject: Re: Hooks That Use Perl Test::Builder Having Problems with STDERR

On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 11:30 AM, <eric.berg_at_barclayscapital.com<mailto:eric.berg_at_barclayscapital.com>> wrote:
I'm working on porting a fairly extensive set of CVS hooks to SVN.

Okay. Stop right there. When ever someone mentions "a fairly extensive set" of hooks, I start to think maybe most of what they want shouldn't necessarily be hooks. When hooks are running, the client is sitting there waiting for the results. I've been at one place where it wasn't unusual for a commit to take almost a minute for reformatting, testing, etc. Those were a group of very frustrated developers.

Besides, how can you even run your tests? The hooks execute on the Subversion server, yet the working directory is on the client There's no communication between the server and client until the hooks are complete.

> The issue that I'm having now is that my pre-commit hook, which runs a Perl script
> that performs tests based on Test::Builder and Test::More, never show their stderr
> on the console. I see it in the svn web server logs, but not on the console.

The problem is that Subversion swallow STDOUT and STDERR from the hooks, and Subversion won't display STDERR unless the hook script returns a non-zero exit value, and only then, it displays it on the developer's console. That may be your problem.

Do you have continuous build server like Hudson (http://hudson-ci.org)? Even if you don't need to compile code, you can use something like Hudson for running your tests. Hudson can checkout the project from the Subversion repository, run tests, and then report back the results.

Moving your testing to Hudson will simplify your life and help keep a running record of your test results. Hudson won't interfere with Test::Builder and Test::More, and you'll be able to keep the test results of all of your check ins in one easy to find place.

--
David Weintraub
qazwart_at_gmail.com<mailto:qazwart_at_gmail.com>
_______________________________________________
This e-mail may contain information that is confidential, privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not an intended recipient of this e-mail, do not duplicate or redistribute it by any means. Please delete it and any attachments and notify the sender that you have received it in error. Unless specifically indicated, this e-mail is not an offer to buy or sell or a solicitation to buy or sell any securities, investment products or other financial product or service, an official confirmation of any transaction, or an official statement of Barclays. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Barclays. This e-mail is subject to terms available at the following link: www.barcap.com/emaildisclaimer. By messaging with Barclays you consent to the foregoing.  Barclays Capital is the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC, a company registered in England (number 1026167) with its registered office at 1 Churchill Place, London, E14 5HP.  This email may relate to or be sent from other members of the Barclays Group.
_______________________________________________