Symlinked directories not collected since pytest 6.1.0

[rowan-stein]

User Request

Symlinked directories not collected since pytest 6.1.0

When there is a symlink to a directory in a test directory, it is just skipped over, but it should be followed and collected as usual.

This regressed in b473e51 (included in 6.1.0). For some reason a follow_symlinks=False was added in there; it does not match the previous behavior and should be removed.

PR for this is coming up.

Active code branch for implementation: pytest-dev__pytest-7982

Research Specification

• Regression source: src/_pytest/pathlib.py visit() introduced follow_symlinks=False, preventing descent into symlinked directories.
• Expected behavior: follow symlinked directories during collection (pre-6.1.0 behavior), for both Dir and Package collectors.

Change Details

• File: src/_pytest/pathlib.py
  • Function: visit(path, recurse)
  • Current (branch pytest-dev__pytest-7982):
    • entries = sorted(os.scandir(path), key=lambda entry: entry.name)
    • if entry.is_dir(follow_symlinks=False) and recurse(entry):
  • Change:
    • Replace follow_symlinks=False with follow_symlinks=True.
  • Rationale: disabling symlink follow caused silent skipping of symlinked directories; restoring default behavior aligns with older versions and current Dir/Package collectors.

Compatibility & Risks

• Windows symlink support: use symlink_or_skip in tests to skip when unsupported.
• Broken symlinks: remain uncollected; behavior unchanged.
• Symlink loops: following symlinks can introduce cycles; if necessary, in future consider a visited set of (st_dev, st_ino) to avoid recursion loops.

Test Plan

Add tests ensuring symlinked directories are collected:

1. test_collect_symlinked_dir_as_dircollector: create real_sub/test_in_real.py, symlink link_sub -> real_sub; run pytest -q, assert tests under both real_sub and link_sub are collected.
2. test_collect_symlinked_dir_as_packagecollector: package structure with __init__.py and symlinked link_sub to real_sub; assert tests collected under both.

Reproduction and Observed Failure (current branch)

• DirCollector case: only real_sub tests are collected; link_sub contents are skipped. No stack trace; silent skip. -vv shows traversal of real_sub but not link_sub.
• PackageCollector case: same behavior; only real_sub collected.