added 'maybe_start_server' grunt task that will ping to see if a kibana dev server is running, and start one if not. Allows us to run the unit tests via npm test when grunt dev is already running.

tasks/config/connect.js

@@ -41,6 +41,13 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
           // standard static middleware reading from the root
           stack.push(connect.static(root));
 
+          stack.push(function (req, res, next) {
+            if (req.method !== 'HEAD' || req.url !== '/') return next();
+            res.statusCode === 200;
+            res.setHeader('Pong', 'Kibana 4 Dev Server');
+            res.end();
+          });
+
           // redirect requests for '/' to '/src/'
           stack.push(function (req, res, next) {
             if (req.url !== '/') return next();

tasks/config/watch.js

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
     },
     clientside_jade: {
       files: [
-        '<%= testUtilsDir %>/istanbul_reporter/report.clientside-jade'
+        '<%= testUtilsDir %>/istanbul_reporter/report.clientside.jade'
       ],
       tasks: ['jade:clientside']
     }

tasks/dev.js

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
   grunt.registerTask('dev', [
     'less',
     'jade',
-    'connect:dev',
+    'maybe_start_server',
     'watch'
   ]);
 };

tasks/maybe_connect_dev.js

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+module.exports = function (grunt) {
+  grunt.registerTask('maybe_start_server', function () {
+    var http = require('http');
+
+    var req = http.request({
+      method: 'HEAD',
+      path: '/',
+      host: 'localhost',
+      port: 8000
+    });
+
+    function onResponse(res) {
+      if (res.headers.pong === 'Kibana 4 Dev Server') {
+        grunt.log.write('server already started');
+      } else {
+        grunt.log.error('another server is already running at localhost:8000!');
+      }
+      done(res);
+    }
+
+    function onError() {
+      grunt.task.run(['connect:dev']);
+      done();
+    }
+
+    var done = (function (cb) {
+      return function (res) {
+        req.removeListener('error', onError);
+        req.removeListener('response', onResponse);
+        if (res) res.socket.destroy();
+        cb();
+      };
+    })(this.async());
+
+    req.on('error', onError);
+    req.on('response', onResponse);
+    req.end();
+  });
+};

tasks/test.js

@@ -2,19 +2,19 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
   /* jshint scripturl:true */
   grunt.registerTask('test', [
     'jshint',
-    'connect:dev',
+    'maybe_start_server',
     'jade',
     'mocha:unit'
   ]);
 
   grunt.registerTask('coverage', [
     'blanket',
-    'connect:dev',
+    'maybe_start_server',
     'mocha:coverage'
   ]);
 
   grunt.registerTask('test:watch', [
-    'connect:dev',
+    'maybe_start_server',
     'watch:test'
   ]);
 };