Document future test isolation behavior in all ansible-dev-tools (ans…

…ible#527)

Related: https://issues.redhat.com/browse/AAP-37861
Co-authored-by: Abhinav Anand <[email protected]>

docs/index.md

@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ When it comes to creating automation content using Ansible, there are several pa
 - Simplified Ansible Automation: ansible-dev-tools focuses on crafting your automation scenarios and workflows with speed by reducing boilerplate code without
   dealing with the intricacies of managing and integrating different Ansible libraries.
 
+- Promote and provide [test isolation] from system and user environments.
+
 For those looking for an IDE-based experience, we also recommend you get familiar with the [Ansible extension for VSCode](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=redhat.ansible).
 
 ## Included Packages

docs/user-guide/test-isolation.md

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+# Test Isolation
+
+!!! note
+
+    The test isolation behaviors described below are expected to be fully implemented
+    by the end of **February 2025** and will affect [ansible-lint][ansible-lint], [molecule][molecule] and [ansible-dev-environment (ade)][ansible-dev-environment] in particular.
+
+One very common problem in software development is reproducibility of test
+results across the various environments:
+
+- local development, aka "works on my machine"
+- CI/CD testing pipelines
+- staging and production environments
+
+A very common source of producing divergent results across these are the
+dependencies, which can be:
+
+- used dependencies that are not declared but happen to be installed
+  on a developer's machine
+- different versions of the same dependency
+- conflicts between dependencies
+
+Historically, most of ansible-dev-tools tried to address these by installing
+dependencies in a controlled way and trying to avoid installing them in the
+default user home directory, as this might affect other projects in
+an unpredictable way.
+
+Starting with early 2025, all ansible-dev-tools will aim to implement the
+following predictable behaviors:
+
+- Prefer being run from within a python virtual environment, warning the user
+  if this not the case.
+- Dynamically modify Ansible environment to prefer installation of dependencies
+  such as collections, roles and python packages inside the current virtual
+  environment.
+
+## Isolated mode (virtual environment) \[default\]
+
+This is the recommended way to run ansible-dev-tools. If a virtual environment
+is not detected, a warning will be displayed, prompting the user to use one
+for better isolation.
+
+It should be noted that our tools will look for a `.venv` directory inside
+the current directory if a virtual environment is not already active and will
+try to use it if found.
+
+When running ansible-dev-tools inside a virtual environment, the following
+things will happen:
+
+- Few Ansible environment variables will be automatically defined in order to
+  make `ansible-galaxy` install commands to install content (collections and
+  roles) directly inside the virtual environment. Ansible-core itself is already able to find content from inside the virtual environment and this takes priority over the other paths.
+- Dependencies will automatically be installed inside the virtual environment
+
+## Non-isolated mode (outside virtual environments)
+
+When running ansible-dev-tools outside a virtual environment, our tools will
+display a warning message explaining the user that the isolation mode is
+disabled.
+
+- No alteration of ansible environment variables will be made. This is different
+  from the previous behaviors of ansible-lint or molecule, which tried to define
+  these to point to a temporary directory.
+
+---
+
+[moleclue]: https://ansible.readthedocs.io/projects/molecule/
+[ansible-lint]: https://ansible.readthedocs.io/projects/lint/
+[ansible-dev-environment]: https://ansible.readthedocs.io/projects/dev-environment/

mise.toml

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[tools]
+"npm:prettier" = "latest"

mkdocs.yml

@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ nav:
   - DevSpaces: devspaces.md
   - User Guide:
       - user-guide/index.md
+      - Test Isolation: user-guide/test-isolation.md
       - Testing: user-guide/testing.md
       - Building a Collection: user-guide/building-collection.md
       - Content Best Practices: user-guide/content-best-practices.md