I am working on a project where I am building on top of a solution of a very time-consuming problem. Instead of solving the very time consuming part many times, I only run the solver once, I save the solution with pickle, and then I reuse the pickle to test my features build on top of the solution. Here is a model of what I mean import time import pickle class Solution: """ A class that represents a solution of a very time-consuming problem. """ def solve_difficult_problem() -> Solution: time.sleep(1) return Solution() def prepare_solution() -> None: """ I solve the problem only once. I use the solution for all the development of my new feature as it never changes. """ solution = solve_difficult_problem() with open('solved.pickle', 'wb') as file: pickle.dump(solution, file) def my_feature(solution: Solution) -> None: """ I am using the solution. """ print(solution) def test_my_feature() -> None: # prepare_solution() # I run it only once: at the first run. with open('solved.pickle', 'rb') as file: solution = pickle.load(file) assert my_feature(solution) is None My problem is that with pytest, I need to manually uncomment the prepare_solution() at the first run of my tests. Is there a way for pytest to automate this? I have tried writing a separate file which prepares the needed solution. But I don't know how to tell pytest that it should run it manually only the first time. I would like the solution to be saved as a local file that persists longer than one session. Basically, I would like the solution to be available until I remove the whole project from my computer. Continue reading...
