python / python/cpython

Include the current working dir in FileNotFoundError

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3.13 interpreter-core type-feature
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Feature or enhancement

A FileNotFoundError exception should include the current working directory when referring to a relative path.

Pitch

The problem this solves is with relative paths. If you just get the error "foo/bar not found", it is not enough info to fully understand the problem, because whether this can be found depends on the working directory as well.

At the moment, I'm working with Bazel (a build system), which does its form of sandboxing by symlinking things into a separate directory and building there. This implies both creating files/symlinks and switching directories and a lot of that. When a file is not found, it can mean that either of the two operations were faulty, but with a relative path you absolutely need the working directory to say which is the case.

Note that there is another category of similar problems, where e.g. Popen() tries to locate an executable using the PATH environment variable. Here, the simple executable file name is not helpful without the directories that were searched.

Previous discussion

I have found #60389, which is also related to missing info in such an error. Apart from that, I haven't found any similar discussions.

Linked PRs
  • gh-116071

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing where Python raises FileNotFoundError for relative paths and review the related Popen() behavior mentioned in the issue. The change is complete when a missing relative path reports the current working directory while preserving useful error behavior for paths resolved through PATH.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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