details impact of specifying CI or BUILD_NUMBER

changelog/12577.doc.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+`CI` and `BUILD_NUMBER` environment variables role is discribed in
+the reference doc. They now also appears when doing `pytest -h`
+-- by :user:`MarcBresson`.

doc/en/explanation/ci.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+.. _`ci-pipelines`:
+
+CI Pipelines
+============
+
+Rationale
+---------
+
+The goal of testing in a CI pipeline is different from testing locally. Indeed,
+you can quickly edit some code and run your tests again on your computer, but
+it is not possible with CI pipeline. They run on a separate server and are
+triggered by specific actions.
+
+From that observation, pytest can detect when it is in a CI environment and
+adapt some of its behaviours.
+
+How CI is detected
+------------------
+
+Pytest knows it is in a CI environment when either one of these environment variables are set,
+regardless of their value:
+
+* `CI`: used by many CI systems.
+* `BUILD_NUMBER`: used by Jenkins.
+
+Effects on CI
+-------------
+
+For now, the effects on pytest of being in a CI environment are limited.
+
+When a CI environment is detected, the output of the short test summary info is no longer truncated to the terminal size i.e. the entire message will be shown.
+
+  .. code-block:: python
+
+        # content of test_ci.py
+        import pytest
+
+
+        def test_db_initialized():
+            pytest.fail(
+                "deliberately failing for demo purpose, Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, "
+                "consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras facilisis, massa in suscipit "
+                "dignissim, mauris lacus molestie nisi, quis varius metus nulla ut ipsum."
+            )
+
+
+Running this locally, without any extra options, will output:
+
+  .. code-block:: pytest
+
+     $ pytest test_ci.py
+     ...
+     ========================= short test summary info ==========================
+     FAILED test_backends.py::test_db_initialized[d2] - Failed: deliberately f...
+
+*(Note the truncated text)*
+
+
+While running this on CI will output:
+
+  .. code-block:: pytest
+
+     $ export CI=true
+     $ pytest test_ci.py
+     ...
+     ========================= short test summary info ==========================
+     FAILED test_backends.py::test_db_initialized[d2] - Failed: deliberately failing
+     for demo purpose, Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras
+     facilisis, massa in suscipit dignissim, mauris lacus molestie nisi, quis varius
+     metus nulla ut ipsum.

doc/en/explanation/index.rst

@@ -11,5 +11,6 @@ Explanation
    anatomy
    fixtures
    goodpractices
-   flaky
    pythonpath
+   ci
+   flaky