1. The basics
2. Test fixtures
3. Static analysis
4. Automated tests
5. Continuous integration

At its heart, ORCA is a Symfony Console application. It requires PHP, Composer, SQLite (which it uses to avoid a MySQL requirement on the host), and Git. It expects to be installed in a directory adjacent to the system under test (SUT). It creates its test fixtures under the same parent, e.g.:

.
└── Projects
    ├── example     # The system under test (SUT)
    ├── orca        # ORCA itself
    └── orca-build  # The test fixture

Note: The fixture directory can be changed at runtime via environment variable.

An ORCA test fixture is comprised of a project template with one or all company software packages (as specified by default in config/packages.yml and configurable via environment variables) added via Composer. There are two basic kinds:

• A standard fixture includes and installs the SUT as well as all other company packages.
• A SUT-only fixture includes and installs the SUT and omits all other non-required company packages.

Packages are included at one of two levels of stability:

• Their recommended, stable versions.
• Their development (dev/HEAD) versions.

ORCA uses path repositories to make Composer install the system under test (SUT) from the local directory. Merely composing the test fixtures can reveal many quality and interoperability issues.

ORCA checks the SUT for low level construction defects using the following static analysis tools:

• Composer validate checks composer.json files for validity and completeness.
• Composer normalize checks composer.json files for consistent ordering and formatting.
• PHP Parallel Lint checks PHP files for syntax errors.
• Acquia Coding Standards for PHP checks for coding standards and best practices compliance, checks for PHP cross-version compatibility with all supported language versions, and finds vulnerabilities and weaknesses related to security in PHP code.
• PHPLOC measures the size and analyzes the structure of a PHP project, including such low level metrics as cyclomatic complexity and dependencies. (Example.)
• PHP Mess Detector looks for potential problems in PHP source code, such as possible bugs, suboptimal code, overcomplicated expressions, and unused parameters, methods, and properties.
• The Symfony YAML Linter checks YAML files for syntax errors.

Static analysis requires no special setup of the SUT.

ORCA tests for functional and behavioral correctness with PHPUnit and Nightwatch.js.

• An integrated test exercises the SUT in the presence of all other company packages (i.e., in a standard fixture) to ensure that all packages can be added to the same codebase via Composer and that there are no install time or functional conflicts between them.
• An isolated test exercises the SUT in the absence of other non-required packages (i.e., in a SUT-only fixture) to ensure that it has no undeclared dependencies on other packages and functions correctly on its own.

See Running automated tests.

ORCA includes out-of-the-box support for GitHub Actions for continuous integration. The default implementation runs the following concurrent jobs per build:

• STATIC_CODE_ANALYSIS - Static code analysis
• INTEGRATED_TEST_ON_OLDEST_SUPPORTED - Integrated test on oldest supported Drupal core version
• INTEGRATED_TEST_ON_LATEST_LTS - Integrated test on latest LTS Drupal core version
• INTEGRATED_TEST_ON_PREVIOUS_MINOR - Integrated test on previous minor Drupal core version
• INTEGRATED_UPGRADE_TEST_FROM_PREVIOUS_MINOR - Integrated upgrade test from previous minor Drupal core version
• ISOLATED_TEST_ON_CURRENT - Isolated test on current Drupal core version
• INTEGRATED_TEST_ON_CURRENT - Integrated test on current Drupal core version
• INTEGRATED_UPGRADE_TEST_TO_NEXT_MINOR - Integrated upgrade test to next minor Drupal core version
• INTEGRATED_UPGRADE_TEST_TO_NEXT_MINOR_DEV - Integrated upgrade test to next minor dev Drupal core version
• ISOLATED_TEST_ON_CURRENT_DEV - Isolated test on current dev Drupal core version
• INTEGRATED_TEST_ON_CURRENT_DEV - Integrated test on current dev Drupal core version
• LOOSE_DEPRECATED_CODE_SCAN - Loose deprecated code scan
• STRICT_DEPRECATED_CODE_SCAN - Strict deprecated code scan
• DEPRECATED_CODE_SCAN_W_CONTRIB - Deprecated code scan w/ contrib
• ISOLATED_TEST_ON_NEXT_MINOR - Isolated test on next minor Drupal core version
• INTEGRATED_TEST_ON_NEXT_MINOR - Integrated test on next minor Drupal core version
• ISOLATED_TEST_ON_NEXT_MINOR_DEV - Isolated test on next minor dev Drupal core version
• INTEGRATED_TEST_ON_NEXT_MINOR_DEV - Integrated test on next minor dev Drupal core version
• ISOLATED_TEST_ON_NEXT_MAJOR_LATEST_MINOR_BETA_OR_LATER - Isolated test on next major, latest minor beta-or-later Drupal core version
• INTEGRATED_TEST_ON_NEXT_MAJOR_LATEST_MINOR_BETA_OR_LATER - Integrated test on next major, latest minor beta-or-later Drupal core version
• ISOLATED_TEST_ON_NEXT_MAJOR_LATEST_MINOR_DEV - Isolated test on next major, latest minor dev Drupal core version
• INTEGRATED_TEST_ON_NEXT_MAJOR_LATEST_MINOR_DEV - Integrated test on next major, latest minor dev Drupal core version
• ISOLATED_UPGRADE_TEST_TO_NEXT_MAJOR_BETA_OR_LATER - Isolated upgrade test to next major beta-or-later Drupal core version
• ISOLATED_UPGRADE_TEST_TO_NEXT_MAJOR_DEV - Isolated upgrade test to next major dev Drupal core version

See Configuring CI.

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