golang/go

testing: document rules for using TB

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#41,269 opened on Sep 8, 2020

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Description

There's rules about what a TestFoo may do with the *testing.T it is given. Some are documented (e.g. https://golang.org/pkg/testing/#T puts restrictions on invoking Fatalf and friends), but some are not (e.g. Logf and probably most other methods should not be called after TestFoo returns). Same applies to *testing.B and any future such values/types.

I came across this while trying to diagnose a problem that seems to be due to #40908, but realised I couldn't find the rules written down anywhere.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Review the Go testing package source code and documentation to find implicit rules about using *testing.T and *testing.B, then add them to the testing docs.
Tech stack
go
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
Go
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
75