From 37883089fac2d7529cb2fa07ebab6a46b9b26564 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Bruno Oliveira <bruno@soliv.dev>
Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2024 20:12:42 -0300
Subject: [PATCH] Consider paths and pathlists relative to cwd in case of an
 absent ini-file

Previously this would trigger an `AssertionError`.

While it could be considered a bug-fix, but given it now can be relied upon, it is probably better to consider it an improvement.

Fix #11311
---
 changelog/11311.improvement.rst  |  4 ++++
 src/_pytest/config/__init__.py   |  4 +---
 src/_pytest/config/argparsing.py |  7 +++++++
 testing/test_config.py           | 12 ++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 changelog/11311.improvement.rst

diff --git a/changelog/11311.improvement.rst b/changelog/11311.improvement.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0072f39743a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/11311.improvement.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+When using ``--override-ini`` for paths in invocations without a configuration file defined, the current working directory is used
+as the relative directory.
+
+Previoulsy this would raise an :class:`AssertionError`.
diff --git a/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py b/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
index cada2aa0978..46b1ba3d99a 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/config/__init__.py
@@ -1563,9 +1563,7 @@ def _getini(self, name: str):
         #   in this case, we already have a list ready to use.
         #
         if type == "paths":
-            # TODO: This assert is probably not valid in all cases.
-            assert self.inipath is not None
-            dp = self.inipath.parent
+            dp = self.inipath.parent if self.inipath is not None else Path.cwd()
             input_values = shlex.split(value) if isinstance(value, str) else value
             return [dp / x for x in input_values]
         elif type == "args":
diff --git a/src/_pytest/config/argparsing.py b/src/_pytest/config/argparsing.py
index da05acf398e..d98f1ae9a12 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/config/argparsing.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/config/argparsing.py
@@ -198,9 +198,16 @@ def addini(
                 * ``paths``: a list of :class:`pathlib.Path`, separated as in a shell
                 * ``pathlist``: a list of ``py.path``, separated as in a shell
 
+            For ``paths`` and ``pathlist`` types, they are considered relative to the ini-file.
+            In case the execution is happening without an ini-file defined,
+            they will be considered relative to the current working directory (for example with ``--override-ini``).
+
             .. versionadded:: 7.0
                 The ``paths`` variable type.
 
+            .. versionadded:: 8.1
+                Use the current working directory to resolve ``paths`` and ``pathlist`` in the absence of an ini-file.
+
             Defaults to ``string`` if ``None`` or not passed.
         :param default:
             Default value if no ini-file option exists but is queried.
diff --git a/testing/test_config.py b/testing/test_config.py
index ead693cf48b..4377257b12e 100644
--- a/testing/test_config.py
+++ b/testing/test_config.py
@@ -1874,6 +1874,18 @@ def test():
         assert "ERROR:" not in result.stderr.str()
         result.stdout.fnmatch_lines(["collected 1 item", "*= 1 passed in *="])
 
+    def test_override_ini_without_config_file(self, pytester: Pytester) -> None:
+        pytester.makepyfile(**{"src/override_ini_without_config_file.py": ""})
+        pytester.makepyfile(
+            **{
+                "tests/test_override_ini_without_config_file.py": (
+                    "import override_ini_without_config_file\ndef test(): pass"
+                ),
+            }
+        )
+        result = pytester.runpytest("--override-ini", "pythonpath=src")
+        assert result.parseoutcomes() == {"passed": 1}
+
 
 def test_help_via_addopts(pytester: Pytester) -> None:
     pytester.makeini(