862265 - Print a better error message if $DISPLAY is not set

Status: NEW

(Testing :: Mochitest, defect)

Description

[Vasil Dimov [:vd]]

Attachment: Full output from ./mach without $DISPLAY being set

If ./mach is run without $DISPLAY being set (e.g. over ssh without X forwarding), then the errors being printed do not make it obvious what the problem is.

See the full output in the attached file.

Comment 1

[Gregory Szorc [:gps]]

I'm going to punt this over to the realm of testing. Only commands are in the best position to determine whether they are capable of being executed. In this particular example, I think the test runners should be responsible for validating the environment. IMO they should fail fast with a clear error message. If we want to expose the "is environment OK to run this test harness" to mach and get even better UX, we can do that. But the first step is having the test runners detect a bad environment.

Comment 2

[Vasil Dimov [:vd]]

I have no time to work on Mozilla bugs for now, should have unassigned this from me some time ago already to give chance to others to crack it.

Comment 3

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

No assignee, updating the status.