.. py:currentmodule:: testservices

Using testservices
==================

Here are the concepts used by testservices:

.. glossary::

  Service
    This is the basic thing that testservices manages. It often ends up representing
    a TCP port and some credential to connect to it, but, conceptually, can be anything
    from a piece of hardware to a simple file on disk.

    Its API is defined by :class:`testservices.service.Service`.

  .. py:currentmodule:: testservices.service

  Provider
    This provides a single :term:`service` from a selection of alternatives.
    The intention is to provide the first :term:`service` that is
    :any:`possible <Service.possible>` in the current
    context, :any:`create <Service.create>` it if doesn't already
    :any:`exist <Service.exists>` and then return
    :any:`the object <Service.get>`
    representing it.

    Its API is defined by :class:`testservices.provider.Provider`.

Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~

testservices is available on the `Python Package Index`__ and can be installed
with any tools for managing Python environments.

__ https://pypi.org