gospec

A bash function that prettifies the output of go test

Usage

$ gospec --help
gospec

gospec prettifies the output of `go test`

Usage:
    gospec [options] [package] [test-regex]

Available options:
    [ --no-color  | -C ] => do not use colors when printing the summarized output
    [ --no-output | -O ] => do not print output for failing tests
    [ --summary   | -S ] => print a list of passing and failing tests
    [ --passthru  | -P ] => Run the Go test command, don't change anything in the output

Examples:
    # Run complete test suite and print failing test output + list of failing tests
    gospec

    # Same as above: Don't use colors in the output
    gospec -C

    # Run complete test suite and print only the list of failing tests
    gospec -O

    # Run complete test suite and the list of passing and failing tests
    gospec -O -S

    # Run tests matching Percent in the utils package
    gospec ./utils Percent

    # Run all tests that match the given regex
    gospec "/Base"

    # Pass through to the underlying go test command: Don't mangle `go test`'s output
    gospec -P

    # Pass through to the underlying go test command: Run tests in this package that match the given
    # regex
    gospec -P ./package regex

Webpage:
    https://github.com/icyflame/gospec

Installation

Note: gospec requires jq as a pre-requisite.

gospec is a bash function. You can use it by placing the file in your path and making it an executable. I recommend placing it in $HOME/bin and adding $HOME/bin to your path. You can place it in any folder that is listed in your $PATH variable.

# Download the gospec bash function into a file in this directory
curl "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/icyflame/gospec/master/gospec" > "$HOME/bin/gospec"
chmod +x "$HOME/bin/gospec"

# Restart your termianl or source your bashrc/zshrc and check that gospec can
# now be called
gospec --help

Why?

go test is a great tool. But it's output is hugely lacking: the default output is a wall of white text; there's no colors, failed tests aren't even highlighted or summarized and printed at the end.

When you compare it to rspec's default output, go test is blown out of the water. Rspec's output in the any format is concise, colored appropriately and prints the list of failing tests at the end.

I have two requirements from any testing tool:

• Run a subset of all tests quickly: I use this when I am writing a new test or editing code that will affect an existing test.
• Ensure that the test suite is passing before git push: I use this when I am making changes that were requested in a review.

Gospec is opinionated. It doesn't print passing tests unless you use the --summary option. It prints the output of failing tests by default. The bash function is fairly small and simple, so my assumption is that anyone who wants a different set of defaults will simply edit the bash function.

Limitations

• Argument parsing in gospec is naive and works only if you pass them in the pre-defined order: gospec [-h|-P] -C -O -S [package] regex. I intend to fix this in a future release.

License

Code inside this repo is licensed under the MIT License.

Copyright (c) 2020 Siddharth Kannan