scala specs don't exit when testing actors

Question

I'm trying to test some actors using scala specs. I run the test in IDEA or Maven (as junit) and it does not exit. Looking at the code, my test finished, but some internal threads (scheduler) are hanging around. How can I make the test finish?

Answer 1

Currently this is only possible by causing the actor framework's scheduler to forcibly shut down:

scala.actors.Scheduler.impl.shutdown

However, the underlying implementation of the scheduler has been changing in patch-releases lately, so this may be different, or not quite work with the version you are on. In 2.7.7 the default scheduler appears to be an instance of scala.actors.FJTaskScheduler2 for which this approach should work, however if you end up with a SingleThreadedScheduler it will not, as the shutdown method is a no-op

This will only work if your actors are not waiting on a react at that time