Running Cucumber tests fails with OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space exception

Question

I'm applying BDD methodology using Cucumber, which is GREAT!

The problem is that my test suite getting bigger and bigger and now I get the following exception which fails my test from the wrong reason...

I'm using all sort or Cucumber features, such as: Background, Scenario Outline and simple scenarios. I run the tests like this:

@RunWith(Cucumber.class)
@Cucumber.Options(features={"...../controller1"})
public class RunCukes1Test {
}

I split my feature files to different directories (controller1, controller2...) and runners (RunCukes1Test, RunCukes2Test...), but this didn't help.

When I run each test itself everything is ok, but when I run it all using mave lifecycle test, it fails. Does anyone know of any best practices in Java Cucumber to avoid problems of such.

    Tests run: 5896, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 33.082 sec
Running com.kenshoo.urlbuilder.appservice.controller.RunCukes4Test

Tests run: 11838, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0, Time elapsed: 80.833 sec
Exception in thread "Thread-73" java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space
    at java.util.Arrays.copyOf(Arrays.java:2882)
    at java.lang.AbstractStringBuilder.expandCapacity(AbstractStringBuilder.java:100)
    at java.lang.AbstractStringBuilder.append(AbstractStringBuilder.java:515)
    at java.lang.StringBuffer.append(StringBuffer.java:306)
    at java.io.BufferedReader.readLine(BufferedReader.java:345)
    at java.io.BufferedReader.readLine(BufferedReader.java:362)
    at org.codehaus.plexus.util.cli.StreamPumper.run(StreamPumper.java:129)
Exception in thread "ThreadedStreamConsumer" java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space
    at java.util.Arrays.copyOfRange(Arrays.java:3209)
    at java.lang.String.<init>(String.java:215)
    at java.lang.StringBuffer.toString(StringBuffer.java:585)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.report.PrettyPrintXMLWriter.escapeXml(PrettyPrintXMLWriter.java:167)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.report.PrettyPrintXMLWriter.addAttribute(PrettyPrintXMLWriter.java:178)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.shade.org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.Xpp3DomWriter.write(Xpp3DomWriter.java:50)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.shade.org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.Xpp3DomWriter.write(Xpp3DomWriter.java:55)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.shade.org.codehaus.plexus.util.xml.Xpp3DomWriter.write(Xpp3DomWriter.java:39)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.report.XMLReporter.testSetCompleted(XMLReporter.java:128)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.report.MulticastingReporter.testSetCompleted(MulticastingReporter.java:51)
    at org.apache.maven.surefire.report.TestSetRunListener.testSetCompleted(TestSetRunListener.java:115)
    at org.apache.maven.plugin.surefire.booterclient.output.ForkClient.consumeLine(ForkClient.java:97)
    at org.apache.maven.plugin.surefire.booterclient.output.ThreadedStreamConsumer$Pumper.run(ThreadedStreamConsumer.java:67)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)

Results :

Tests run: 11790, Failures: 0, Errors: 0, Skipped: 0

So what happened with the other similar question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13381977/jenkins-build-fails-after-running-cucumber-tests-on-java-heap-space-exception? — maba, Nov 14 '12 at 16:18
I think there are two different problems. One is during the cucumber (in dev env) and one is after the cucumber (in build env). — LiorK, Nov 14 '12 at 16:24
But did you get help on the other question? Did that problem get solved? — maba, Nov 14 '12 at 16:25
It is getting to a good direction. It seems that the -XX:MaxPermSize is a factor for during Cucumber running, and the -Xmx is a factor for the post Cucumber running, while parsing the results. — LiorK, Nov 15 '12 at 15:01

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:04

I got an answer to another java-heap-space exception I had, after the cucumber tests running. You can see it here - related problem

My theory is that the -XX:MaxPermSize is a factor for during Cucumber running, as Cucumber generates tests code and PermSize is related to amount of code as described what is permsize in java

The -Xmx is a factor for the post Cucumber running, while parsing the tests results.

So the solution is to find the balance between them both and the actual available memory.

Running Cucumber tests fails with OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space exception

1 Answers1