Deprecations and Removals¶
This page lists all pytest features that are currently deprecated or have been removed in past major releases. The objective is to give users a clear rationale why a certain feature has been removed, and what alternatives should be used instead.
Deprecated Features¶
Below is a complete list of all pytest features which are considered deprecated. Using those features will issue
PytestWarning
or subclasses, which can be filtered using standard warning filters.
The --strict
command-line option¶
Deprecated since version 6.2.
The --strict
command-line option has been deprecated in favor of --strict-markers
, which
better conveys what the option does.
We have plans to maybe in the future to reintroduce --strict
and make it an encompassing
flag for all strictness related options (--strict-markers
and --strict-config
at the moment, more might be introduced in the future).
The yield_fixture
function/decorator¶
Deprecated since version 6.2.
pytest.yield_fixture
is a deprecated alias for pytest.fixture()
.
It has been so for a very long time, so can be search/replaced safely.
The pytest_warning_captured
hook¶
Deprecated since version 6.0.
This hook has an item
parameter which cannot be serialized by pytest-xdist
.
Use the pytest_warning_recored
hook instead, which replaces the item
parameter
by a nodeid
parameter.
The pytest.collect
module¶
Deprecated since version 6.0.
The pytest.collect
module is no longer part of the public API, all its names
should now be imported from pytest
directly instead.
The pytest._fillfuncargs
function¶
Deprecated since version 6.0.
This function was kept for backward compatibility with an older plugin.
It’s functionality is not meant to be used directly, but if you must replace
it, use function._request._fillfixtures()
instead, though note this is not
a public API and may break in the future.
Removed Features¶
As stated in our Backwards Compatibility Policy policy, deprecated features are removed only in major releases after an appropriate period of deprecation has passed.
--no-print-logs
command-line option¶
Deprecated since version 5.4.
Removed in version 6.0.
The --no-print-logs
option and log_print
ini setting are removed. If
you used them, please use --show-capture
instead.
A --show-capture
command-line option was added in pytest 3.5.0
which allows to specify how to
display captured output when tests fail: no
, stdout
, stderr
, log
or all
(the default).
Result log (--result-log
)¶
Deprecated since version 4.0.
Removed in version 6.0.
The --result-log
option produces a stream of test reports which can be
analysed at runtime, but it uses a custom format which requires users to implement their own
parser.
The pytest-reportlog plugin provides a --report-log
option, a more standard and extensible alternative, producing
one JSON object per-line, and should cover the same use cases. Please try it out and provide feedback.
The pytest-reportlog
plugin might even be merged into the core
at some point, depending on the plans for the plugins and number of users using it.
pytest_collect_directory
hook¶
Removed in version 6.0.
The pytest_collect_directory
has not worked properly for years (it was called
but the results were ignored). Users may consider using pytest_collection_modifyitems
instead.
TerminalReporter.writer¶
Removed in version 6.0.
The TerminalReporter.writer
attribute has been deprecated and should no longer be used. This
was inadvertently exposed as part of the public API of that plugin and ties it too much
with py.io.TerminalWriter
.
Plugins that used TerminalReporter.writer
directly should instead use TerminalReporter
methods that provide the same functionality.
junit_family
default value change to “xunit2”¶
Changed in version 6.0.
The default value of junit_family
option will change to xunit2
in pytest 6.0, which
is an update of the old xunit1
format and is supported by default in modern tools
that manipulate this type of file (for example, Jenkins, Azure Pipelines, etc.).
Users are recommended to try the new xunit2
format and see if their tooling that consumes the JUnit
XML file supports it.
To use the new format, update your pytest.ini
:
[pytest]
junit_family=xunit2
If you discover that your tooling does not support the new format, and want to keep using the
legacy version, set the option to legacy
instead:
[pytest]
junit_family=legacy
By using legacy
you will keep using the legacy/xunit1 format when upgrading to
pytest 6.0, where the default format will be xunit2
.
In order to let users know about the transition, pytest will issue a warning in case
the --junitxml
option is given in the command line but junit_family
is not explicitly
configured in pytest.ini
.
Services known to support the xunit2
format:
Node Construction changed to Node.from_parent
¶
Changed in version 6.0.
The construction of nodes now should use the named constructor from_parent
.
This limitation in api surface intends to enable better/simpler refactoring of the collection tree.
This means that instead of MyItem(name="foo", parent=collector, obj=42)
one now has to invoke MyItem.from_parent(collector, name="foo")
.
Plugins that wish to support older versions of pytest and suppress the warning can use
hasattr
to check if from_parent
exists in that version:
def pytest_pycollect_makeitem(collector, name, obj):
if hasattr(MyItem, "from_parent"):
item = MyItem.from_parent(collector, name="foo")
item.obj = 42
return item
else:
return MyItem(name="foo", parent=collector, obj=42)
Note that from_parent
should only be called with keyword arguments for the parameters.
pytest.fixture
arguments are keyword only¶
Removed in version 6.0.
