Java: How to test methods that call System.exit()?

Question

I've got a few methods that should call System.exit() on certain inputs. Unfortunately, testing these cases causes JUnit to terminate! Putting the method calls in a new Thread doesn't seem to help, since System.exit() terminates the JVM, not just the current thread. Are there any common patterns for dealing with this? For example, can I subsitute a stub for System.exit()?

[EDIT] The class in question is actually a command-line tool which I'm attempting to test inside JUnit. Maybe JUnit is simply not the right tool for the job? Suggestions for complementary regression testing tools are welcome (preferably something that integrates well with JUnit and EclEmma).

Answer 1

You can use the java SecurityManager to prevent the current thread from shutting down the Java VM. The following code should do what you want:

SecurityManager securityManager = new SecurityManager() {
    public void checkPermission(Permission permission) {
        if ("exitVM".equals(permission.getName())) {
            throw new SecurityException("System.exit attempted and blocked.");
        }
    }
};
System.setSecurityManager(securityManager);

Answer 2

One trick we used in our code base was to have the call to System.exit() be encapsulated in a Runnable impl, which the method in question used by default. To unit test, we set a different mock Runnable. Something like this:

private static final Runnable DEFAULT_ACTION = new Runnable(){
  public void run(){
    System.exit(0);
  }
};

public void foo(){ 
  this.foo(DEFAULT_ACTION);
}

/* package-visible only for unit testing */
void foo(Runnable action){   
  // ...some stuff...   
  action.run(); 
}

...and the JUnit test method...

public void testFoo(){   
  final AtomicBoolean actionWasCalled = new AtomicBoolean(false);   
  fooObject.foo(new Runnable(){
    public void run(){
      actionWasCalled.set(true);
    }   
  });   
  assertTrue(actionWasCalled.get()); 
}

Answer 3

There is a minor problem with the SecurityManager solution. Some methods, such as JFrame.exitOnClose, also call SecurityManager.checkExit. In my application, I didn't want that call to fail, so I used

Class[] stack = getClassContext();
if (stack[1] != JFrame.class && !okToExit) throw new ExitException();
super.checkExit(status);

Answer 4

The library System Rules has a JUnit rule called ExpectedSystemExit. With this rule you are able to test code, that calls System.exit(...):

public void MyTest {
    @Rule
    public final ExpectedSystemExit exit = ExpectedSystemExit.none();

    @Test
    public void systemExitWithArbitraryStatusCode() {
        exit.expectSystemExit();
        //the code under test, which calls System.exit(...);
    }

    @Test
    public void systemExitWithSelectedStatusCode0() {
        exit.expectSystemExitWithStatus(0);
        //the code under test, which calls System.exit(0);
    }
}

Full disclosure: I'm the author of that library.

Answer 5

I like some of the answers already given but I wanted to demonstrate a different technique that is often useful when getting legacy code under test. Given code like:

public class Foo {
  public void bar(int i) {
    if (i < 0) {
      System.exit(i);
    }
  }
}

You can do a safe refactoring to create a method that wraps the System.exit call:

public class Foo {
  public void bar(int i) {
    if (i < 0) {
      exit(i);
    }
  }

  void exit(int i) {
    System.exit(i);
  }
}

Then you can create a fake for your test that overrides exit:

public class TestFoo extends TestCase {

  public void testShouldExitWithNegativeNumbers() {
    TestFoo foo = new TestFoo();
    foo.bar(-1);
    assertTrue(foo.exitCalled);
    assertEquals(-1, foo.exitValue);
  }

  private class TestFoo extends Foo {
    boolean exitCalled;
    int exitValue;
    void exit(int i) {
      exitCalled = true;
      exitValue = i;
    }
}

This is a generic technique for substituting behavior for test cases, and I use it all the time when refactoring legacy code. It not usually where I'm going to leave thing, but an intermediate step to get the existing code under test.

Answer 6

How about injecting an "ExitManager" into this Methods:

public interface ExitManager {
    void exit(int exitCode);
}

public class ExitManagerImpl implements ExitManager {
    public void exit(int exitCode) {
        System.exit(exitCode);
    }
}

public class ExitManagerMock implements ExitManager {
    public bool exitWasCalled;
    public int exitCode;
    public void exit(int exitCode) {
        exitWasCalled = true;
        this.exitCode = exitCode;
    }
}

public class MethodsCallExit {
    public void CallsExit(ExitManager exitManager) {
        // whatever
        if (foo) {
            exitManager.exit(42);
        }
        // whatever
    }
}

The production code uses the ExitManagerImpl and the test code uses ExitManagerMock and can check if exit() was called and with which exit code.