Simple example script for automatic GNOME Shell extension testing.

test.sh

#!/bin/bash

# This is a rough attempt on quick testing of GNOME Shell extensions which are awaiting a
# review. It installs a given extension in a podman container, enables it and tries to
# open the preferences dialog.

# Use it like this:
#   ./test.sh 24550 3.36
# The first number is the review ID from the URL: (e.g. extensions.gnome.org/review/24550)
# The second is the GNOME Shell version: 3.36, 3.38 and 40.0 are currently supported.

# The review ID must be given as first paramter.
REVIEW_ID=$1
if [ -z $REVIEW_ID ]; then
    echo "Please specify the extension review ID as first parameter!";
    exit 1
fi

# The GNOME Shell version can be supplied as second parameter. 3.38 is used per default.
VERSION="${2:-3.38}"

# Download the extension.
DOWNLOAD_FILE="review-extension.zip"
wget -O $DOWNLOAD_FILE https://extensions.gnome.org/review/download/"$REVIEW_ID".shell-extension.zip

# Extract the UUID from the metadata.json and rename the zip accordingly.
UUID=`unzip -p review-extension.zip metadata.json | grep '"uuid"' | cut -d\" -f4`
mv $DOWNLOAD_FILE "$UUID".zip

# Run the container in detached mode.
podman pull ghcr.io/schneegans/gnome-shell:"$VERSION"
POD_ID=$(podman run --rm -td ghcr.io/schneegans/gnome-shell:"$VERSION")

# Wait some time to make sure that GNOME Shell has been started.
echo -n "Booting the container..."
sleep 3
echo " Done."

# Copy the extension to the container.
echo -n "Copy Extension to the container..."
podman cp "$UUID".zip "$POD_ID":/home/gnomeshell/
echo " Done."

# Execute the install script. This installs the extension, restarts GNOME Shell and
# finally enables the extension.
echo -n "Installing The extension..."
podman exec --user gnomeshell "$POD_ID" /home/gnomeshell/set-env.sh /home/gnomeshell/enable-extension.sh "$UUID"
sleep 3

# Check for errors. I think GJS errors are always preceeded with an ERROR, but maybe this
# could be more sophisticated...
ERRORS=$(podman exec "$POD_ID" journalctl | grep ERROR)
if [ -n "$ERRORS" ]; then
  echo " Failed!"
  echo "$ERRORS"
  exit 1
else
 echo " Done."
fi

# Now try to open the preferences dialog.
echo -n "Opening the preferences dialog..."
podman exec --user gnomeshell "$POD_ID" /home/gnomeshell/set-env.sh gnome-extensions prefs "$UUID"
sleep 2

# Check for erros once more. The GNOME Shell version in the container is patched to print
# an error if this fails. The log message can be identified easily.
ERRORS=$(podman exec "$POD_ID" journalctl | grep "Failed to open preferences")
if [ -n "$ERRORS" ]; then
  echo " Failed!"
  echo "$ERRORS"
  exit 1
else
 echo " Done."
fi

# Finally stop the container...
echo -n "Stopping the container..."
podman stop "$POD_ID" > /dev/null
echo " Done."