# Generated test files and bad require 'test\_helper' **URL:** \ **Category:** rubyonrails-talk\ **Created:** [May 14, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/generated-test-files-and-bad-require-test-helper/42534 "2009-05-14T20:23:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![11175](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/8edcca/32.png) [@11175](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/11175)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/generated-test-files-and-bad-require-test-helper/42534/1 "2009-05-14T20:23:27Z")
Why do the generated test files have: require 'test\_helper' It cannot obviously find the file because it's located in a subdirectory. That's annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Colin\_Law1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@Colin\_Law1](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Colin_Law1)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/generated-test-files-and-bad-require-test-helper/42534/2 "2009-05-14T20:35:36Z")
It finds it ok for me when run from rake test but not from ruby test/unit/test.rb I change all the require lines to require File.dirname( **FILE** ) + ‘/…/test\_helper’ I suspect there is a better way of achieving this effect Colin ---
**Author:** ![11175](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/8edcca/32.png) [@11175](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/11175)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/generated-test-files-and-bad-require-test-helper/42534/3 "2009-05-14T20:50:34Z")
Colin Law wrote: > It finds it ok for me when run from rake test but not from ruby test/unit/test.rb I change all the require lines to > > require File.dirname(\_\_FILE\_\_) + '/../test\_helper' > > I suspect there is a better way of achieving this effect Thanks Colin for your input. Actually it works the same for me (I never noticed), but I often find myself only running a little set of tests and not always the full rake test. ---
**Author:** ![Phlip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Phlip](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Phlip)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/generated-test-files-and-bad-require-test-helper/42534/4 "2009-05-14T21:20:35Z")
Fernando Perez wrote: > Colin Law wrote: > > require File.dirname(\_\_FILE\_\_) + '/../test\_helper' > > > > I suspect there is a better way of achieving this effect > Thanks Colin for your input. Actually it works the same for me (I never noticed), but I often find myself only running a little set of tests and not always the full rake test. Some editors run tests in the "wrong" folder - if they can run unit tests at all - so that File.dirname mishmash is crucial for Rails's tests. No idea why the newer version took it out! ---
**Author:** ![Frederick\_Cheung](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/rubyonrails/user_avatar/discuss.rubyonrails.org/frederick_cheung/32/3901_2.png) [@Frederick\_Cheung](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Frederick_Cheung)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/generated-test-files-and-bad-require-test-helper/42534/5 "2009-05-14T21:42:35Z")
> Fernando Perez wrote: \> Colin Law wrote: \>\> require File.dirname(\_\_FILE\_\_) + '/../test\_helper' > > \>\> I suspect there is a better way of achieving this effect \> Thanks Colin for your input. Actually it works the same for me (I never \> noticed), but I often find myself only running a little set of tests and \> not always the full rake test. > > Some editors run tests in the "wrong" folder - if they can run unit tests at all - so that File.dirname mishmash is crucial for Rails's tests. No idea why the newer version took it out! Take a look at the comments for [Generated tests rely on test dir in load path rather than File.dirnam… · rails/rails@e817080 · GitHub](http://github.com/rails/rails/commit/e8170805df1a32119db9d328daee1239b338ac71) Fred ---
**Author:** ![Phlip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Phlip](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Phlip)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/generated-test-files-and-bad-require-test-helper/42534/6 "2009-05-14T21:51:56Z")
Frederick Cheung wrote: > > Some editors run tests in the "wrong" folder - if they can run unit tests at all - so that File.dirname mishmash is crucial for Rails's tests. No idea why the newer version took it out! > > Take a look at the comments for [Generated tests rely on test dir in load path rather than File.dirnam… · rails/rails@e817080 · GitHub](http://github.com/rails/rails/commit/e8170805df1a32119db9d328daee1239b338ac71) "different relative requires of the same file cause Ruby to load it multiple times. This causes bugs. Fixing it is the point of this change." Then use File.expand\_path(File.dirname(\_\_FILE\_\_) + '/../test\_helper.rb'). expand\_path - if I spelled it right - goes to the OS filesystem for the uniquely correct path, right? ---
**Author:** ![Phlip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Phlip](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/u/Phlip)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/generated-test-files-and-bad-require-test-helper/42534/7 "2009-05-14T21:53:37Z")
> "different relative requires of the same file cause Ruby to load it multiple times. This causes bugs. Fixing it is the point of this change." > > Then use File.expand\_path(File.dirname(\_\_FILE\_\_) + '/../test\_helper.rb'). > > expand\_path - if I spelled it right - goes to the OS filesystem for the uniquely correct path, right? "File.expand\_path doesn’t behave on Windows". It always comes back to that, huh? (-: