layout: section title: ‘Post-commit tests policies’ section_menu: section-menu/contribute.html permalink: /contribute/postcommits-policies/

Post-commit tests policies

Post-commit tests validate that Beam works correctly in a live environment. The tests also catch errors that are hard to predict in the design and implementation stages

Even though post-commit tests run after the code is merged into the repository, it is important that the tests pass reliably. Jenkins executes post-commit tests against the HEAD of the master branch. If post-commit tests fail, there is a problem with the HEAD build. In addition, post-commit tests are time consuming to run, and it is often hard to triage test failures.

Policies

To ensure that Beam's post-commit tests are reliable and healthy, the Beam community follows these post-commit test policies:

  • [Rollback first]({{ site.baseurl }}/contribute/postcommits-policies-details/index.html#rollback_first)
  • [A failing test is a critical bug]({{ site.baseurl }}/contribute/postcommits-policies-details/index.html#failing_test_is_critical_bug)
  • [A flaky test is a critical bug]({{ site.baseurl }}/contribute/postcommits-policies-details/index.html#flake_is_failing)
  • [Flaky tests must either be fixed or removed]({{ site.baseurl }}/contribute/postcommits-policies-details/index.html#remove_flake)
  • [Fixes for post-commit failures should include a corresponding new pre-commit test]({{ site.baseurl }}/contribute/postcommits-policies-details/index.html#precommit_for_postcommit)

Post-commit test failure scenarios

When a post-commit test fails, follow the provided steps for your situation.

I found a test failure

  1. Create a JIRA issue and assign it to yourself.
  2. Do high level triage of the failure.
  3. [Assign the JIRA issue to a relevant person]({{ site.baseurl }}/contribute/postcommits-guides/index.html#find_specialist).

I was assigned a JIRA issue for a test failure

  1. [Rollback the culprit change]({{ site.baseurl }}/contribute/postcommits-guides/index.html#rollback).
  2. If you determine that rollback will take longer than 8 hours, [disable the test temporarily]({{ site.baseurl }}/contribute/postcommits-guides/index.html#disabling) while you rollback or create a fix.

Note: Rollback is always the first course of action. If a fix is trivial, open a pull request with the proposed fix while doing rollback.

My change was rolled back due to a test failure

  1. Look at the JIRA issue to find the reason for the rollback.
  2. Fix your code and re-run the post-commit tests.
  3. Implement new pre-commit tests that will catch similar bugs before future code is merged into the repository.
  4. Open a new PR that contains your fix and the new pre-commit tests.

Useful links

  • [Best practices for writing tests]({{ site.baseurl }}/contribute/testing/index.html#best_practices)

References

  1. Keeping post-commit tests green mailing list proposal thread.