Currently, there is a global variable ${launchDir} that refers to the test directory for a given test: .nf-test/tests/<hash>. However, it would be useful to have a global variable that refers directly to .nf-test/, to allow tests to easily stage and interact with files that we might reasonably want to share among tests.
For example, the nft-utils nf-core dependency management tools (https://github.com/nf-core/nft-utils/blob/d62307775ff8e43971b8628933cda971f016e89a/src/main/java/nf_core/nf/test/utils/NfCoreUtils.java#L17) allow you to instantiate a temporary library to download and install nf-core modules for use in tests.
One option to improve run times and portability would be to stage this library in the .nf-test directory directly, so that the library can be shared easily among tests rather than between tests, as the modules themselves are cached and attempting to install an installed module is quickly skipped. This would be made marginally easier by exposing a directory pointing at the .nf-test/ directory directly!
Currently, there is a global variable
${launchDir}that refers to the test directory for a given test:.nf-test/tests/<hash>. However, it would be useful to have a global variable that refers directly to.nf-test/, to allow tests to easily stage and interact with files that we might reasonably want to share among tests.For example, the nft-utils nf-core dependency management tools (https://github.com/nf-core/nft-utils/blob/d62307775ff8e43971b8628933cda971f016e89a/src/main/java/nf_core/nf/test/utils/NfCoreUtils.java#L17) allow you to instantiate a temporary library to download and install nf-core modules for use in tests.
One option to improve run times and portability would be to stage this library in the .nf-test directory directly, so that the library can be shared easily among tests rather than between tests, as the modules themselves are cached and attempting to install an installed module is quickly skipped. This would be made marginally easier by exposing a directory pointing at the
.nf-test/directory directly!