test: fix expired GovObject proposal fixtures

[thepastaclaw]

Fix expired GovObject proposal fixtures

Summary

• Freeze the affected GovObject/Proposal test suites' clock at
  2024-01-01T00:00:00Z.
• Keep the historical 2025-10-10 proposal fixture valid without changing
  serialized fixture hex.
• Avoid production-code changes; this only restores deterministic tests for the
  existing fixture data.

Validation

• npm run test:node -- --grep 'GovObject|Proposal' -> 50 passing
• npm run test:node -> 3509 passing, 17 pending
• npm test was also attempted locally, but the browser/Karma phase cannot
  launch Firefox in this environment:
  No binary for Firefox browser on your platform. The node test phase is
  covered above.

Review

• Pre-PR code review gate: ship

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Tests
  • Enhanced test suite timing controls to improve reliability of time-dependent test scenarios.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 4a815a2e-ecbb-42ff-b8d2-37736d182448

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between c3c3fe5 and 72e0e1d.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• test/govobject/govobject.js
• test/govobject/types/proposal.js

---

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Two test suites—GovObject and Proposal—now set up and tear down Sinon fake timers at a fixed UTC timestamp (2024-01-01T00:00:00Z) before and after test execution to ensure deterministic time-dependent behavior during testing.

Changes

Sinon fake timer setup in test suites

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Sinon fake timer setup in Proposal test suite test/govobject/types/proposal.js	Introduces a clock variable and before/after hooks to install fake timers at a fixed UTC timestamp and restore real timers after tests complete.
Sinon fake timer setup in GovObject test suite test/govobject/govobject.js	Adds before/after hooks within the GovObject - FromObject suite to initialize and restore fake timers with a matching fixed UTC timestamp.

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~3 minutes

🐰 Time stands still in tests today,
Clocks are frozen in their way,
No more flaky moments passed,
Fixed timestamps hold steadfast! ⏰✨

🚥 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 and specifically describes the main change: fixing expired GovObject proposal test fixtures by freezing the clock.
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.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

---

Thanks for using CodeRabbit! It's free for OSS, and your support helps us grow. If you like it, consider giving us a shout-out.

❤️ Share

• X
• Mastodon
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands and usage tips.}

[thepastaclaw]

@coderabbitai review

[coderabbitai]

✅ Actions performed

Review triggered.

Note: CodeRabbit is an incremental review system and does not re-review already reviewed commits. This command is applicable only when automatic reviews are paused.

[PastaPastaPasta]

makes sense to me.

[thepastaclaw]

Code Review

Test-only PR freezes the wall clock at 2024-01-01 inside the two GovObject/Proposal describes whose fixtures embed an end_epoch of 2025-10-10, so Proposal#getSerializationError's end_epoch < now check no longer rejects them. Sinon is already required in both files, the freeze date sits inside the [2015-10-10, 2025-10-10] window, and the explicit expired-date negative tests use pre-2024 dates so they still trigger expiry. Both reviewing agents reported no defects; verified against the diff.

Out-of-scope follow-up suggestions (2)

These are valid observations, but they are outside this PR's scope and should be handled in separate issues or author/maintainer-requested PRs rather than blocking this review.

• Proposal validation hard-codes wall-clock check — lib/govobject/types/proposal.js validates end_epoch >= now against real wall time. That is the underlying reason fixtures must be patched in tests as time marches on, and downstream consumers can see previously-valid GovObjects become invalid solely due to clock drift. Not introduced or affected by this PR.
  • Follow-up: Open a separate issue to discuss decoupling Proposal serialization validation from wall-clock time (e.g., optional clock parameter, or separating parse-vs-submit checks).
• Other GovObject test files may share the same time-bomb risk — This PR patches two known suites. Any future test that constructs Proposals with hard-coded end_epoch dates will hit the same expiry issue. A shared mocha root-hook helper would prevent recurrence without touching production code.
  • Follow-up: Author-requested follow-up PR to introduce a shared freezeProposalClock() helper (or a mocha root before/after) for any test that serializes Proposals.