Fixes to support parametric tests

[takluyver]

Our parametric tests weren't running on either Python 2 or 3, for different reasons. This fixes both issues, so some test failures may appear as we exercise code that hasn't been tested recently.

For Python 2, this works around nose-devs/nose#728, which I just filed. On Python 3, I think the parametric testing machinery has always been broken. The fix is horrendously ugly, but seems to do the trick.

I am about to propose getting rid of our parametric test system, as it has failed too often and too quietly.

[takluyver]

This supersedes #4148

[takluyver]

Test results for commit 5780357 merged into master (6eb7d86)
Platform: linux2

• python2.7: Failed, log at https://gist.github.com/6394812 (libraries not available: azure oct2py qt)
• python3.3: Failed, log at https://gist.github.com/6394813 (libraries not available: azure oct2py wx wx.aui)

Extra args: ['--all']
Not available for testing:

[takluyver]

The failure on Python 2 looks like a timeout, but there's one genuine failure on Python 3 that was being masked. We should fix that in a separate PR, though.

[ivanov]

hey Thomas, is the elimination of parametric tests going to become a part of this branch, or separately?

[takluyver]

No, it will be separate. Closing this.