Start server, run tests, stop server

Question

I have a Makefile target that looks like the following

integration-test: git-hooks
    java -Djava.library.path=$$(pwd)/test/integration/lib/DynamoDBLocal_lib \
        -Djava.util.logging.config.file=/dev/null \
        -Dorg.eclipse.jetty.LEVEL=WARN \
        -Dlog4j.com.amazonaws.services.dynamodbv2.local.server.LocalDynamoDBServerHandler=OFF \
        -jar $$(pwd)/test/integration/lib/DynamoDBLocal.jar \
        -inMemory \
        -port 8000 &
    sleep 3
    ./node_modules/.bin/mocha --compilers coffee:coffee-script/register \
        --reporter spec \
        test/integration/main.coffee
    ps -ef | grep [D]ynamoDBLocal_lib | awk '{print $$2}' | xargs kill

Here's what I'm doing:

the Java command starts a local instance of Amazon's DynamoDB.
I give it 3 seconds to start
I run my integration tests
I kill the database

What I would like is kill the database regardless of the fact that the tests passed or not. To do that I suppose I need the exit status of the test command and return that, both if the tests fails or if they succeeded.

What is happening is that if tests pass the database is correctly killed, if the tests fail it's not.

I've read in the docs that you can prepend a - in front a command to have make ignore it if it produce a non zero exit status, the problem if I do that is that I don't know if the tests failed or not, since $? will always return 0.

What's the usual practice in this scenario? I'm fine in splitting the target in more targets if that solves my issue.

Thank you.

Is "the tests produced an error" and "the tests fail" the same thing? And do the tests write the information you want to stdout? Or do you want the returned value, and if so then how do you want Make to display that information? — Beta, Oct 20 '14 at 22:56
Yes in this case it's the same thing. I want the exit status, yes. Make is already displaying the output of my command, I just want to use the exit status of the test command and return that, I think that by doing this make will in turn return a non 0 exit status, right? I've edited my answer to make it more clear. — Alberto Zaccagni, Oct 20 '14 at 23:41

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 20 '14 at 23:59

You'll have to run the entire thing in a single shell, which means you'll need to use command separators (e.g., ;) and backslashes to connect the lines. Then you can store the result and exit with it:

integration-test: git-hooks
        { java -Djava.library.path=$$(pwd)/test/integration/lib/DynamoDBLocal_lib \
            -Djava.util.logging.config.file=/dev/null \
            -Dorg.eclipse.jetty.LEVEL=WARN \
            -Dlog4j.com.amazonaws.services.dynamodbv2.local.server.LocalDynamoDBServerHandler=OFF \
            -jar $$(pwd)/test/integration/lib/DynamoDBLocal.jar \
            -inMemory \
            -port 8000 & }; \
        sleep 3; \
        ./node_modules/.bin/mocha --compilers coffee:coffee-script/register \
            --reporter spec \
            test/integration/main.coffee; \
        r=$$?; \
        ps -ef | grep [D]ynamoDBLocal_lib | awk '{print $$2}' | xargs kill; \
        exit $$r

However, you can actually do even better if you use a single shell, by killing only the exact process you want instead of using ps:

integration-test: git-hooks
        { java -Djava.library.path=$$(pwd)/test/integration/lib/DynamoDBLocal_lib \
            -Djava.util.logging.config.file=/dev/null \
            -Dorg.eclipse.jetty.LEVEL=WARN \
            -Dlog4j.com.amazonaws.services.dynamodbv2.local.server.LocalDynamoDBServerHandler=OFF \
            -jar $$(pwd)/test/integration/lib/DynamoDBLocal.jar \
            -inMemory \
            -port 8000 & }; \
        pid=$$!; \
        sleep 3; \
        ./node_modules/.bin/mocha --compilers coffee:coffee-script/register \
            --reporter spec \
            test/integration/main.coffee; \
        r=$$?; \
        kill $$pid; \
        exit $$r

Thank you so much! Do you have a link where I can read on the theory behind your solution? — Alberto Zaccagni, Oct 21 '14 at 12:33
You can read about recipe syntax here: http://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Recipe-Syntax.html The rest of the changes are not related to make and instead just learning how to program in the shell. Read your shell's man page are any good shell programming tutorial. — MadScientist, Oct 21 '14 at 12:39

Start server, run tests, stop server

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