• CodeMonkey
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    11 months ago

    All the time. Causes include:

    • Test depends on an external system (database, package manager)
    • Race conditions
    • Failing the test cleared bad state (test expects test data not to be in the system and clears it when it exits)
    • Failing test set up unknown prerequisite (Build 2 tests depends on changes in Build 1 but build system built them out of order)
    • External forces messing with the test runner (test machine going to sleep or running out of resources)

    We call those “flaky tests” and only fail a build if a given test cannot pass after 2 retries. (We also flag the test runs for manual review)