rspec shared_context and include_context for all specs - ruby

Question

I'm trying to define a few let's and before hooks that will run globally for all my specs by including them in a separate file using the Rspec configuration block.
I tried something like:
module Helpers
def self.included(base)
base.let(:x){ "x" }
base.before(:all){ puts "x: #{x}" }
end
end
Rspec.configure{|c| c.include Helpers }
but this doesn't work as expected. The before(:all) doesn't just run before each main example group, but each nested one as well.
Then I found out about shared_context and it appears to be exactly what I want.
My open problem however is that I can't figure out how to share a context amongst ALL of my specs. The docs only reference include_context within a specific spec.
Can anyone tell me how I can achieve this behavior in a global manner? I'm aware that I can define global before hooks in my spec_helper but I can't seem to use let. I'd like a single place that I can define both of these things and not pollute my spec helper, but just include it instead.

Answer 1

I tried to reproduce your error, but failed.
# spec_helper.rb
require 'support/global_helpers'
RSpec.configure do |config|
config.include MyApp::GlobalHelpers
end
# support/global_helpers.rb
module MyApp
module GlobalHelpers
def self.included(base)
base.let(:beer) { :good }
base.before(:all) { #bottles = 10 }
end
end
end
# beer_spec.rb
require 'spec_helper'
describe "Brewery" do
it "makes good stuff" do
beer.should be :good
end
it "makes not too much bottles" do
#bottles.should == 10
end
context "when tasting beer" do
before(:all) do
#bottles -= 1
end
it "still produces good stuff" do
beer.should be :good
end
it "spends some beer on degusting" do
#bottles.should == 9
end
end
end
https://gist.github.com/2283634
When I wrote something like base.before(:all) { p 'global before'; #bottles = 10 }, I got exactly one line in spec output.
Notice that I didn't try to modify instance variables inside an example, because it wouldn't work anyway (well, actually you can modify instance variables, if it's a hash or array). Moreover, even if you change before(:all) in nested example group to before(:each), there will be still 9 bottles in each example.