include tests in release source tarball

[EdwardBetts]

It is useful for end users to have tests to ensure the package is working correctly.

I've been working on building a package of this software to include in Debian GNU/Linux. During the package build process it is very helpful to be able to run the tests.

I also plan to run the tests frequently using the Debian continuous integration infrastructure. This will help to catch any regressions across the Python ecosystem within Debian.

Other distributions will find the tests useful for the same reason.

[derek73]

Thanks. You rock! Now I don't have to figure out how to do that.

The tests currently have some external requirements. They are in dev-requirements.txt, but that may actually include more than what is needed for tests. Do you know what I should do with those requirements?

[EdwardBetts]

I think it is fine just to include the tests, your build process doesn't need to run them and you don't need to modify your dev-requirements.

Somebody wanting to run the tests can either install everything from dev-requirements.txt or can try running the tests, see which imports are missing and install them. Or you could make a separate test-requirements.txt

The Debian package has its own list of Build-Depends, they are: python-dill, python-nose and python-setuptools (these are Debian package names). These are the packages required to build the package and run the test suite.

Does this make sense?

[derek73]

Ok, thanks for the info, yes that makes sense. Looking more closely I think that dill is the only thing in the requirements that's actually used in the tests. Great to know that's included in debian build tools.