From 060f7d24c42698e00d9ed5d34f936f487b619b67 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: goodboy <goodboy_foss@protonmail.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2026 10:21:56 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Backend-aware timeout in `maybe_expect_raises`
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Default `timeout` from `int = 3` → `int|None = None`;
when unset, pick a backend-aware value. Fork-based
backends (`main_thread_forkserver`) need real headroom
bc actor spawn + IPC ctx-exit + msg-validation error
path is much heavier than under `trio` backend —
especially under cross-pytest-stream contention (#451).

Defaults:
- `main_thread_forkserver` → 30s
- everything else          → 3s (unchanged)

Empirical flake history that motivated 30s as the floor
on fork backends (all from `test_basic_payload_spec`):

- 3s  → all-valid variant flaked w/ `TooSlowError`
- 8s  → `invalid-return` variant flaked w/ `Cancelled`
        (surfaced instead of `MsgTypeError` bc the
        outer `fail_after` fired mid-error-path)
- 15s → flaked under cross-pytest-stream contention

30s gives plenty of headroom while still failing-loud
on a genuine hang. Callers can opt out by passing an
explicit `timeout=` kw.

(this patch was generated in some part by [`claude-code`][claude-code-gh])
[claude-code-gh]: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code
---
 tests/msg/test_pldrx_limiting.py | 27 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 26 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/tests/msg/test_pldrx_limiting.py b/tests/msg/test_pldrx_limiting.py
index b180dc03..1a8b6117 100644
--- a/tests/msg/test_pldrx_limiting.py
+++ b/tests/msg/test_pldrx_limiting.py
@@ -55,12 +55,37 @@ async def maybe_expect_raises(
     raises: BaseException|None = None,
     ensure_in_message: list[str]|None = None,
     post_mortem: bool = False,
-    timeout: int = 3,
+    # NOTE, `None` selects a backend-aware default below —
+    # see `_BACKEND_TIMEOUT_DEFAULTS` for rationale. Caller
+    # can override with an explicit value to opt out.
+    timeout: int|None = None,
 ) -> None:
     '''
     Async wrapper for ensuring errors propagate from the inner scope.
 
     '''
+    if timeout is None:
+        # Pick a backend-aware default. Fork-based backends
+        # (`main_thread_forkserver`) need much more headroom
+        # because actor spawn + IPC ctx-exit + msg-validation
+        # error path takes longer than under `trio` backend
+        # — especially under cross-pytest-stream contention
+        # (#451). `test_basic_payload_spec` empirically:
+        #   - 3s flaked all-valid variant (`TooSlowError`)
+        #   - 8s flaked `invalid-return` variant
+        #     (`Cancelled` surfaced instead of `MsgTypeError`
+        #     because `fail_after` fired mid-error-path)
+        #   - 15s flaked under cross-stream contention
+        # 30s for fork-based gives plenty of headroom while
+        # still failing-loud on a genuine hang. Other
+        # backends keep the original 3s.
+        from tractor.spawn import _spawn as _spawn_mod
+        timeout = (
+            30
+            if _spawn_mod._spawn_method == 'main_thread_forkserver'
+            else 3
+        )
+
     if tractor.debug_mode():
         timeout += 999