Our sphinx testing config, the result of many iterations to make it fast and reliable.

0_rspec_sphinx.rb

# Use this with https://gist.github.com/2397889 to make it much more stable.

# Usage:
# 1) Put this in spec/support/rspec_sphinx.rb
# 2) In your spec_helper.rb: "RSpec::ThinkingSphinx.setup(config)"

# Expects a spec_helper like:
#
#   require 'database_cleaner'
#
#   RSpec.configure do |config|
#     config.use_transactional_fixtures = false
#
#     config.before(:each) do
#       DatabaseCleaner.strategy = @db_cleaner_strategy || :transaction
#       DatabaseCleaner.start
#     end
#
#     config.after(:each) do
#       DatabaseCleaner.clean
#     end
#   end

require 'thinking_sphinx/test'

class RSpec::ThinkingSphinx
  @started = false

  def self.setup(config)
    ThinkingSphinx::Test.create_indexes_folder

    # Need to start sphinx after spork has forked it in dev, so doing it in a before block
    config.before(:each, :sphinx) do
      @db_cleaner_strategy = :truncation
      unless @started
        ThinkingSphinx::Test.start
        @started = true
        Kernel.at_exit do
          # start_with_autostop is very slow for some reason
          ThinkingSphinx::Test.config.controller.stop
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

1_helper.rb

# Usage, in spec:
#   Model.create ...
#   index_sphinx
#   query_sphinx ...

  def index_sphinx
    ThinkingSphinx::Test.index
    t = Time.now
    path = "#{Rails.root}/log/searchd.#{ENV['TEST_ENV_NUMBER'].to_i}.log"
    loop do
     if File.exists?(path)
       break if File.readlines(path).last.include?("rotating finished")
     end
     sleep 0.025
     if Time.now - t > 0.5
       puts("WTF: indexing not finished in 0.5 seconds? Let's assume it worked anyway.") if File.exists?(path)
       break
     end
    end
  end

Would very much like a better way to talk to the indexer process other than reading the log file.