Bound the CI test step and drop the unusable dispatch guard

[suketa]

Follow-up to #1448.

Problem

within_dispatch_timeout, added in #1448, cannot do what it claims. A stranded UDF dispatcher wedges the VM with the GVL held, so Thread#join(timeout) never returns and the flunk after it is unreachable — a regression hangs the run exactly as it would with no guard at all.

Verified against the unfixed build (main before #1448): the NUL-message query strands the dispatcher and the next query never returns, at threads=1 and at default threads, with a 10-row table and with 300k rows. The wedged process also ignores SIGTERM, so plain timeout cannot reclaim it — only timeout -s KILL.

So the guard is a bound that looks like a bound and isn't, which is worse than none: the next person to break this trusts it and CI hangs anyway.

Change

Put the bound where it can actually be enforced — timeout-minutes: 3 on the test step in test_on_ubuntu.yml and test_on_macos.yml — and delete the guard.

The step, not the job, because the test step is the only part that can wedge. Keeping it off the job clock leaves checkout, setup-ruby, the MySQL service health-checks, a possible cold duckdb download and rake build out of the budget; recent green main runs took 1m47s–3m30s end to end, so a 3-minute job cap would have failed two of the last five.

test_on_windows.yml needs nothing — it already bounds its test step through nick-fields/retry with timeout_minutes: 1.

Job-level timeout-minutes: 120 stays as the backstop, since a wedged VM ignoring SIGTERM means the step kill wants something behind it.

Verification

Against merged main (4a0b3ed), extension rebuilt:

• test/duckdb_test/function_error_message_test.rb — 4 runs, 9 assertions, 0 failures, 0.21s
• Full suite — 1383 runs, 2653 assertions, 0 failures, 2 skips, 52.6s wall
• rubocop — no offenses

52s against a 3-minute step bound is ~3.5x headroom.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Tests

  • Simplified function error and recovery tests while preserving verification that subsequent function calls succeed after an error.
  • Improved test execution reliability by removing unnecessary thread-based timeout handling.

• Chores

  • Added three-minute limits to Ruby test runs on macOS and Ubuntu to prevent stalled builds from running indefinitely.
  • Documented expected test duration and handling of potential callback-related hangs.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro Plus

Run ID: 85034cfb-6637-4065-aa20-8a50bb239ac2

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 4a0b3ed and ba8cf2a.

📒 Files selected for processing (3)

• .github/workflows/test_on_macos.yml
• .github/workflows/test_on_ubuntu.yml
• test/duckdb_test/function_error_message_test.rb

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The UDF error tests no longer use thread-based dispatch timeouts. The macOS and Ubuntu Ruby test steps now have three-minute CI timeouts with comments about potential callback hangs.

Changes

UDF timeout handling

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Direct UDF error test execution test/duckdb_test/function_error_message_test.rb	Removed within_dispatch_timeout. Scalar and aggregate error queries now execute directly. The recovery test still checks that a later UDF call succeeds.
CI timeout safeguards .github/workflows/test_on_macos.yml, .github/workflows/test_on_ubuntu.yml	Added three-minute timeouts to the Ruby test steps and documented the potential UDF callback hang.
Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple)	~10 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to ba8cf

The change bounds the CI test step and removes an ineffective test guard without introducing an actionable merge-blocking risk; it is merge-ready after normal checks and review.

Possibly related PRs

• suketa/ruby-duckdb#1079: Modifies macOS and Ubuntu CI workflow timeouts.
• suketa/ruby-duckdb#1167: Adds three-minute CI test timeouts in related platform workflows.
• suketa/ruby-duckdb#1448: Modifies the same UDF error test file and addresses dispatch hangs.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly summarizes both main changes: adding CI step timeouts and removing the ineffective dispatch guard.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch ci/bound-test-step-and-drop-dispatch-guard

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