Mochitest-Lite

A slimmer version of the Mochitest system used by Mozilla

Todo:

  1. Refactor code into javascript modules.
  2. GUI Manager panel to create, install, update, add, or uninstall test suites.
  3. Remove dependency on Extension Developer.
  4. The skin fell out of the ugly tree.
  5. Write tests to test it.
  6. Post screen shots on AMO.
  7. Localization.
  8. Logging functionality would be nice.
  9. Email kixxauth@gmail.com to add to this list.

First of all, what is Mochitest ?
Mochitest is a unit testing framework created by contributors to Mozilla projects (mostly Firefox). Mochitest is based on MochiKit , the incredibly useful Javascript library used in web development. This framework has also been proven useful for developing tests within Mozilla applications.

Mochitest, as it is used at Mozilla, requires Python to drive the command line interface, and automate the testing. The Mochitest Python scripts overwrite and then rewrite configuration files like manifests and preferences, all while having a minimal impact on the application being tested. Mochitest also uses a client-server architecture to serve test documents to the application being tested. For all this to work, an application needs to be built with the Mozilla build system.

What then, is Mochitest-Lite?
Mochitest makes sense for large applications like Firefox, but what about a unit testing framework for developers of extensions for existing Mozilla applications and small XULrunner applications? These developers have different requirements. Mochitest-Lite is a way to get the same test writing tools and automation without the overhead of running Mochitest the same way it is used to test Mozilla code.