Replace time.time() with _pytest.timing.perf_counter()

[deyshift]

This pull request addresses issue #13384, where time.time() was causing pytest to report negative durations due to its susceptibility to system clock adjustments.

The following changes were made:

• Replaced all occurrences of time.time() with _pytest.timing.perf_counter() for more reliable and monotonic timing.

• Updated the relevant tests to use _pytest.timing.perf_counter() where applicable.

• Added a changelog entry (13384.bugfix.rst) to document the fix.

• Added myself to the AUTHORS file in alphabetical order.

• Closes pytest can report negative duration due to usage of time.time() #13384

[RonnyPfannschmidt]

To ensure we can use the time mocking

We should use module imports only

[deyshift]

Thank you, the requested changes have been made!

[nicoddemus]

Thanks @rivtechprojects, but this is incomplete, only the calls in the test files have been changed: we need to update all the places in production code as well, as listed in the original issue.

[deyshift]

@nicoddemus

Thank you for pointing this out! I see in runner.py we have a start = timing.time() and a precise_start = timing.perf_counter(). What is the recommendation? Keep both and change start/stop to use perf_counter or just use precise_time?

[deyshift]

@nicoddemus Apologies for the premature review request. It was unintended. I will update the pr once the above question is addressed.

[nicoddemus]

What is the recommendation? Keep both and change start/stop to use perf_counter or just use precise_time?

Those don't need changing: we need time.time() for start and stop because they represent real user time, while perf_counter() has no guarantee. In that snippet, duration is already computed correctly using perf_counter.

#6939 (comment)

[deyshift]

@nicoddemus @RonnyPfannschmidt

Thank you for all the feedback, requested changes have been pushed! However, it appears some tests are now failing related to the changes in junitxml.py.

Due to these tests failing, I propose we revert suite_start_time to use to timing.time() or datetime.now(timezone.utc) and add a suite_start_pref variable for measurements.

The test for junitxml passes with these adjustments

[nicoddemus]

Thanks @rivtechprojects!

I will take the liberty of reverting one of the changes as per my suggestion.

[nicoddemus]

I will leave this open for a few days in case somebody wants to chime in.

Note: we should squash this before merging.

[nicoddemus]

cc @RonnyPfannschmidt