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 _pytest.warning_types.PytestWarning or subclasses, which can be filtered using standard warning filters.

"message" parameter of pytest.raises

Deprecated since version 4.1.

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.

pytest.config global

Deprecated since version 4.1.

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.

raises / warns with a string as the second argument

Deprecated since version 4.1.

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

Result log (--result-log)

The --resultlog command line option has been deprecated: it is little used and there are more modern and better alternatives, for example pytest-tap.

This feature will be effectively removed in pytest 4.0 as the team intends to include a better alternative in the core.

If you have any concerns, please don’t hesitate to open an issue.

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.

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 deprecated. 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()

Reinterpretation mode (--assert=reinterp)

Removed in version 3.0.

Reinterpretation mode has now been removed and only plain and rewrite mode are available, consequently the --assert=reinterp option is no longer available. This also means files imported from plugins or conftest.py will not benefit from improved assertions by default, you should use pytest.register_assert_rewrite() to explicitly turn on assertion rewriting for those files.

Removed command-line options

Removed in version 3.0.

The following deprecated commandline options were removed:

• --genscript: no longer supported;
• --no-assert: use --assert=plain instead;
• --nomagic: use --assert=plain instead;
• --report: use -r instead;

py.test-X* entry points

Removed in version 3.0.

Removed all py.test-X* entry points. The versioned, suffixed entry points were never documented and a leftover from a pre-virtualenv era. These entry points also created broken entry points in wheels, so removing them also removes a source of confusion for users.