Improve default resolution of mocha.opts

[paulmelnikow]

Prerequisites

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Description

Mocha looks for mocha.opts in test/mocha.opts. Ref: #1275 (comment)

Many projects keep tests next to the code they're testing, which means there's no test/ directory and so unless that test/ folder is created especially for this config file, there's no place that mocha.opts will be read by default.

#1277 provides an alternative here. You can put mocha.opts wherever you want, e.g. alongside package.json, and specify --opts mocha.opts. However the package.json I'm working with has 11 different mocha invocations. I can add --opts mocha.opts to each one, though it's inconvenient and makes these invocations more difficult to read.

It would be a usability improvement to default to searching for mocha.opts alongside the package.json in addition to looking in test/mocha.opts.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Set options in mocha.opts alongside package.json e.g. --reporter mocha-env-reporter
2. Run mocha

Expected behavior: The reporter is loaded.

Actual behavior: The reporter is not loaded.

Reproduces how often: Always.

Additional Information

If both files exist, probably it makes sense to print a warning and use test/mocha.opts, for compatibility with the old behavior.

[craigtaub]

Hey
So in version 6 we have changed how options are loaded (see https://mochajs.org/#configuring-mocha-nodejs). We recommend you create a configuration file at your projects root.
mocha.opts is now considered legacy (https://mochajs.org/#mochaopts).

Hopefully this be useful for you in this situation.

If not perhaps you could give more details on the "steps to reproduce" (the ideal anyway).

[paulmelnikow]

That is fabulous!

Looks like that hasn't shipped yet! Where's the best place to track the release?

[craigtaub]

Great.

I think its very close to being released. We usually send messages out to usual channels (Twitter/Gitter etc) but you could track via a Github "Releases only" notification.
Hope that helps.

Closing this issue.