How do I convince pytest to import the conftest.py at the project root?

[jgonggrijp]

• [x] a detailed description of the bug or suggestion

I'm testing a Django project with pytest and I'm struggling with a conftest import issue. This is a simplified version of my directory layout:

backend/
├── conftest.py
├── items/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── admin.py
│   ├── apps.py
│   ├── conftest.py
│   ├── migrations/
│   ├── models.py
│   ├── models_test.py
│   ├── urls.py
│   ├── views.py
│   └── views_test.py
├── manage.py*
├── readit/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── index.py
│   ├── settings.py
│   ├── urls.py
│   └── wsgi.py
├── requirements.in
└── requirements.txt

I tried running pytest and python -m pytest from within the backend directory as well as pytest backend and python -m pytest backend from its parent directory. In all cases, pytest does not recognize backend/conftest.py as something that should be imported. It will simply tell me that the fixtures in that file don't exist.

• [x] output of pip list from the virtual environment you are using

Package                  Version  
------------------------ ---------
apipkg                   1.5      
atomicwrites             1.3.0    
attrs                    19.1.0   
backports-abc            0.5      
beautifulsoup4           4.8.0    
certifi                  2019.6.16
chardet                  3.0.4    
Click                    7.0      
Django                   2.0.13   
django-cors-headers      3.0.2    
django-livereload-server 0.3.2    
django-proxy             1.2.1    
django-rest-auth         0.9.5    
djangorestframework      3.9.4    
execnet                  1.7.1    
idna                     2.8      
importlib-metadata       0.20     
isodate                  0.6.0    
more-itertools           7.2.0    
packaging                19.1     
pathlib2                 2.3.3    
pip                      19.2.3   
pip-tools                4.1.0    
pluggy                   0.12.0   
psycopg2                 2.8.3    
psycopg2-binary          2.8.3    
py                       1.8.0    
pyparsing                2.4.2    
pytest                   4.6.6    
pytest-django            3.5.1    
pytest-forked            1.0.2    
pytest-xdist             1.29.0   
pytz                     2019.2   
rdflib                   4.2.2    
rdflib-django3           0.2.4    
rdflib-jsonld            0.4.0    
requests                 2.21.0   
scandir                  1.9.0    
selenium                 3.141.0  
setuptools               41.0.1   
six                      1.12.0   
soupsieve                1.9.3    
sqlparse                 0.3.0    
tornado                  5.1.1    
urllib3                  1.24.3   
wcwidth                  0.1.7    
wheel                    0.33.4   
zipp                     0.6.0    

• [x] pytest and operating system versions

pytest 4.6.6, macOS 10.14.6

• [x] minimal example if possible

Sorry, not at this time.

[symonk]

@jgonggrijp can you paste the output of pytest --trace-config please?

[jgonggrijp]

I was going to do that and was censoring the filesystem paths in preparation. While scrolling through the output, I noticed that backend/conftest.py was actually mentioned. This prompted me to check whether the missing fixture was really in that file. It was. But then I realized I didn't decorate it with @pytest.fixture. Despite having imported pytest for this purpose. 🙄 Adding that line solved the problem, i.e., it confronted me with a failing test rather than a missing fixture.

Sorry for the noise. 🤐

[RonnyPfannschmidt]

@jgonggrijp thanks for the follow-up, such brain-blips are a pain to note on your own (been there, blinked at it, face-palmed after someone else pointed it out)