python - `py.test` and `__init__.py` files

Question

I thought py.test is "standalone" in a sense that it treats test_*.py files "as it is", and only imports modules specified in these files, with no respect to any surrounding files. It looks like I'm wrong. Here is my dialog with py.test:

$ ls
__init__.py    test_pytest.py
$ cat __init__.py 
$ cat test_pytest.py 
def test_pytest():
    assert True
$ py.test test_pytest.py 
========================================================= test session starts ==========================================================
platform darwin -- Python 2.7.2 -- pytest-2.1.3
collected 0 items / 1 errors 

================================================================ ERRORS ================================================================
___________________________________________________ ERROR collecting test_pytest.py ____________________________________________________
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/py-1.4.5-py2.7.egg/py/_path/local.py:529: in pyimport
>           mod = __import__(modname, None, None, ['__doc__'])
E           ImportError: No module named test_pytest
======================================================= 1 error in 0.01 seconds ========================================================
$ rm __init__.py 
$ py.test test_pytest.py 
========================================================= test session starts ==========================================================
platform darwin -- Python 2.7.2 -- pytest-2.1.3
collected 1 items 

test_pytest.py .

======================================================= 1 passed in 0.01 seconds =======================================================
$ 

How do I make py.test work and still have my __init__.py files?

UPDATE

In comments, Holger Krekel asked, what is the name of parent directory. And it turns out that I can reproduce the error above only having a certain parent directory name (e.g. the same name as one of the packages installed, like distutils). See here:

~/test_min 
$ tree
.
└── distutils
    ├── __init__.py
    └── test_pytest.py

1 directory, 2 files
~/test_min 
$ cat distutils/__init__.py 
~/test_min 
$ cat distutils/test_pytest.py 
def test_pytest():
    assert True
~/test_min 
$ py.test distutils/test_pytest.py 
======================== test session starts =========================
platform darwin -- Python 2.7.2 -- pytest-2.1.3
collected 0 items / 1 errors 

=============================== ERRORS ===============================
_____________ ERROR collecting distutils/test_pytest.py ______________
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/py-1.4.5-py2.7.egg/py/_path/local.py:529: in pyimport
>           mod = __import__(modname, None, None, ['__doc__'])
E           ImportError: No module named test_pytest
====================== 1 error in 0.01 seconds =======================
~/test_min 
$ rm distutils/__init__.py 
~/test_min 
$ py.test distutils/test_pytest.py 
======================== test session starts =========================
platform darwin -- Python 2.7.2 -- pytest-2.1.3
collected 1 items 

distutils/test_pytest.py .

====================== 1 passed in 0.01 seconds ======================
~/test_min 
$ touch __init__.py
~/test_min 
$ ls
__init__.py distutils
~/test_min 
$ touch distutils/__init__.py
~/test_min 
$ py.test distutils/test_pytest.py 
======================== test session starts =========================
platform darwin -- Python 2.7.2 -- pytest-2.1.3
collected 1 items 

distutils/test_pytest.py .

====================== 1 passed in 0.02 seconds ======================
~/test_min 
$ rm __init__.py 
~/test_min 
$ py.test distutils/test_pytest.py 
======================== test session starts =========================
platform darwin -- Python 2.7.2 -- pytest-2.1.3
collected 0 items / 1 errors 

=============================== ERRORS ===============================
_____________ ERROR collecting distutils/test_pytest.py ______________
/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/py-1.4.5-py2.7.egg/py/_path/local.py:529: in pyimport
>           mod = __import__(modname, None, None, ['__doc__'])
E           ImportError: No module named test_pytest
====================== 1 error in 0.01 seconds =======================
~/test_min 
$ mv distutils foobar
~/test_min 
$ py.test foobar/test_pytest.py 
======================== test session starts =========================
platform darwin -- Python 2.7.2 -- pytest-2.1.3
collected 1 items 

foobar/test_pytest.py .

====================== 1 passed in 0.01 seconds ======================
~/test_min 
$ 

Hope this additional information will help.

Answer 1

Looks like py.test is using py._path.pyimport to open your file. If there is a __init__.py file in the directory, it treats your file as a module, otherwise it opens the file. Long story short, delete the __init__.py or put your tests in another directory outside your project code (<--- good idea).

https://py.readthedocs.io/en/latest/path.html#py._path.local.LocalPath.pyimport