Unable to get cucumber working with Ruby 2.x under Windows - ruby

Question

When I run cucumber, I get the following messages:
*** WARNING: You must use ANSICON 1.31 or higher (http://adoxa.110mb.com/ansicon) to get coloured output on Windows
Warning: you should require 'minitest/autorun' instead.
Warning: or add 'gem "minitest"' before 'require "minitest/autorun"'
From:
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/lib/cucumber/core_ext/disable_mini_and_test_unit_autorun.rb:3:in `<top (required)>'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/lib/cucumber/runtime.rb:21:in `initialize'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/lib/cucumber/cli/main.rb:40:in `new'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/lib/cucumber/cli/main.rb:40:in `execute!'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/lib/cucumber/cli/main.rb:20:in `execute'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/bin/cucumber:14:in `<top (required)>'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/bin/cucumber:23:in `load'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/bin/cucumber:23:in `<main>'
MiniTest::Unit::TestCase is now Minitest::Test. From C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/test/unit/testcase.rb:8:in `<module:Unit>'
undefined method `_run_suite' for class `Test::Unit::Runner' (NameError)
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/test/unit.rb:676:in `<class:Runner>'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/test/unit.rb:261:in `<module:Unit>'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/test/unit.rb:15:in `<module:Test>'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/test/unit.rb:7:in `<top (required)>'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/lib/cucumber/core_ext/disable_mini_and_test_unit_autorun.rb:25:in `<top (required)>'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/rubygems/core_ext/kernel_require.rb:55:in `require'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/lib/cucumber/runtime.rb:21:in `initialize'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/lib/cucumber/cli/main.rb:40:in `new'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/lib/cucumber/cli/main.rb:40:in `execute!'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/lib/cucumber/cli/main.rb:20:in `execute'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/cucumber-1.2.1/bin/cucumber:14:in `<top (required)>'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/bin/cucumber:23:in `load'
C:/RailsInstaller/Ruby2.1.0/bin/cucumber:23:in `<main>'
bundle list gives me:
DL is deprecated, please use Fiddle
Gems included by the bundle:
* builder (3.2.2)
* bundler (1.7.7)
* cucumber (1.2.1)
* diff-lcs (1.1.3)
* gherkin (2.11.8)
* json (1.8.1)
* minitest (4.7.5)
* multi_json (1.10.1)
* rspec-expectations (2.11.2)
Based on a similar question on stack exchange, I have the following in `features\support\env.rb':
require 'minitest'
module MiniTestAssertions
def self.extended(base)
base.extend(MiniTest::Assertions)
base.assertions = 0
end
attr_accessor :assertions
end
World(MiniTestAssertions)
What's my next step to getting cucumber working?
Edit:
I've tried running cucumber in a completely empty directory (expecting to get a warning that no features are defined), but get exactly the same message: the warning about minitest, then the error about undefined method '_run_suite'. Evertyhing I can find on the web about this either relates to Rails (which I'm not using) or says it's an old problem that has been fixed, so I'm completely stuck. :(

Answer 1

Any reason why you can't use ruby 1.9 for going through this exercise?
The latest version of the The Cucumber Book - version 3.0 - was released in Mar 2014 when ruby 1.9.3 was the most prevalently used ruby version.
The code for the book was tested with ruby 1.9.3-p194 (as mentioned in Appendix 2 - Installing Cucumber section).
The authors/pragprog may come up with a new edition of the book, and at that time they will ensure the code in the book work with ruby 2.2 or the then most commonly used version of ruby.
It is quite possible to figure out how to make these examples work for ruby 2.0 or higher version, but that is a headache I would recommend you not concern yourself at this time. Given that you are just now starting to learn about cucumber, it would be best to follow the text in the book based on the version it recommends.
After getting familiar with cucumber, and other components of the ruby world, you will appreciate why I find "How do I persuade it to use RSpec?" to be very funny. :-)

Answer 2

As you know, the configuration of your development environment is a tedious and error-prone task. I prefer to work in a *nix-type environment, which you could achieve on your Windows box using, say, VirtualBox or some Docker-for-Windows arrangement.
If you can get such a Docker configuration for Windows up and running, then this may be your best bet to solve the issue quickly, since Docker is all about sharing/reusing pre-configured environments/deployments, which can be a real time-saver! There are already some fine Dockerfile configurations that should help you see which components to install. See: this and that.
BTW, if you prefer to use rspec over minitest (and who wouldn't?), you'll want to use some sample code that doesn't "require 'minitest'". If you only are interested to get the current example working, you might entertain the idea that is given by the error message to "require 'minitest/autorun'". I hope it helps you--good luck!