Pytests in forked mode not calling global object destructors on process exit

[crupsa]

I have some pytests to test my Python functions. Within each testcase, C++ functions are called using pybind11 APIs. On calling these tests in forked mode @pytest.mark.forked it seems that the destructors of the global objects in C++ are not called on process exit. Is that the expected behavior? If so, then how to force these destructors to be called on process exit? These destructors are essential for my test cases. I am using pytest 8.3.2 on Linux el8_10.x86_64.

[RonnyPfannschmidt]

pytest-forked is currently unmaintained in part because it has no solutions for the mentioned issues

one part is that process global teardown happens after pytest in the forced process exits

the other part is that any non-function-setupstate gets copied to the fork in a uncontrolled fashion

its currently not safe to use pytest-forked for anything that sets up process global state and relies on cleanup,
even more so as there are no on fork hooks for it to correctly manage 3rd party resources

[crupsa]

Thank you for your response.

My individual tests do not depend on global destructors. However, it is essential the global destructors are called, in each forked process, after the pytests complete. From your answer it seems this is not guaranteed in pytest-forked.

Could you explain this point a bit "non-function-setupstate gets copied to the fork in a uncontrolled fashion"?
In general, is it recommended to use pytest-forked?

[RonnyPfannschmidt]

Its not recommended to use forked

It basically calls fork mid testrun copying the setupstate to the new procedure

Then it runs a single test there amd exits

[crupsa]

Thank you.