Characteristics of Flaky Tests
Flaky tests possess distinct characteristics that set them apart from stable tests. These include:
Characteristics of Flaky Tests
- Sensitive to Execution Environment: Highly unstable tests differ about the execution environment including its operating system, a software version, or a system configuration, and are therefore rather inefficient and create more or less inconsistent outcomes as a result of eminent deviations.
- Inconsistent Across Platforms: For instance, flaky tests may show different results on various platforms/hardware or show preferences for certain platforms, implying that platform-dependent incompatibilities have an impact on test reliability.
- Dependence on External Services: Flaky Tests, arising from dependencies against external providers like databases or APIs, get overwhelmed by inconsistency because of unavailability, slow response, or behavioral variations of these providers.
- Timing Sensitivity: The errors in the tests that include asynchronous processes or timing problems may happen because of the period when the execution is splitting time or when the operation is combined.
- Intermittent Network Issues: The testing or running of applications that are interacting with network resources can occasionally be affected by network problems such as packet loss or bursts of latency can increase the variation in the results.
- Race Conditions: Flakey tests with race conditions, are non-deterministic, and bypass or fail unpredictably, this is because the timing of overlapping operations may have a dominant effect.
- Non-reproducible Failures: Some flaky tests may fail and backtrack which is a tough job to solve, reproducing bugs and diagnosing them.
- Unpredictable Error Reporting: Erroneous versions of flaky tests may offer indirect error reports or climbs when they fail. This may lead to the failure to identify the source of problems and subsequent handling of the complaints.
What is a Flaky Test?
Flaky tests are a common challenge in software testing, where test failures become unpredictable and can delay the development process. In this article, we will explore what constitutes a flaky test, explore the key causes and detection patterns for flakiness, and discuss practical strategies for troubleshooting and prevention. Understanding flaky tests is essential for maintaining high-quality software releases without delays caused by unreliable tests.
Table of Content
- What is a Flaky Test?
- Characteristics of Flaky Tests
- What causes Flaky Tests?
- Why detect Flaky Tests?
- How to detect Flaky Tests?
- How to Fix Flaky Tests?
- How to Manage Flaky Tests
- Best Practices to Reduce Flaky Tests
- Conclusion
- FAQs