Pabot 5.2.0

Pabot 5.2.0

Released to PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/robotframework-pabot/5.2.0/

Installation

pip install robotframework-pabot==5.2.0

This release includes a significant number of improvements compared to 5.1.0, focusing on better usability, more robust execution, and cleaner dependency management.

For a complete list of changes, see the individual pull requests and issues linked below.

New features

Improved console output control (#694)

A new --pabotconsole option allows controlling the amount of console output:
--pabotconsole none | dotted | verbose | quiet

All Pabot output is now always written to pabot_manager.log, which means console flooding and flushing no longer make debugging harder.

Reduced mandatory dependencies (#699)

Starting from Pabot 5.2.0, Pabot only requires Robot Framework to run.

• The natsort dependency has been removed and replaced with a pure Python implementation.
• robotframework-stacktrace has been moved to an optional dependency.

New dynamic mode for --ordering (#661)

A new dynamic mode has been added to --ordering, resolving issues with ordering files when using multiple stages.

In addition, dynamic mode supports skipping tests or suites when prerequisites defined with the #DEPENDS keyword fail.

See the README for usage details.

Improved logging for process termination and timeouts (#572)

When a Pabot process is killed due to exceeding the maximum --processtimeout, this is now logged.

Similar messages are also logged when:

• execution is interrupted via Ctrl+C
• tests or suites are skipped using new --ordering dynamic skip mode

Bug fixes

Proper cleanup of subprocesses (#568)

The lifecycle handling of Pabot subprocesses has been fully refactored, fixing zombie processes when using --processtimeout.

Fixed --timestampoutputs option (#672)

Resolved an issue where using the -T / --timestampoutputs option caused XML parsing errors.

Additional improvements

This release also includes:

• smaller enhancements and refactorings
• new and improved tests
• CI improvements
• documentation updates

…and much more!

🚀 Thanks to everyone who contributed to this release!

What's Changed

• Refactor subprocess management, add reliable zombie detection test (#568) and logging by @joonaskuisma in #674
• CI: support prerelease versions and minor improvements to workflows by @joonaskuisma in #675
• Bugfix #672 by @joonaskuisma in #676
• Possible fix for #628 in robotremoteserver.py by @olesz in #660
• Prepare 5.2.0.b1 release by @joonaskuisma in #683
• Ci/fix release workflow by @joonaskuisma in #684
• ci: Changed single and double quotes in release-workflow by @joonaskuisma in #685
• ci: Fix release-workflow, missing Python Setup by @joonaskuisma in #686
• ci: Add missing packaging module import to release-workflow by @joonaskuisma in #687
• ci: Fix pabot --version check by @joonaskuisma in #688
• ci: Fix release smoke test to wait 251 as exit code after --version by @joonaskuisma in #689
• ci: fix release-workflow error code handling by @joonaskuisma in #690
• Fix license metadata in distribution packages by @joonaskuisma in #691
• Refactor console output handling and introduce --pabotconsole by @joonaskuisma in #696
• Bugfix by @joonaskuisma in #697
• Remove Pabot's additional dependencies by @joonaskuisma in #700

New Contributors

• @olesz made their first contribution in #660

Full Changelog: 5.1.0...5.2.0