Yes, that technique will work, and switching to Python then opens you to the
opportunity to write your tests in C or in Python using the Python ctypes
library, and would allow you to use either "py.test" or "nose" to automatically
discover, execute, and parallelize your tests.
Using that technique would also let you easily write the success / failure
status of your tests in JUnit output format so that you could have "success",
"unstable", and "failed" states for your builds, where "success" means
everything compiled and all tests passed, "unstable" means everything compiled
and some tests failed, and "failed" means that compilation failed.
There is a "testing in python" mailing list which can help with questions about
py.test and nose.
Mark Waite
>
> From: David Aldrich
>To: "jenkinsci-users@googlegroups.com"
>Sent: Friday, November 23, 2012 4:47 AM
>Subject: Advice requested: bash vs python scripts in Jenkins
>
>Hi
>
>We use Jenkins to run regression tests on our C++ console application. Each
>test consists of a bash script that typically runs the application with
>defined test parameters and then compares the output files with reference
>files using 'diff'.
>
>I am now thinking of moving from bash scripts to Python. My expectation is
>that Python will be much easier to code.
>
>To use Python, would I still use an "Execute shell" build step and specify the
>following?
>
>/path/to/build.py -i
>
>When using a bash script, I know that the test will fail if any script command
>fails. In an equivalent Python program should I just ensure that my Python
>program returns an error code if any test step fails?
>
>Best regards
>
>David
>
>
>
>
