McRogueFace/tests/KNOWN_ISSUES.md

McRogueFace Test Suite - Known Issues

Test Results Summary

As of 2026-01-14, with --mcrf-timeout=5:

• 120 passed (67%)
• 59 failed (33%)
  • 40 timeout failures (tests requiring timers/animations)
  • 19 actual failures (API changes, missing features, or bugs)

Synchronous Testing with mcrfpy.step()

RECOMMENDED: Use mcrfpy.step(t) to advance simulation time synchronously instead of relying on Timer callbacks and the game loop. This eliminates timeout issues and makes tests deterministic.

Old Pattern (Timer-based, async)

# OLD: Requires game loop, subject to timeouts
def run_tests(timer, runtime):
    # tests here
    sys.exit(0)

mcrfpy.Timer("run", run_tests, 100, once=True)
# Script ends, game loop runs, timer eventually fires

New Pattern (step-based, sync)

# NEW: Synchronous, no timeouts
import mcrfpy
import sys

# Setup scene
scene = mcrfpy.Scene("test")
scene.activate()
mcrfpy.step(0.1)  # Initialize scene

# Run tests directly
frame = mcrfpy.Frame(pos=(100, 100), size=(100, 100))
scene.children.append(frame)

# Start animation
anim = mcrfpy.Animation("x", 500.0, 1.0, "linear")
anim.start(frame)

# Advance simulation to complete animation
mcrfpy.step(1.5)  # Advances 1.5 seconds synchronously

# Verify results
if frame.x == 500.0:
    print("PASS")
    sys.exit(0)
else:
    print("FAIL")
    sys.exit(1)

Key Differences

Aspect	Timer-based	step()-based
Execution	Async (game loop)	Sync (immediate)
Timeout risk	High	None
Determinism	Variable	Consistent
Timer firing	Once per step() call	Per elapsed interval

Timer Behavior with step()

• Timers fire once per step() call if their interval has elapsed
• To fire a timer multiple times, call step() multiple times:

# Timer fires every 100ms
timer = mcrfpy.Timer("tick", callback, 100)

# This fires the timer ~6 times
for i in range(6):
    mcrfpy.step(0.1)  # Each step processes timers once

Refactored Tests

The following tests have been converted to use mcrfpy.step():

• simple_timer_screenshot_test.py
• test_animation_callback_simple.py
• test_animation_property_locking.py
• test_animation_raii.py
• test_animation_removal.py
• test_timer_callback.py
• test_timer_once.py

Remaining Timeout Failures

These tests still use Timer-based async patterns:

• WORKING_automation_test_example.py
• benchmark_logging_test.py
• keypress_scene_validation_test.py
• test_empty_animation_manager.py
• test_simple_callback.py

Headless mode tests:

• test_headless_detection.py
• test_headless_modes.py

Other timing-dependent:

• test_color_helpers.py
• test_frame_clipping.py
• test_frame_clipping_advanced.py
• test_grid_children.py
• test_no_arg_constructors.py
• test_properties_quick.py
• test_python_object_cache.py
• test_simple_drawable.py

Running Tests

# Quick run (5s timeout, many timeouts expected)
pytest tests/ -q --mcrf-timeout=5

# Full run (30s timeout, should pass most timing tests)
pytest tests/ -q --mcrf-timeout=30

# Filter by pattern
pytest tests/ -k "bsp" -q

# Run original runner
python3 tests/run_tests.py -q

Recommendations

1. For CI: Use --mcrf-timeout=10 and accept ~30% timeout failures
2. For local dev: Use --mcrf-timeout=30 for comprehensive testing
3. For quick validation: Use -k "not animation and not timer" to skip slow tests