behat failures related to touch()

[stronk7]

Was performing a complete run locally (docker on MacOSX) and got these 6 consistent failures (rerun them a number of times):

001 Scenario: All of the selected roles can award badges # /var/www/html/badges/tests/behat/award_badge.feature:321
      And I trigger cron                                 # /var/www/html/badges/tests/behat/award_badge.feature:389
        Other backtraces found:
        line 93 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to touch()
        line 110 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to core()
        line 189 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to core()
        line 114 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_inner_scheduled_task()
        line 73 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_scheduled_tasks()
        line 81 of /admin/cron.php: call to cron_run() (Exception)

002 Scenario: Backup and restore of meta enrolment instance # /var/www/html/enrol/meta/tests/behat/enrol_meta.feature:82
      And I trigger cron                                    # /var/www/html/enrol/meta/tests/behat/enrol_meta.feature:100
        Other backtraces found:
        line 93 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to touch()
        line 110 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to core()
        line 189 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to core()
        line 114 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_inner_scheduled_task()
        line 73 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_scheduled_tasks()
        line 81 of /admin/cron.php: call to cron_run() (Exception)

003 Scenario: Bulk accepting requests # /var/www/html/admin/tool/dataprivacy/tests/behat/manage_data_requests.feature:61
      And I trigger cron              # /var/www/html/admin/tool/dataprivacy/tests/behat/manage_data_requests.feature:88
        Other backtraces found:
        line 93 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to touch()
        line 110 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to core()
        line 189 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to core()
        line 114 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_inner_scheduled_task()
        line 73 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_scheduled_tasks()
        line 81 of /admin/cron.php: call to cron_run() (Exception)

004 Scenario: Bulk denying requests # /var/www/html/admin/tool/dataprivacy/tests/behat/manage_data_requests.feature:106
      And I trigger cron            # /var/www/html/admin/tool/dataprivacy/tests/behat/manage_data_requests.feature:133
        Other backtraces found:
        line 93 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to touch()
        line 110 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to core()
        line 189 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to core()
        line 114 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_inner_scheduled_task()
        line 73 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_scheduled_tasks()
        line 81 of /admin/cron.php: call to cron_run() (Exception)

005 Scenario: Receiving notification on site level # /var/www/html/admin/tool/monitor/tests/behat/subscription.feature:101
      And I trigger cron                           # /var/www/html/admin/tool/monitor/tests/behat/subscription.feature:114
        Other backtraces found:
        line 93 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to touch()
        line 110 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to core()
        line 189 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to core()
        line 114 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_inner_scheduled_task()
        line 73 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_scheduled_tasks()
        line 81 of /admin/cron.php: call to cron_run() (Exception)

006 Scenario: Receiving notification on course level # /var/www/html/admin/tool/monitor/tests/behat/subscription.feature:122
      And I trigger cron                             # /var/www/html/admin/tool/monitor/tests/behat/subscription.feature:135
        Other backtraces found:
        line 93 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to touch()
        line 110 of /lib/classes/task/file_temp_cleanup_task.php: call to core()
        line 189 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to core()
        line 114 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_inner_scheduled_task()
        line 73 of /lib/cronlib.php: call to cron_run_scheduled_tasks()
        line 81 of /admin/cron.php: call to cron_run() (Exception)

6 scenarios (6 failed)
261 steps (192 passed, 6 failed, 63 skipped)
6m38.24s (51.80Mb)

Worth investigating them, usually touch cries when the user is not exactly the same and things like that...

Ciao :-)

[kabalin]

I have seen similar thing recently. You are right regarding the cause. Basically, we initialise/execute Behat using command similar to bin/moodle-docker-compose exec webserver php admin/tool/behat/cli/init.php, this means some content within /var/www/behatdata will be owned by root:

root@2092ff11c900:/var/www/html# ls -la ../behatdata/behatrun/                
total 60
drwxrwxrwx 11 root     root     4096 Nov  1 11:24 .
drwxr-xr-x  3 www-data root     4096 Oct 31 12:41 ..
-rw-rw-rw-  1 root     root      128 Nov  1 11:21 .htaccess
drwxrwxrwx  2 root     root     4096 Oct 31 12:41 behat
-rw-rw-rw-  1 root     root       79 Oct 31 12:36 behattestdir.txt
drwxrwxrwx  4 root     root     4096 Nov  1 11:21 cache
drwxrwxrwx  8 root     root     4096 Oct 31 12:39 filedir
drwxrwxrwx  2 www-data www-data 4096 Nov  1 11:24 lang
drwxrwxrwx  7 root     root     4096 Nov  1 11:24 localcache
drwxrwxrwx  4 www-data www-data 4096 Nov  1 11:24 models
drwxrwxrwx  2 root     root     4096 Nov  1 11:21 muc
-rw-rw-rw-  1 root     root      613 Oct 31 12:40 originaldatafiles.json
drwxrwxrwx  2 www-data www-data 4096 Nov  1 11:24 sessions
-rw-rw-rw-  1 root     root     2206 Nov  1 11:24 tablesupdatedbyscenario.json
drwxrwxrwx  7 root     root     4096 Nov  1 11:23 temp

The actual steps are performed through the webserver, which means filesystem is accessed by www-data user, thus the conflict you may observe at And I trigger cron step (I believe it is calling /admin/cron.php in browser session). In my case it was content in /var/www/behatdata/behatrun/temp/backup which file_temp_cleanup_task has no right to touch.

The workaround, as you may guess, running behat using www-data by adding user parameter to docker exec:

bin/moodle-docker-compose exec -u www-data webserver php admin/tool/behat/cli/run.php --tags=@tool_dataprivacy

You would still need to initialise behat as normal (as root), since populating composer cache and vendor data requires write permission outside test data directories.

[scara]

HI @kabalin,
would you mind to create a PR for the README?

TIA,
Matteo

[kabalin]

Hi @scara, done ^.

Thanks!