Rspec::Bash

Run your shell script in a mocked environment to test its behavior using RSpec.

Features

Test bash functions, entire scripts and inline scripts
Stub shell commands and their exitstatus and outputs
Partial mocks of functions
Control multiple outputs (through STDOUT, STDERR or files)
Verify STDIN, STDOUT, STDERR
Verify command was called with specific argument sequence
Verify command was called correct number of times
Supports RSpec matchers

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'rspec-bash'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install rspec-bash

You can setup rspec-bash globally for your spec suite:

in spec_helper.rb:

  require 'rspec/bash'

  RSpec.configure do |c|
    c.include Rspec::Bash
  end

Usage

see specs in spec/integration folder:

Running script through stubbed env:

  require 'rspec/bash'

  describe 'my shell script' do
    include Rspec::Bash

    let(:stubbed_env) { create_stubbed_env }

    it 'runs the script' do
      stdout, stderr, status = stubbed_env.execute(
        'my-shell-script.sh',
        { 'OPTIONAL_ENV' => 'env vars' }
      )
      expect(status.exitstatus).to eq 0
    end
  end

Choosing a stub type

The stubbed functions/commands for the test runner were traditionally built with ruby. A faster alternative stub, written in bash, has recently been introduced, and is the current default. This can be configured, however, as shown. For ruby:

let(:stubbed_env) { create_stubbed_env(StubbedEnv::RUBY_STUB) }

For bash (default, if not provided):

let(:stubbed_env) { create_stubbed_env(StubbedEnv::BASH_STUB) }

Via environment variable:

export RSPEC_BASH_STUB_TYPE=ruby_stub
# <run your tests here>
...

Stubbing commands:

  let(:stubbed_env) { create_stubbed_env }
  let!(:bundle) { stubbed_env.stub_command('bundle') }
  let!(:absolute_command) { stubbed_env.stub_command('/path/to/bundle') }
  let!(:relative_command) { stubbed_env.stub_command('./path/to/bundle') }

  it 'is stubbed' do
    stubbed_env.execute 'my-script.sh'
    expect(bundle).to be_called_with_arguments('install')
    expect(absolute_command).to be_called_with_arguments('hello')
    expect(relative_command).to be_called_with_arguments('world')
  end

Changing exitstatus of stubs:

  stubbed_env.stub_command('rake').returns_exitstatus(5)

  stubbed_env.stub_command('rake').with_args('spec').returns_exitstatus(3)

Stubbing output:

  let(:rake_stub) { stubbed_env.stub_command('rake') }

  rake_stub.outputs('informative message', to: :stdout)
    .outputs('error message', to: :stderr)
    .outputs('log contents', to: 'logfile.log')
    # creates 'prefix-foo.txt' when called as 'rake convert foo'
    .outputs('converted result', to: ['prefix-', :arg2, '.txt'])

Verifying stdin:

  let(:stubbed_env) { create_stubbed_env }

  it 'verifies stdin with no args' do
    cat_stub = stubbed_env.stub_command('cat')

    expect(cat_stub.stdin).to eql 'hello'
  end

  it 'verifies stdin with args' do
    mail_stub = stubbed_env.stub_command('mail')

    expect(mail_stub.with_args('-s', 'hello').stdin).to eql 'world'
  end

Test entire script, specific function or inline script

stubbed_env.execute('./path/to/script.sh')

stubbed_env.execute_function(
    './path/to/script.sh',
    'overridden_function'
)

stubbed_env.execute_inline(<<-multiline_script
    stubbed_command first_argument second_argument
    multiline_script
)

Check that mock was called with specific arguments

stubbed_env.execute_inline(<<-multiline_script
  stubbed_command first_argument second_argument
 multiline_script
)

it 'correctly identifies the called arguments' do
  expect(@command).to be_called_with_arguments('first_argument', 'second_argument')
end

Check that mock was not called with any arguments

expect(@command).to be_called_with_no_arguments

Check that mock was called a certain number of times

  @actual_stdout, @actual_stderr, @actual_status = stubbed_env.execute_inline(<<-multiline_script
    stubbed_command duplicated_argument
    stubbed_command duplicated_argument
    stubbed_command once_called_argument
  multiline_script

  expect(@command).to be_called_with_arguments('duplicated_argument').times(2)
  expect(@command).to be_called_with_arguments('once_called_argument').times(1)
end

Supports RSpec matchers

it 'stub call with a wildcard used for an argument' do
  grep_mock = stubbed_env.stub_command('grep')
  grep_mock.with_args('-r', anything).outputs('output from grep')

  expect(command).to be_called_with_arguments('output from grep')
end

it 'correctly matches when wildcard is used for arguments' do
  expect(@command).to be_called_with_arguments(anything, 'second_argument', anything)
end

it 'matches any arguments' do
  expect(@command).to be_called_with_arguments
end

it 'matches all arguments' do
  expect(@command).to be_called_with_arguments(any_args)
end

it 'matches any String argument' do
  expect(@command).to be_called_with_arguments(instance_of(String))
end

it 'matches using regexp' do
  expect(@command).to be_called_with_arguments(/s..arg/)
end

Pitfalls and known issues

Use $BASH_SOURCE[0] instead of $0 in your Bash scripts when trying to get the directory that your called script is in. This is a good habit to use when writing scripts as $0 should rarely be used. $0 also has some ramifications when using this gem; it will always be bash and will not be the name of the script. Please see https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Positional-Parameters for more information on $0
The execute_function() method is recommended to be used only when testing Bash libraries. This is because it needs to source the entire file to run the function under test, so any executable code in the script will be run even if it is outside of the function being tested
The current form of stub injection does not allow for stubs to be picked up by other commands. Ex. xargs stubbed_command will result in the stubbed_command not being found. There is a pending issue for this.

More examples

see the spec/integration folder

Supported ruby versions

Ruby 2+, no JRuby, due to issues with Open3.capture3

Contributing

Fork it (https://github.com/mdurban/rspec-bash)
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
Create a new Pull Request

rspec-bash

Development

Runtime