====================
42.0 Stranger Things
====================

The Avocado team is proud to present another release: Avocado version
42.0, aka, "Stranger Things", is now available!

Release documentation: `Avocado 42.0
<http://avocado-framework.readthedocs.io/en/42.0/>`_

The major changes introduced on this version are listed below,
roughly categorized into major topics and intended audience:

Users/Test Writers
==================

 * Multiplexer: it now defines an API to inject and merge data into
   the multiplexer tree.  With that, it's now possible to come up
   with various mechanisms to feed data into the Multiplexer.  The
   standard way to do so continues to be by YAML files, which is now
   implemented in the :mod:`avocado.plugins.yaml_to_mux` plugin module.
   The `--multiplex` option, which used to load YAML files into the
   multiplexer is now deprecated in favor of `--mux-yaml`.

 * Docker improvements: Avocado will now name the container accordingly
   to the job it's running.  Also, it not allows generic Docker options
   to be passed by using `--docker-options` on the Avocado command line.

 * It's now possible to disable plugins by using the configuration file.
   This is documented at `disabling-a-plugin`.

 * :mod:`avocado.utils.iso9660`: this utils module received a lot of
   TLC and it now provides a more complete standard API across all
   backend implementations.  Previously, only the mount based backend
   implementation would support the `mnt_dir` API, which would point
   to a filesystem location where the contents of the ISO would be
   available.  Now all other backends can support that API, given that
   requirements (such as having the right privileges) are met.

 * Users of the :mod:`avocado.utils.process` module will now be able
   to access the process ID in the
   :class:`avocado.utils.process.CmdResult`

 * Users of the :mod:`avocado.utils.build` module will find an
   improved version of :func:`avocado.utils.build.make` which will now
   return the `make` process exit status code.

 * Users of the virtual machine plugin (``--vm-domain`` and related
   options) will now receive better messages when errors occur.

Documentation
=============

 * Added section on how to use custom Docker images with user's own
   version of Avocado (or anything else for that matter).

 * Added section on how to install Avocado using standard OpenSUSE
   packages.

 * Added section on :mod:`unittest` compatibility limitations and
   caveats.

 * A link to Scylla Clusters tests has been added to the list of
   Avocado test repos.

 * Added section on how to install Avocado by using standard Python
   packages.

Developers
==========

 * The `make develop` target will now activate in-tree optional plugins,
   such as the HTML report plugin.

 * The `selftests/run` script, usually called as part of `make check`,
   will now fail at the first failure (by default).  This is controlled
   by the `SELF_CHECK_CONTINUOUS` environment variable.

 * The `make check` target can also run tests in parallel, which can be
   enabled by setting the environment variable `AVOCADO_PARALLEL_CHECK`.

Bugfixes
========

 * An issue where `KeyboardInterrupts` would be caught by the
   `journalctl` run as part of sysinfo was fixed with a workaround.
   The root cause appears to be located in the
   :mod:`avocado.utils.process` library, and a task is already on
   track to verify that possible bug.

 * :mod:`avocado.util.git` module had an issue where git executions
   would generate content that would erroneously be considered as
   part of the output check mechanism.

Internal improvements
=====================

 * Selftests are now run while building Enterprise Linux 6 packages.
   Since most Avocado developers use newer platforms for development,
   this should make Avocado more reliable for users of those older
   platforms.

For more information, please check out the complete
`Avocado changelog
<https://github.com/avocado-framework/avocado/compare/41.0...42.0>`_.

Release Meeting
===============

The Avocado release meetings are now open to the community via
Hangouts on Air.  The meetings are recorded and made available on the
`Avocado Test Framework YouTube channel
<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-RVZ_HFTbEztDM7wNY4NfA>`_.

For this release, you can watch the meeting on `this link
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlrXKEOxeAY>`_.

----

| Sprint theme: https://trello.com/c/icVc5Szx/851-sprint-theme-stranger-things