fix: rm_rf now handles directories without S_IXUSR permission (#7940)

The on_rm_rf_error handler previously only set S_IRUSR|S_IWUSR (read+write)
when retrying failed removals, and silently skipped os.open/os.scandir
failures. This meant directories lacking execute permission (S_IXUSR) could
not be traversed or removed by shutil.rmtree.

Now the handler:
- Uses S_IRWXU (read+write+execute) for all permission fixes
- Handles os.open and os.scandir PermissionError by fixing permissions
  on the path and its parent, then removing the entry directly
- Includes a guard against infinite recursion when chmod has no effect

Supersedes #7941 which took the approach of delegating to
tempfile.TemporaryDirectory._rmtree.

Co-authored-by: Cursor AI <ai@cursor.sh>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus <claude@anthropic.com>

Author: 3 people

changelog/7940.bugfix.rst

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fixed ``rm_rf`` failing to remove directories when the ``S_IXUSR`` (owner execute) permission bit is missing -- supersedes :pr:`7941`.

src/_pytest/pathlib.py

@@ -70,6 +70,25 @@ def get_lock_path(path: _AnyPurePath) -> _AnyPurePath:
     return path.joinpath(".lock")
 
 
+def _chmod_rwx(p: str) -> bool:
+    """Grant owner read, write, and execute permissions.
+
+    Returns True if permissions were actually changed, False if they were
+    already sufficient or couldn't be changed.
+    """
+    import stat
+
+    try:
+        old_mode = os.stat(p).st_mode
+        new_mode = old_mode | stat.S_IRWXU
+        if old_mode == new_mode:
+            return False
+        os.chmod(p, new_mode)
+    except OSError:
+        return False
+    return True
+
+
 def on_rm_rf_error(
     func: Callable[..., Any] | None,
     path: str,
@@ -98,32 +117,44 @@ def on_rm_rf_error(
         )
         return False
 
+    if func in (os.open, os.scandir):
+        # Directory traversal failed (e.g. missing S_IXUSR). Fix permissions
+        # on the path and its parent, then remove it ourselves since rmtree
+        # skips entries after the error handler returns.
+        # See: https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/issues/7940
+        p = Path(path)
+        if p.parent != p:
+            _chmod_rwx(str(p.parent))
+        if not _chmod_rwx(path):
+            return False
+        if os.path.isdir(path):
+            rm_rf(Path(path))
+        else:
+            try:
+                os.unlink(path)
+            except OSError:
+                return False
+        return True
+
     if func not in (os.rmdir, os.remove, os.unlink):
-        if func not in (os.open,):
-            warnings.warn(
-                PytestWarning(
-                    f"(rm_rf) unknown function {func} when removing {path}:\n{type(exc)}: {exc}"
-                )
+        warnings.warn(
+            PytestWarning(
+                f"(rm_rf) unknown function {func} when removing {path}:\n{type(exc)}: {exc}"
             )
+        )
         return False
 
     # Chmod + retry.
-    import stat
-
-    def chmod_rw(p: str) -> None:
-        mode = os.stat(p).st_mode
-        os.chmod(p, mode | stat.S_IRUSR | stat.S_IWUSR)
-
     # For files, we need to recursively go upwards in the directories to
-    # ensure they all are also writable.
+    # ensure they all are also accessible and writable.
     p = Path(path)
     if p.is_file():
         for parent in p.parents:
-            chmod_rw(str(parent))
+            _chmod_rwx(str(parent))
             # Stop when we reach the original path passed to rm_rf.
             if parent == start_path:
                 break
-    chmod_rw(str(path))
+    _chmod_rwx(str(path))
 
     func(path)
     return True

testing/test_tmpdir.py

@@ -500,6 +500,25 @@ def test_rm_rf_with_read_only_directory(self, tmp_path):
 
         assert not adir.is_dir()
 
+    @pytest.mark.skipif(not hasattr(os, "getuid"), reason="unix permissions")
+    def test_rm_rf_with_no_exec_permission_directories(self, tmp_path):
+        """Ensure rm_rf can remove directories without S_IXUSR (#7940).
+
+        This is the exact scenario from the original issue: nested directories
+        and files with all permissions stripped.
+        """
+        p = tmp_path / "foo" / "bar" / "baz"
+        p.parent.mkdir(parents=True)
+        p.touch(mode=0)
+        for parent in p.parents:
+            if parent == tmp_path:
+                break
+            parent.chmod(mode=0)
+
+        rm_rf(tmp_path / "foo")
+
+        assert not (tmp_path / "foo").exists()
+
     def test_on_rm_rf_error(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
         adir = tmp_path / "dir"
         adir.mkdir()
@@ -527,17 +546,42 @@ def test_on_rm_rf_error(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
             on_rm_rf_error(None, str(fn), exc_info3, start_path=tmp_path)
             assert fn.is_file()
 
-        # ignored function
-        with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as w:
-            exc_info4 = PermissionError()
-            on_rm_rf_error(os.open, str(fn), exc_info4, start_path=tmp_path)
-            assert fn.is_file()
-            assert not [x.message for x in w]
-
+        # os.unlink PermissionError is handled (chmod + retry)
         exc_info5 = PermissionError()
         on_rm_rf_error(os.unlink, str(fn), exc_info5, start_path=tmp_path)
         assert not fn.is_file()
 
+    def test_on_rm_rf_error_os_open_handles_file(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+        """os.open PermissionError on a file is handled by fixing
+        permissions and removing it (#7940)."""
+        adir = tmp_path / "dir"
+        adir.mkdir()
+        fn = adir / "foo.txt"
+        fn.touch()
+        self.chmod_r(fn)
+
+        with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as w:
+            exc_info = PermissionError()
+            on_rm_rf_error(os.open, str(fn), exc_info, start_path=tmp_path)
+            assert not fn.exists()
+            assert not [x.message for x in w]
+
+    @pytest.mark.skipif(not hasattr(os, "getuid"), reason="unix permissions")
+    def test_on_rm_rf_error_os_open_handles_directory(self, tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+        """os.open PermissionError on a directory is handled by fixing
+        permissions and recursively removing it (#7940)."""
+        adir = tmp_path / "dir"
+        adir.mkdir()
+        (adir / "child").mkdir()
+        (adir / "child" / "file.txt").touch()
+        os.chmod(str(adir), 0o600)
+
+        with warnings.catch_warnings(record=True) as w:
+            exc_info = PermissionError()
+            on_rm_rf_error(os.open, str(adir), exc_info, start_path=tmp_path)
+            assert not adir.exists()
+            assert not [x.message for x in w]
+
 
 def attempt_symlink_to(path, to_path):
     """Try to make a symlink from "path" to "to_path", skipping in case this platform