Convert .sh profile tests to run from Gradle

[jamesfredley]

old .sh tests need to be converted to run as gradle tasks

https://github.com/grails-profiles-tests - old .sh tests were removed from grails-core on 9b8fa17

https://github.com/grails/grails-profiles-tests

[jdaugherty]

@Ajay9704 if you are looking for issues, we never addressed adding profile tests back to core and this is needed.

[Ajay9704]

@jdaugherty
I've been digging deep into this profile tests issue and wanted to share what I've discovered and my proposed approach to fix it.
What I found:
So I started by tracing back what happened to the old profile tests. Turns out there was this commit (9b8fa17) that removed them because they were outdated shell scripts that needed reworking.
The tests were originally moved to a separate repository (grails-profiles-tests) but that repo is now archived and marked as

deprecated.What the old tests actually did:

From what I can see, those shell scripts were pretty comprehensive - they'd create actual Grails applications using different profiles (web, plugin, rest-api, etc.), run all sorts of grails commands like assemble, package, war, and then execute unit/integration/functional tests.
They even had Geb/Selenium setup for the functional testing part.

The current situation:

Right now we basically have a gap - no profile tests running in the main codebase.
This seems important because profiles are fundamental to how Grails applications are created and structured.

My proposed solution:

I'm thinking we should bring these tests back but do it properly this time - convert them from those old shell scripts into proper Gradle tasks that integrate cleanly with the existing test infrastructure.

Here's what I'm envisioning:

Create a dedicated test module within grails-core
Write tests that programmatically generate applications using different profiles via grails-forge
Test all the profile-specific commands and workflows
Include functional tests using Geb (similar to what existed before)
Make sure it all runs smoothly as part of the normal Gradle test lifecycle

Why this approach makes sense:

Keeps everything contained within the main repository
Uses modern Gradle instead of shell scripts
Integrates with existing test frameworks (Spock/Geb)
Maintains the comprehensive coverage the old tests provided
Works cross-platform (Windows/Linux/macOS)

I believe this would restore the testing coverage we lost while modernizing the approach.
The tests would verify that profiles work correctly when people create new Grails applications, which seems pretty fundamental to getting the framework right.

if my approach makes sense i am ready to open a pr , please let me know if i am missing anything

[jdaugherty]

I am open to any approach on testing; as long as we cover the same scenarios. Lets open a PR and we will take a look.