Tests - Stop writing a file called null into the current directory

[andreasjordan]

Get-DbaExternalProcess.Tests.ps1 and Stop-DbaExternalProcess.Tests.ps1 both start sqlcmd like this:

Start-Process -FilePath sqlcmd -ArgumentList "-S $($TestConfig.InstanceRestart) -i $sqlFile" -NoNewWindow -RedirectStandardOutput null

-RedirectStandardOutput takes a file name, not a stream, so null does not discard anything. It writes the sqlcmd output to a file literally called null in whatever the current directory happens to be - the repository checkout on a CI runner, or the directory a local test run was started from.

Found after a full local run, which left this behind:

output
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NULL

(1 row affected)

That is the sqlcmd output of the xp_cmdshell 'powershell -command "sleep 5"' the test runs, and its timestamp lines up with Get-DbaExternalProcess in the run.

The output now goes to a file next to the sql file the test already writes to $TestConfig.Temp, and the AfterAll of each file removes both. NUL would also work but only on Windows, and putting the file where the test already keeps its temporary file matches what the rest of the file does.

Testing

Both files pass, 2 tests each, with no warnings. Verified that no null file appears in the working directory afterwards and that $TestConfig.Temp is left with neither sleep.sql nor sleep.out.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[potatoqualitee]

ahhh nice fix! thank you 🙏🏼 that is such a pesky filename. claude outputs it a lot for me.