RSpec tests for your Puppet manifests & modules

Installation

gem install rspec-puppet

Naming conventions

For clarity and consistency, I recommend that you use the following directory structure and naming convention.

module
  |
  +-- manifests
  |
  +-- lib
  |
  +-- spec
       |
       +-- spec_helper.rb
       |
       +-- classes
       |     |
       |     +-- <class_name>_spec.rb
       |
       +-- defines
       |     |
       |     +-- <define_name>_spec.rb
       |
       +-- functions
             |
             +-- <function_name>_spec.rb

Example groups

If you use the above directory structure, your examples will automatically be placed in the correct groups and have access to the custom matchers. If you choose not to, you can force the examples into the required groups as follows.

describe 'myclass', :type => :class do
  ...
end

describe 'mydefine', :type => :define do
  ...
end

describe 'myfunction', :type => :puppet_function do
  ...
end

Defined Types & Classes

Matchers

Checking if a class has been included

You can test if a class has been included in the catalogue with the include_class matcher. It takes the class name as a string as its only argument

it { should include_class('foo') }

Checking if a resource exists

You can test if a resource exists in the catalogue with the generic contain_<resource type> matcher.

it { should contain_augeas('bleh') }

If your resource type includes :: (e.g. foo::bar simply replace the :: with __ (two underscores).

it { should contain_foo__bar('baz') }

You can further test the parameters that have been passed to the resources with the generic with_<parameter> chains.

it { should contain_package('mysql-server').with_ensure('present') }

You can also test that specific parameters have been left undefined with the generic without_<parameter> chains.

it { should contain_file('/foo/bar').without_mode }

Writing tests

Basic test structure

To test that

sysctl { 'baz'
  value => 'foo',
}

Will cause the following resource to be in included in catalogue for a host

exec { 'sysctl/reload':
  command => '/sbin/sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.conf',
}

We can write the following testcase (in spec/defines/sysctl_spec.rb)

describe 'sysctl' do
  let(:title) { 'baz' }
  let(:params) { { :value => 'foo' } }

  it { should contain_exec('sysctl/reload').with_command("/sbin/sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.conf") }
end

Specifying the title of a resource

let(:title) { 'foo' }

Specifying the parameters to pass to a resources or parametised class

let(:params) { {:ensure => 'present', ...} }

Specifying the FQDN of the test node

If the manifest you're testing expects to run on host with a particular name, you can specify this as follows

let(:node) { 'testhost.example.com' }

Specifying the facts that should be available to your manifest

By default, the test environment contains no facts for your manifest to use. You can set them with a hash

let(:facts) { {:operatingsystem => 'Debian', :kernel => 'Linux', ...} }

Specifying the path to find your modules

I recommend setting a default module path by adding the following code to your spec_helper.rb

RSpec.configure do |c|
  c.module_path = '/path/to/your/module/dir'
end

However, if you want to specify it in each example, you can do so

let(:module_path) { '/path/to/your/module/dir' }

Functions

Matchers

All of the standard RSpec matchers are available for you to use when testing Puppet functions.

it 'should be able to do something' do
  subject.call('foo') == 'bar'
end

For your convenience though, a run matcher exists to provide easier to understand test cases.

it { should run.with_params('foo').and_return('bar') }

Writing tests

Basic test structure

require 'spec_helper'

describe '<function name>' do
  ...
end

Specifying the name of the function to test

The name of the function must be provided in the top level description, e.g.

describe 'split' do

Specifying the arguments to pass to the function

You can specify the arguments to pass to your function during the test(s) using either the with_params chain method in the run matcher

it { should run.with_params('foo', 'bar', ['baz']) }

Or by using the call method on the subject directly

it 'something' do
  subject.call('foo', 'bar', ['baz'])
end

Testing the results of the function

You can test the result of a function (if it produces one) using either the and_returns chain method in the run matcher

it { should run.with_params('foo').and_return('bar') }

Or by using any of the existing RSpec matchers on the subject directly

it 'something' do
  subject.call('foo') == 'bar'
  subject.call('baz').should be_an Array
end

Testing the errors thrown by the function

You can test whether the function throws an exception using either the and_raises_error chain method in the run matcher

it { should run.with_params('a', 'b').and_raise_error(Puppet::ParseError) }
it { should_not run.with_params('a').and_raise_error(Puppet::ParseError) }

Or by using the existing raises_error RSpec matcher

it 'something' do
  expect { subject.call('a', 'b') }.should raise_error(Puppet::ParseError)
  expect { subject.call('a') }.should_not raise_error(Puppet::ParseError)
end