I added the possibility for tests using the unittest.py 
framework to be skipped. Basically, I added two methods 
to TestCase:

  TestCase.skip(msg): skips test unconditionally
  TestCase.skipIf(expr, msg): skips test if expr is true

These can be called either in setUp() or in the test 
methods. I also added reporting of skipped tests to 
TestResult, _TextTestResult and TextTestRunner. If no 
tests are skipped, everything should be the same as 
before.

I am using Python 2.3.3, so the changes are against the 
file in that version. I can generate a patch for a more 
recent version if desired. I attached the patch against 
the original (unittest_skip.patch). I can provide a 
complete test suite for the new functionality and a usage 
example program.


Quick usage example:

class ReadShadowTest(unittest.TestCase):
        """Read access to /etc/shadow"""
        def testReadingAsRoot(self):
                """Reading /etc/shadow as root"""
                self.skipIf(os.geteuid() != 0, "Must be root")
                open("/etc/shadow").close()


The example program produces the following output:

$ ./SkippedTestDemo.py -v
Access to autoexec.bat ... SKIPPED (Only available on 
Windows)
Access to config.sys ... SKIPPED (Only available on 
Windows)
Reading /etc/shadow as root ... SKIPPED (Must be root)
Reading /etc/shadow as non-root ... ok

-------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Ran 4 tests in 0.004s

OK (skipped=3)