Obnam → blog → 2026 → Obnam server API: verification scenarios for /validate

Goal

The goal for today is to add a Subplot verification scenario for the /validate endpoint, and the scaffolding to have acceptance testing for the Obnam server.

Plan

  • Add Subplot scaffolding to obnam-server.
  • Add scenario to verify that /validate accepts a valid API token.
  • Add scenario to verify that /validate refuses an invalid API token.
  • Add scenario to verify that /validate refuses an garbage API token.
  • Update CI setup so that the new Subplot document is formatted into HTML and published on doc.obnam.org.

Notes

  • I already use Subplot for obnam so I will copy that to obnam-server to get started with least amount of effort.
  • Removed all scenarios and added new ones for obnam-server.
  • Subplot sceanrios are pretty straightforward to run for command line programs in batch mode. However, I ran into a problem where I need to start the Obnam server, make an API call, and verify the result of that. This requires managing a daemon process, and Subplot does not currently provide any tooling for that.
  • I can make do by using the command line interface to generate and validate tokens, but in the long run that's not acceptable.
  • I could make a test mode for the server where it reads HTTP requests from file, but that's only going to take me so far.
  • I think I need to take a detour add add daemon management support, either as custom steps for Obnam, or for upstream Subplot.
  • I'll merge what I have, while I think about that.

Summary

A short session today, but that's fine. It's still progress.

Comments?

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