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| -rw-r--r-- | Doc/library/unittest.rst | 21 |
1 files changed, 21 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/library/unittest.rst b/Doc/library/unittest.rst index 7dc8595..b5b23c7 100644 --- a/Doc/library/unittest.rst +++ b/Doc/library/unittest.rst @@ -276,6 +276,27 @@ following two command lines are equivalent:: python -m unittest discover -s project_directory -p '*_test.py' python -m unittest discover project_directory '*_test.py' +As well as being a path it is possible to pass a package name, for example +``myproject.subpackage.test``, as the start directory. The package name you +supply will then be imported and its location on the filesystem will be used +as the start directory. + +.. caution:: + + Test discovery loads tests by importing them. Once test discovery has + found all the test files from the start directory you specify it turns the + paths into package names to import. For example `foo/bar/baz.py` will be + imported as ``foo.bar.baz``. + + If you have a package installed globally and attempt test discovery on + a different copy of the package then the import *could* happen from the + wrong place. If this happens test discovery will warn you and exit. + + If you supply the start directory as a package name rather than a + path to a directory then discover assumes that whichever location it + imports from is the location you intended, so you will not get the + warning. + Test modules and packages can customize test loading and discovery by through the `load_tests protocol`_. |