Avoid loading active record fixtures #2869

moofkit · 2025-10-27T07:59:26Z

Even when use_active_record = false is set, rspec-rails still included ActiveRecord::TestFixtures and intercepted before and after hooks, attempting to access the databases associated with active record models. This caused issues in non-standard Rails projects where ActiveRecord is present but not using the Rails testing framework directly.

This PR allows projects with ActiveRecord present to cleanly opt-out of fixture-based testing without database hook interference.

Changes

moved ActiveRecord::TestFixtures inclusion inside the use_active_record? conditional check
created ActiveRecord.md guide covering fixtures, transactions, and configuration options. Merged Transactions.md to the new document
updated rails_helper.rb comments to be aligned with updated documentation.

pirj

We have a couple of “test snippets” in the snippets/ directory related to the No-AR case.
Does any of them reflect your scenario? Can you create an additional one for your case?

There are quite some changes in the PR, and some of the docs you moved are fated (eg we have a non-ambiguous use_transactional_specs config setting now).
Can you narrow this down to cover just your case?

I’m away from my computer to see what broke on CI, most
certainly related to the recent Rails 8.1 release. Please ignore.

pirj · 2025-10-29T12:21:56Z

example_app_generator/no_active_record/spec/verify_no_fixture_setup_spec.rb

 require 'rails_helper'

-RSpec.describe 'Example App', :use_fixtures, type: :model do
+RSpec.describe 'Example App', type: :model do


It you revert this spec change, will the old spec still work?

If it won’t, why?

I'm not sure that using :use_fixtures changes anything at all.
Please look at this code:

rspec-rails/lib/rspec/rails/configuration.rb

Lines 73 to 82 in ef12dbc

config.include RSpec::Rails::FixtureSupport, :use_fixtures

# We'll need to create a deprecated module in order to properly report to

# gems / projects which are relying on this being loaded globally.

#

# See rspec/rspec-rails#1355 for history

#

# @deprecated Include `RSpec::Rails::RailsExampleGroup` or

# `RSpec::Rails::FixtureSupport` directly instead

config.include RSpec::Rails::FixtureSupport

It includes RSpec::Rails::FixtureSupport unconditionally, even if :use_fixtures is not provided.
So the purpose of this meta-tag is a little vague.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll revert this change.

The global config.include with metadata is a conditional include as far as I recall

pirj · 2025-10-29T12:34:41Z

example_app_generator/no_active_record/spec/verify_no_fixture_setup_spec.rb


-RSpec.describe 'Example App', :use_fixtures, type: :model do
+RSpec.describe 'Example App', type: :model do
  it "does not set up fixtures" do


This means “we don’t set up fixtures even if AR is loaded and there’s a metadata tag”, right? I hat changed?

pirj · 2025-10-29T12:36:08Z

lib/generators/rspec/install/templates/spec/rails_helper.rb

-  # If you're not using ActiveRecord, or you'd prefer not to run each of your
-  # examples within a transaction, remove the following line or assign false
-  # instead of true.
+  # If you'd prefer not to run each of your examples within a transaction,


Why remove the mention of AR here?

Well, originally this statement is not quite correct, specifically the If you're not using ActiveRecord part.
The use_transactional_fixtures setting doesn't make any sense without the ActiveRecord, as it's a part of its configuration in specs. But you are right, it needs to mention the setting is related to the ActiveRecord.
Thanks

I'd prefer it if this was reverted, you should delete this setting if you're not using ActiveRecord, thats why it's written that way.

moofkit · 2025-10-30T08:00:00Z

We have a couple of “test snippets” in the snippets/ directory related to the No-AR case.
Does any of them reflect your scenario? Can you create an additional one for your case?

Will do, thanks.

There are quite some changes in the PR, and some of the docs you moved are fated (eg we have a non-ambiguous use_transactional_specs config setting now).
Can you narrow this down to cover just your case?

Alright, I'll add some explicit usage notes for use_active_record and roll back the documentation changes.

JonRowe · 2025-10-31T08:21:37Z

lib/generators/rspec/install/templates/spec/rails_helper.rb

  config.use_transactional_fixtures = true

-  # You can uncomment this line to turn off ActiveRecord support entirely.
+  # You can uncomment this line to turn off ActiveRecord support entirely


Revert this change please.

JonRowe · 2025-10-31T08:22:14Z

lib/generators/rspec/install/templates/spec/rails_helper.rb

-  # If you're not using ActiveRecord, or you'd prefer not to run each of your
-  # examples within a transaction, remove the following line or assign false
-  # instead of true.
+  # If you'd prefer not to run each of your examples within a transaction,


I'd prefer it if this was reverted, you should delete this setting if you're not using ActiveRecord, thats why it's written that way.

JonRowe · 2025-10-31T08:23:04Z

features/ActiveRecord.md

@@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
+# Active Record


I'd prefer it if you reverted this change, if you want to add to the documentation in another PR or in the original file thats fine, but this is really hard to review what if anything you've changed

JonRowe · 2025-10-31T08:29:25Z

example_app_generator/no_active_record/spec/verify_no_fixture_setup_spec.rb

-      end
-    end
-  end
-end


This needs to remain, see the documentation comment, it exists to test that stuff doesn't happen when the flag is set to false and the module is defined, this is because even though we can exclude active record, it often still exists due to dependencies, but hasn't been configured...

moofkit added 2 commits October 18, 2025 15:35

avoid include active record test fixtures if use_active_record = false`

8aad725

improved transactions documentation

5dbde49

JonRowe changed the title ~~Avoid loading active record test fuxtures~~ Avoid loading active record fixtures Oct 27, 2025

pirj reviewed Oct 29, 2025

View reviewed changes

JonRowe reviewed Oct 31, 2025

View reviewed changes

	config.include RSpec::Rails::FixtureSupport, :use_fixtures

	# We'll need to create a deprecated module in order to properly report to
	# gems / projects which are relying on this being loaded globally.
	#
	# See rspec/rspec-rails#1355 for history
	#
	# @deprecated Include `RSpec::Rails::RailsExampleGroup` or
	# `RSpec::Rails::FixtureSupport` directly instead
	config.include RSpec::Rails::FixtureSupport

Uh oh!

Avoid loading active record fixtures #2869

Are you sure you want to change the base?

Avoid loading active record fixtures #2869

Conversation

moofkit commented Oct 27, 2025

Changes

Uh oh!

pirj left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

moofkit commented Oct 30, 2025

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

3 participants