Passing arguments to pytest.fixture() as positional arguments has been removed - pass them by keyword instead.
funcargnames
alias for fixturenames
¶
Removed in version 6.0.
The FixtureRequest
, Metafunc
, and Function
classes track the names of
their associated fixtures, with the aptly-named fixturenames
attribute.
Prior to pytest 2.3, this attribute was named funcargnames
, and we have kept
that as an alias since. It is finally due for removal, as it is often confusing
in places where we or plugin authors must distinguish between fixture names and
names supplied by non-fixture things such as pytest.mark.parametrize
.
pytest.config
global¶
Removed in version 5.0.
The pytest.config
global object is deprecated. Instead use
request.config
(via the request
fixture) or if you are a plugin author
use the pytest_configure(config)
hook. Note that many hooks can also access
the config
object indirectly, through session.config
or item.config
for example.
"message"
parameter of pytest.raises
¶
Removed in version 5.0.
It is a common mistake to think this parameter will match the exception message, while in fact
it only serves to provide a custom message in case the pytest.raises
check fails. To prevent
users from making this mistake, and because it is believed to be little used, pytest is
deprecating it without providing an alternative for the moment.
If you have a valid use case for this parameter, consider that to obtain the same results
you can just call pytest.fail
manually at the end of the with
statement.
For example:
with pytest.raises(TimeoutError, message="Client got unexpected message"):
wait_for(websocket.recv(), 0.5)
Becomes:
with pytest.raises(TimeoutError):
wait_for(websocket.recv(), 0.5)
pytest.fail("Client got unexpected message")
If you still have concerns about this deprecation and future removal, please comment on issue #3974.
raises
/ warns
with a string as the second argument¶
Removed in version 5.0.
Use the context manager form of these instead. When necessary, invoke exec
directly.
Example:
pytest.raises(ZeroDivisionError, "1 / 0")
pytest.raises(SyntaxError, "a $ b")
pytest.warns(DeprecationWarning, "my_function()")
pytest.warns(SyntaxWarning, "assert(1, 2)")
Becomes:
with pytest.raises(ZeroDivisionError):
1 / 0
with pytest.raises(SyntaxError):
exec("a $ b") # exec is required for invalid syntax
with pytest.warns(DeprecationWarning):
my_function()
with pytest.warns(SyntaxWarning):
exec("assert(1, 2)") # exec is used to avoid a top-level warning
Using Class
in custom Collectors¶
Removed in version 4.0.
Using objects named "Class"
as a way to customize the type of nodes that are collected in Collector
subclasses has been deprecated. Users instead should use pytest_pycollect_makeitem
to customize node types during
collection.
This issue should affect only advanced plugins who create new collection types, so if you see this warning message please contact the authors so they can change the code.
marks in pytest.mark.parametrize
¶
Removed in version 4.0.
Applying marks to values of a pytest.mark.parametrize
call is now deprecated. For example:
@pytest.mark.parametrize(
"a, b",
[
(3, 9),
pytest.mark.xfail(reason="flaky")(6, 36),
(10, 100),
(20, 200),
(40, 400),
(50, 500),
],
)
def test_foo(a, b):
...
This code applies the pytest.mark.xfail(reason="flaky")
mark to the (6, 36)
value of the above parametrization
call.
This was considered hard to read and understand, and also its implementation presented problems to the code preventing further internal improvements in the marks architecture.
To update the code, use pytest.param
:
@pytest.mark.parametrize(
"a, b",
[
(3, 9),
pytest.param(6, 36, marks=pytest.mark.xfail(reason="flaky")),
(10, 100),
(20, 200),
(40, 400),
(50, 500),
],
)
def test_foo(a, b):
...
pytest_funcarg__
prefix¶
Removed in version 4.0.
In very early pytest versions fixtures could be defined using the pytest_funcarg__
prefix:
def pytest_funcarg__data():
return SomeData()
Switch over to the @pytest.fixture
decorator:
@pytest.fixture
def data():
return SomeData()
[pytest] section in setup.cfg files¶
Removed in version 4.0.
[pytest]
sections in setup.cfg
files should now be named [tool:pytest]
to avoid conflicts with other distutils commands.
Metafunc.addcall¶
Removed in version 4.0.
_pytest.python.Metafunc.addcall
was a precursor to the current parametrized mechanism. Users should use
_pytest.python.Metafunc.parametrize()
instead.
Example:
def pytest_generate_tests(metafunc):
metafunc.addcall({"i": 1}, id="1")
metafunc.addcall({"i": 2}, id="2")
Becomes:
def pytest_generate_tests(metafunc):
metafunc.parametrize("i", [1, 2], ids=["1", "2"])
cached_setup
¶
Removed in version 4.0.
request.cached_setup
was the precursor of the setup/teardown mechanism available to fixtures.
