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Comment by armagon | Hacker News Reader

I don't fully understand what this is.

This seems to be a tool to allow me to semi-automate repetitive tasks that access a REST API; is that correct? Can I download it and fill it in with my own endpoints, etc?

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Kind of :-) The idea behind PatchGirl is to allow developers to combine REST and SQL requests to populate your database to a desired state. The goal is to make "database seeding" and "API testing" reproducible and ease manual testing :-)

All PatchGirl's features are enabled by running a little proxy (called patchgirl-runner) on your computer which you can find here https://github.com/patchgirl/patchgirl/releases/tag/v3.0.0

Feedbacks are much appreciated!!

One comment based on a discussion I was having yesterday on this subject, I’d be careful of the term seeding. I think of seed data as data required for the app to function properly. For example, I seed my application database with a system user account or other system specific data.

I’d contrast this with test data which is used to provide a consistent data set for reproducible actions (usually unit or integration tests).

Sorry if that’s a pedantic nuance

I'd say the definition is whatever definition the team you work in uses. For example for me at work, seeding = automatic database setup for a test system with example data

  > I'd say the definition is whatever definition
  > the team you work in uses.

No, the definition of industry terms is the way they would be understood by other people in the industry. Seeding is understood to be critical data such as area code lists and timezone information.

  > For example for me at work, seeding = automatic
  > database setup for a test system with example data

You're not wrong. Seeding _is_ automatic database setup, just not only for test systems.

>No, the definition of industry terms is the way they would be understood by other people in the industry. Seeding is understood to be critical data such as area code lists and timezone information.

That's kind of the point. Ask three different people in the industry, get three slightly different definitions, unless they work in the same team.

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