Implement tox

[KasukabeDefenceForce]

:pencil: Description

Type: :rocket: feature The PR aims at implementing tox for automated testing across various Python versions and environments.

:pushpin: Resources

Examples, notebooks, and links to useful references.

:vertical_traffic_light: Testing

How did you test these changes?

• [ ] Testing pipeline
• [ ] Other method (describe)
• [ ] My changes can't be tested (explain why)

:ballot_box_with_check: Checklist

• [ ] I requested two reviewers for this pull request
• [ ] I updated the documentation according to my changes
• [ ] I built the documentation by applying the build_docs label

Note: If you are not allowed to perform any of these actions, ping (@) a contributor.

[KasukabeDefenceForce]

For running tests on all the mentioned environments use the command: tox For running tests on specific environment use the command: tox -e {env}-test

For example: tox -e py38-test

[andrewfullard]

You said in Slack that the main benefit is testing against multiple Python versions. With our static environment, I am not sure that applies to TARDIS. What other benefits does tox provide?

[KasukabeDefenceForce]

You said in Slack that the main benefit is testing against multiple Python versions. With our static environment, I am not sure that applies to TARDIS. What other benefits does tox provide?

Some other benefits:

1. We can simplify the test command. For example, instead of running pytest tardis --tardis-refdata=/Users/abhinav/workspace/code/tardis-main/tardis-refdata --tardis-regression-data=/Users/abhinav/workspace/code/tardis-main/tardis-regression-data we can just run tox.
2. Tox creates separate virtual environments for each test, preventing dependency conflicts and ensuring consistent test conditions. For example, if a user has installed some extra dependencies locally, it wont affect the test environment.

Resources: https://blog.ionelmc.ro/2015/04/14/tox-tricks-and-patterns/ https://codilime.com/blog/python-tox/ https://christophergs.com/python/2020/04/12/python-tox-why-use-it-and-tutorial/

[andrewfullard]

Can tox implement single-command testing for all of the not (continuum or rpacket_tracking), continuum, and rpacket_tracking test cases?