Multtestlib: A Parallel Approach to Unit Testing in Python

In this article, we propose a solution to improve the speed of Unit Tests in Python Language by the creation of a package, also in Python, to run unit tests using parallel processing. It was necessary to side-step Python’s GIL (Global Interpreter Lock) which prevents parallel processing. With the reuse of code from the multprocessing package, it was possible to execute code in parallel, using subprocesses instead of the threads used by the GIL. Performance tests were carried out, comparing the developed solution with the unittest, from the standard library, such tests demonstrated that it is possible to carry out unit tests, in Python, using multiprocessors to reduce running time. The authors believe that, based on the results presented, this is a promising technique and that the developed package may eventually be included in a Python library.