Rails 4, RSpec Application has been already initialized - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have been trying to use RSpec with Rails 4 but came across this error that I can't get rid of.
However, when I run test on single *.rb files it works without any errors. I use guard and have tried to run rspec in single mode but received the same error.
13:46:26 - INFO - Running: spec
/Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/railties-4.0.0/lib/rails/application.rb:214:in `initialize!': Application has been already initialized. (RuntimeError)
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/railties-4.0.0/lib/rails/railtie/configurable.rb:30:in `method_missing'
from /Users/xxx/Documents/Mitt_bolag/Minnesota/beställningssite/order_site/config/environment.rb:5:in `<top (required)>'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:228:in `require'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:228:in `block in require'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:213:in `load_dependency'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:228:in `require'
from /Users/xxx/Documents/Mitt_bolag/Minnesota/beställningssite/order_site/spec/spec_helper.rb:3:in `<top (required)>'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:228:in `require'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:228:in `block in require'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:213:in `load_dependency'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:228:in `require'
from /Users/xxx/Documents/Mitt_bolag/Minnesota/beställningssite/order_site/spec/requests/products_spec.rb:1:in `<top (required)>'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:222:in `load'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:222:in `block in load'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:213:in `load_dependency'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/activesupport-4.0.0/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:222:in `load'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/rspec-core-2.14.5/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:896:in `block in load_spec_files'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/rspec-core-2.14.5/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:896:in `each'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/rspec-core-2.14.5/lib/rspec/core/configuration.rb:896:in `load_spec_files'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/rspec-core-2.14.5/lib/rspec/core/command_line.rb:22:in `run'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/rspec-core-2.14.5/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:80:in `run'
from /Users/xxx/.rbenv/versions/2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/rspec-core-2.14.5/lib/rspec/core/runner.rb:17:in `block in autorun'
This is my spec_helper.rb
# This file is copied to spec/ when you run 'rails generate rspec:install'
ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
require File.expand_path("../../config/environment", __FILE__)
require 'rspec/rails'
require 'rspec/autorun'
require 'capybara/rspec'
# Requires supporting ruby files with custom matchers and macros, etc,
# in spec/support/ and its subdirectories.
Dir[Rails.root.join("spec/support/**/*.rb")].each { |f| require f }
# Checks for pending migrations before tests are run.
# If you are not using ActiveRecord, you can remove this line.
ActiveRecord::Migration.check_pending! if defined?(ActiveRecord::Migration)
RSpec.configure do |config|
# ## Mock Framework
#
# If you prefer to use mocha, flexmock or RR, uncomment the appropriate line:
#
# config.mock_with :mocha
# config.mock_with :flexmock
# config.mock_with :rr
# Remove this line if you're not using ActiveRecord or ActiveRecord fixtures
# config.fixture_path = "#{::Rails.root}/spec/fixtures"
# If you're not using ActiveRecord, or you'd prefer not to run each of your
# examples within a transaction, remove the following line or assign false
# instead of true.
config.use_transactional_fixtures = true
# If true, the base class of anonymous controllers will be inferred
# automatically. This will be the default behavior in future versions of
# rspec-rails.
config.infer_base_class_for_anonymous_controllers = false
# Run specs in random order to surface order dependencies. If you find an
# order dependency and want to debug it, you can fix the order by providing
# the seed, which is printed after each run.
# --seed 1234
config.order = "random"
config.include Devise::TestHelpers, :type => :controller
end
class ActionController::TestCase
include Devise::TestHelpers
end

Answer 1

I ran into this problem while upgrading a Rails 4.2 and Ruby 2.2 app to Rails 4.2 and Rails 2.6. Apparently, ActionController::TestResponse is reused and therefore initialized multiple times. You can add a workaround reading this thread, or simply create spec/support/action_controller_workaround.rb:
if RUBY_VERSION>='2.6.0'
if Rails.version < '5'
class ActionController::TestResponse < ActionDispatch::TestResponse
def recycle!
# hack to avoid MonitorMixin double-initialize error:
#mon_mutex_owner_object_id = nil
#mon_mutex = nil
initialize
end
end
else
puts "Monkeypatch for ActionController::TestResponse no longer needed"
end
end

Answer 2

Try setting your spec_helper to this:
# This file is copied to spec/ when you run 'rails generate rspec:install'
ENV["RAILS_ENV"] ||= 'test'
require File.expand_path("../../config/environment", __FILE__)
require 'rspec/rails'
require 'rspec/autorun'
require 'capybara/rspec' # NOTE: I DON'T have this but you do...
Dir[Rails.root.join("spec/support/**/*.rb")].each {|f| require f}
RSpec.configure do |config|
config.fixture_path = "#{::Rails.root}/spec/fixtures"
config.use_transactional_fixtures = true
config.infer_base_class_for_anonymous_controllers = false
end

Answer 3

I don't know if you've already got the solution, but here I go anyway:
I'm facing the same problem since yesterday. I've found that running a
single spec by time or removing the 'require "spec_helper" from all specs but one,
it would work.
And a few minutes ago, I've found that the problem was the ruby version.
If you upgrade your ruby-2.0.0-p0 to ruby-2.0.0-p247, then the problem goes away!
I hope I've been helpful.