pyrox.dev
1# Running Tests interactively {#sec-running-nixos-tests-interactively}
2
3The test itself can be run interactively. This is particularly useful
4when developing or debugging a test:
5
6```ShellSession
7$ nix-build . -A nixosTests.login.driverInteractive
8$ ./result/bin/nixos-test-driver
9[...]
10>>>
11```
12
13You can then take any Python statement, e.g.
14
15```py
16>>> start_all()
17>>> test_script()
18>>> machine.succeed("touch /tmp/foo")
19>>> print(machine.succeed("pwd")) # Show stdout of command
20```
21
22The function `test_script` executes the entire test script and drops you
23back into the test driver command line upon its completion. This allows
24you to inspect the state of the VMs after the test (e.g. to debug the
25test script).
26
27## Reuse VM state {#sec-nixos-test-reuse-vm-state}
28
29You can re-use the VM states coming from a previous run by setting the
30`--keep-vm-state` flag.
31
32```ShellSession
33$ ./result/bin/nixos-test-driver --keep-vm-state
34```
35
36The machine state is stored in the `$TMPDIR/vm-state-machinename`
37directory.
38
39## Interactive-only test configuration {#sec-nixos-test-interactive-configuration}
40
41The `.driverInteractive` attribute combines the regular test configuration with
42definitions from the [`interactive` submodule](#test-opt-interactive). This gives you
43a more usable, graphical, but slightly different configuration.
44
45You can add your own interactive-only test configuration by adding extra
46configuration to the [`interactive` submodule](#test-opt-interactive).
47
48To interactively run only the regular configuration, build the `<test>.driver` attribute
49instead, and call it with the flag `result/bin/nixos-test-driver --interactive`.