before(:all) hacks for minitest

gistfile1.rb

module Fixtures
  #
  # Set up fixtures that will be defined once during startup 
  # and (perhaps) rolled back at the beginning of each test run
  #
  def fixtures &block
    if block_given?
      instance_eval &block
      @fixtures = {}
      (instance_variables - [:@fixtures]).each do |fresh|
        @fixtures[fresh] = instance_variable_get(fresh)
      end
    else
      @fixtures
    end
  end
end

# Before each test, look at the class-variables defined
# and just tragically set them in the instance
#
module TestRunner
  def before_setup
    # todo: start transaction here
    super
    self.class.fixtures.each do |key, val|
      instance_variable_set "#{key}", val
    end
  end
  def before_teardown
    # todo: rollback transaction here
    super
  end
end

# Then include it into your test
class MiniTest::Test
  extend Fixtures
  include TestRunner
end

# And define your test
require 'minitest/autorun'
class ApiTest < MiniTest::Test

  fixtures do
    @test = 5
  end

  def test_fixtures
    assert_equal @test, 5
    @test = 6 # let's see if it leaks
  end

  def test_fixtures_again
    assert_equal @test, 5
    @test = 7
  end

end

If you can come up with a nice / intuitive solution, please add to https://github.com/grosser/maxitest, one of the last todos.