[FR] - cardano-testnet: DevX improvements

[klntsky]

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Describe the feature you'd like

We're considering replacing Plutip with cardano-testnet, and we'd like to see some changes upstream for our convenience.

1. We'd like to make running the test suite optional, configurable via a CLI option. We really need faster startup times.
2. We'd like to see more structured output (e.g. JSON) so that we can parse the TMP dir to get the node socket path, etc.

If we implement these changes in a PR, would it be considered for acceptance?

[smelc]

cc @Jimbo4350 @carbolymer

[carbolymer]

We'd like to make running the test suite optional, configurable via a CLI option. We really need faster startup times.

Actually, there are no tests executed when you're starting cardano-testnet using the cardano-testnet executable. It may appear so, because we're leveraging hedgehog's PropertyT when setting up the testnet nodes. So we're kind of abusing it to print debugging information by failing the test suite. All it does is starting the nodes and doing the healthcheck, so I think you won't get more speedup than it is right now (speaking about version in master).

We'd like to see more structured output (e.g. JSON) so that we can parse the TMP dir to get the node socket path, etc.

Definitely, if you feel that you can make the output both human readable and machine readable (by some toggle?) we'd be up for it.

If we implement these changes in a PR, would it be considered for acceptance?

Sure, if it won't be disruptive too much. It would be preferable if you could submit your changes in few smaller PRs.

[klntsky]

@carbolymer Thank you!

I have one more question: would it be possible for it to start instantly in the latest era, skipping the initial era transitions?

[carbolymer]

That's supported already. In some of the test cases we're starting in Conway already, for example in here:

cardano-node/cardano-testnet/test/cardano-testnet-test/Cardano/Testnet/Test/Gov/ProposeNewConstitution.hs

Line 74 in 3d5df51

, cardanoNodeEra = cEra

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