use a docker container to run tests in

[thedavidmeister]

Hey, I've had some success running tests from inside a docker container, which removes the differences in rendering based on the environment.

Thought it might be worth considering/testing here.

[jamescryer]

Thanks, certainly makes sense to mitigate against OS rendering differences. We'd love to hear how you did it, advantages of using Docker containers, and setup steps for newbies.

[thedavidmeister]

@jamescryer i'm no longer working at the company that i set this up for, so probably shouldn't drop their code in wholesale.

regardless, it wasn't that hard, it just involves making a minimal dockerfile with the screenshotting scripts in it with a way for them to "see" the site on the host, and then a way to get the generated screenshots back out to the host.

you could probably make such a dockerfile and distribute it with this repo.

[thedavidmeister]

@jamescryer certainly at least an order of magnitude easier to setup the dockerfile than try to juggle inconsistencies between OS with heuristics as you're talking about a single, upfront cost vs. an ongoing struggle with fragile empirical results

[jamescryer]

There's definitely a need for this for some people, but not one I'm willing to invest in or support right now given the mostly homogeneous environment setup at Huddle.

Thanks