Example:
@pytest.fixture
def db_session():
return request.cached_setup(
setup=Session.create, teardown=lambda session: session.close(), scope="module"
)
This should be updated to make use of standard fixture mechanisms:
@pytest.fixture(scope="module")
def db_session():
session = Session.create()
yield session
session.close()
You can consult funcarg comparison section in the docs for more information.
pytest_plugins in non-top-level conftest files¶
Removed in version 4.0.
Defining pytest_plugins
is now deprecated in non-top-level conftest.py
files because they will activate referenced plugins globally, which is surprising because for all other pytest
features conftest.py
files are only active for tests at or below it.
Config.warn
and Node.warn
¶
Removed in version 4.0.
Those methods were part of the internal pytest warnings system, but since 3.8
pytest is using the builtin warning
system for its own warnings, so those two functions are now deprecated.
Config.warn
should be replaced by calls to the standard warnings.warn
, example:
config.warn("C1", "some warning")
Becomes:
warnings.warn(pytest.PytestWarning("some warning"))
Node.warn
now supports two signatures:
node.warn(PytestWarning("some message"))
: is now the recommended way to call this function. The warning instance must be a PytestWarning or subclass.node.warn("CI", "some message")
: this code/message form has been removed and should be converted to the warning instance form above.
record_xml_property¶
Removed in version 4.0.
The record_xml_property
fixture is now deprecated in favor of the more generic record_property
, which
can be used by other consumers (for example pytest-html
) to obtain custom information about the test run.
This is just a matter of renaming the fixture as the API is the same:
def test_foo(record_xml_property):
...
Change to:
def test_foo(record_property):
...
Passing command-line string to pytest.main()
¶
Removed in version 4.0.
Passing a command-line string to pytest.main()
is deprecated:
pytest.main("-v -s")
Pass a list instead:
pytest.main(["-v", "-s"])
By passing a string, users expect that pytest will interpret that command-line using the shell rules they are working
on (for example bash
or Powershell
), but this is very hard/impossible to do in a portable way.
Calling fixtures directly¶
Removed in version 4.0.
Calling a fixture function directly, as opposed to request them in a test function, is deprecated.
For example:
@pytest.fixture
def cell():
return ...
@pytest.fixture
def full_cell():
cell = cell()
cell.make_full()
return cell
This is a great source of confusion to new users, which will often call the fixture functions and request them from test functions interchangeably, which breaks the fixture resolution model.
In those cases just request the function directly in the dependent fixture:
@pytest.fixture
def cell():
return ...
@pytest.fixture
def full_cell(cell):
cell.make_full()
return cell
Alternatively if the fixture function is called multiple times inside a test (making it hard to apply the above pattern) or
if you would like to make minimal changes to the code, you can create a fixture which calls the original function together
with the name
parameter:
def cell():
return ...
@pytest.fixture(name="cell")
def cell_fixture():
return cell()
yield
tests¶
Removed in version 4.0.
pytest supported yield
-style tests, where a test function actually yield
functions and values
that are then turned into proper test methods. Example:
def check(x, y):
assert x ** x == y
def test_squared():
yield check, 2, 4
yield check, 3, 9
This would result into two actual test functions being generated.
This form of test function doesn’t support fixtures properly, and users should switch to pytest.mark.parametrize
:
@pytest.mark.parametrize("x, y", [(2, 4), (3, 9)])
def test_squared(x, y):
assert x ** x == y
Internal classes accessed through Node
¶
Removed in version 4.0.
Access of Module
, Function
, Class
, Instance
, File
and Item
through Node
instances now issue
this warning:
usage of Function.Module is deprecated, please use pytest.Module instead
Users should just import pytest
and access those objects using the pytest
module.
This has been documented as deprecated for years, but only now we are actually emitting deprecation warnings.
Node.get_marker
¶
Removed in version 4.0.
As part of a large Marker revamp and iteration, _pytest.nodes.Node.get_marker
is removed. See
the documentation on tips on how to update your code.
somefunction.markname
¶
Removed in version 4.0.
As part of a large Marker revamp and iteration we already deprecated using MarkInfo
the only correct way to get markers of an element is via node.iter_markers(name)
.
pytest_namespace
¶
Removed in version 4.0.
This hook is deprecated because it greatly complicates the pytest internals regarding configuration and initialization, making some bug fixes and refactorings impossible.
Example of usage:
class MySymbol:
...
def pytest_namespace():
return {"my_symbol": MySymbol()}
Plugin authors relying on this hook should instead require that users now import the plugin modules directly (with an appropriate public API).
As a stopgap measure, plugin authors may still inject their names into pytest’s namespace, usually during pytest_configure
:
import pytest
def pytest_configure():
pytest.my_symbol = MySymbol()