rstestinggolden

rstestinggolden is a Python package designed to facilitate regression testing of rendered reStructuredText documents. It focuses on comparing the output of a reStructuredText renderer against a known "golden" or reference output. This is particularly useful for ensuring that changes to reStructuredText parsing, rendering logic, or styling do not introduce regressions in the final output.

The core functionality of rstestinggolden involves taking reStructuredText source files as input and generating their rendered output, typically as HTML. This rendered output is then compared against a pre-existing set of files that represent the expected correct output. If any discrepancies are found between the current output and the golden output, the testing process flags these as failures, indicating a potential regression.

Users typically integrate rstestinggolden into their testing suites, often alongside standard unit or integration tests. The package provides mechanisms for managing the golden files, allowing them to be updated when intentional changes are made to the rendering process. This ensures that the tests remain relevant and that the "golden" files accurately reflect the desired behavior. The aim is to catch unintended side effects in the rendering pipeline early in the development cycle.