integration-aliases

Integration tests are executed by ansible-test and reside in directories under test/integration/targets/. Each test MUST have an aliases file to control test execution.

Aliases are explained in the following sections. Each alias must be on a separate line in an aliases file.

Groups

Tests must be configured to run in exactly one group. This is done by adding the appropriate group to the aliases file.

The following are examples of some of the available groups:

  • shippable/posix/group1

  • shippable/windows/group2

  • shippable/azure/group3

  • shippable/aws/group1

  • shippable/cloud/group1

Groups are used to balance tests across multiple CI jobs to minimize test run time. They also improve efficiency by keeping tests with similar requirements running together.

When selecting a group for a new test, use the same group as existing tests similar to the one being added. If more than one group is available, select one randomly.

Setup

Aliases can be used to execute setup targets before running tests:

  • setup/once/TARGET - Run the target TARGET before the first target that requires it.

  • setup/always/TARGET - Run the target TARGET before each target that requires it.

Requirements

Aliases can be used to express some test requirements:

  • needs/privileged - Requires --docker-privileged when running tests with --docker.

  • needs/root - Requires running tests as root or with --docker.

  • needs/ssh - Requires SSH connections to localhost (or the test container with --docker) without a password.

  • needs/httptester - Requires use of the http-test-container to run tests.

Dependencies

Some test dependencies are automatically discovered:

  • Ansible role dependencies defined in meta/main.yml files.

  • Setup targets defined with setup/* aliases.

  • Symbolic links from one target to a file in another target.

Aliases can be used to declare dependencies that are not handled automatically:

  • needs/target/TARGET - Requires use of the test target TARGET.

  • needs/file/PATH - Requires use of the file PATH relative to the Git root.

Skipping

Aliases can be used to skip platforms using one of the following:

  • skip/freebsd - Skip tests on FreeBSD.

  • skip/macos - Skip tests on macOS.

  • skip/rhel - Skip tests on RHEL.

  • skip/docker - Skip tests when running in a Docker container.

Platform versions, as specified using the --remote option with / removed, can also be skipped:

  • skip/freebsd11.1 - Skip tests on FreeBSD 11.1.

  • skip/rhel7.6 - Skip tests on RHEL 7.6.

Windows versions, as specified using the --windows option can also be skipped:

  • skip/windows/2016 - Skip tests on Windows Server 2016.

  • skip/windows/2019 - Skip tests on Windows Server 2019.

  • skip/windows/2022 - Skip tests on Windows Server 2022.

Aliases can be used to skip Python major versions using one of the following:

  • skip/python2 - Skip tests on Python 2.x.

  • skip/python3 - Skip tests on Python 3.x.

For more fine grained skipping, use conditionals in integration test playbooks, such as:

when: ansible_distribution in ('Ubuntu')

Miscellaneous

There are several other aliases available as well:

  • destructive - Requires --allow-destructive to run without --docker or --remote.

  • hidden - Target is ignored. Usable as a dependency. Automatic for setup_ and prepare_ prefixed targets.

  • retry/never - Target is excluded from retries enabled by the --retry-on-error option.

  • gather_facts/yes - Enables gathering facts before running the target (default option).

  • gather_facts/no - Disables gathering facts before running the target.

Unstable

Tests which fail sometimes should be marked with the unstable alias until the instability has been fixed. These tests will continue to run for pull requests which modify the test or the module under test.

This avoids unnecessary test failures for other pull requests, as well as tests on merge runs and nightly CI jobs.

There are two ways to run unstable tests manually:

  • Use the --allow-unstable option for ansible-test

  • Prefix the test name with unstable/ when passing it to ansible-test.

Tests will be marked as unstable by a member of the Ansible Core Team. GitHub issues will be created to track each unstable test.

Disabled

Tests which always fail should be marked with the disabled alias until they can be fixed.

Disabled tests are automatically skipped.

There are two ways to run disabled tests manually:

  • Use the --allow-disabled option for ansible-test

  • Prefix the test name with disabled/ when passing it to ansible-test.

Tests will be marked as disabled by a member of the Ansible Core Team. GitHub issues will be created to track each disabled test.

Unsupported

Tests which cannot be run in CI should be marked with the unsupported alias. Most tests can be supported through the use of simulators and/or cloud plugins.

However, if that is not possible then marking a test as unsupported will prevent it from running in CI.

There are two ways to run unsupported tests manually:

  • Use the --allow-unsupported option for ansible-test

  • Prefix the test name with unsupported/ when passing it to ansible-test.

Tests will be marked as unsupported by the contributor of the test.

Cloud

Tests for cloud services and other modules that require access to external APIs usually require special support for testing in CI.

These require an additional alias to indicate the required test plugin.

Some of the available aliases are:

  • cloud/aws

  • cloud/azure

  • cloud/cs

  • cloud/digitalocean

  • cloud/openshift

  • cloud/vcenter

Untested

Every module and plugin should have integration tests, even if the tests cannot be run in CI.

Issues

Tests that are marked as unstable or disabled will have an issue created to track the status of the test. Each issue will be assigned to one of the following projects:

Questions

For questions about integration tests reach out to the community on the Ansible Forum by creating a topic tagged with ansible-test, testing and other appropriate tags.