[Danish-kh-IT]

Fixes #9089.

scandir() in src/_pytest/pathlib.py probes each directory entry with entry.is_file() and re-raises any OSError whose errno is not in _IGNORED_ERRORS. EACCES was missing from that set, so a single entry that cannot be inspected because of insufficient permissions (for example a symlinked folder owned by root) crashed the whole collection with PermissionError, and neither norecursedirs nor --ignore could prevent it.

This adds EACCES to _IGNORED_ERRORS, so such entries are skipped, consistent with how a vanishing file (ENOENT) and the other transient errors are already handled. Other OSErrors still propagate — the existing test_scandir_handles_os_error guarantee is unchanged.

Tests: added test_scandir_skips_permission_denied_entry next to test_scandir_handles_os_error, using the same mock-based approach. Verified locally: testing/test_pathlib.py 113 passed, 1 skipped; testing/test_collection.py + testing/test_main.py 131 passed, 10 skipped, 1 xfailed.

As noted in my comment on #9089, if maintainers would prefer a warning instead of silently skipping, I'm happy to adjust.

[ege-arhan]

Verified against the branch (c76c5bfa6). The new test passes, but the reported scenario still crashes — the PermissionError in #9089 does not come from entry.is_file().

scandir() only guards the per-entry probe (src/_pytest/pathlib.py:1004-1011); os.scandir(path) at src/_pytest/pathlib.py:996-1000 is still wrapped in except FileNotFoundError only, so recursing into a directory the user cannot read raises before _IGNORED_ERRORS is ever consulted:

$ mkdir -p p/locked p/ok && echo "def test_a(): pass" > p/ok/test_ok.py && chmod 000 p/locked
$ pytest p
E   PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '.../p/locked'
ERROR locked - PermissionError: ...

Same result for the symlink case from the issue (ln -s /root p/sym_to_root), and both tracebacks bottom out at pathlib.py:998, i.e. the os.scandir(path) call itself, not at entry.is_file(). visit() (pathlib.py:1026) reaches it as soon as entry.is_dir() is true, so norecursedirs/--ignore still cannot help — which is exactly what the report describes.

The unit test hides this because it patches os.scandir wholesale, so the failing call site is mocked out:

with unittest.mock.patch("os.scandir") as mock_scandir:
    mock_scandir.return_value.__enter__.return_value = [denied_entry, ok_entry]
    assert scandir("/fake/path") == [ok_entry]

A pytester/tmpdir test that really chmods a subdirectory would have caught it.

Suggested handling for the unreadable directory itself:

try:
    scandir_iter = os.scandir(path)
except OSError as err:
    if _ignore_error(err):
        return []
    raise

FileNotFoundError remains covered since ENOENT is in _IGNORED_ERRORS, and a directory that cannot be listed then behaves like a missing one instead of aborting the session. Worth keeping the per-entry guard as well — a file that vanishes between readdir and stat is a different, still-real case.

Minor: EACCES is appended in the middle of the tuple ((ENOENT, ENOTDIR, EACCES, EBADF, ELOOP)), which breaks the alphabetical order the original comment/first three entries follow; also the changelog says "consistent with other transient filesystem errors", but EACCES is a permission fact rather than a race, so the wording could name the user-facing outcome (unreadable directories are skipped) instead.

[Danish-kh-IT]

Update — the real chmod test you asked for earned its keep. With the scandir() guard in place it still failed on Linux CI, and the traceback showed a second wall behind the first: while collecting the unreadable directory, _loadconftestmodules probes for

/conftest.py with Path.is_file(), which stats inside the directory and raises PermissionError, interrupting the whole session ("Interrupted: 1 error during collection"). That probe was unreachable before, because scandir() crashed first — including in your repro.

Fixed in 839aaf5: a PermissionError from the conftest probe is now treated as "no conftest" — a directory that cannot be searched cannot provide one. The same change also covers the earlier round: scandir() guards the os.scandir(path) call itself, _IGNORED_ERRORS is alphabetical again, the changelog names the outcome (unreadable directories are skipped), and three tests were added (two mock-based ones for the directory-level call, plus the pytester chmod test).

Local verification: testing/test_conftest.py + testing/test_config.py 365 passed, 5 skipped, 1 xfailed; testing/test_pathlib.py + test_collection.py + test_main.py 246 passed, 12 skipped, 1 xfailed; pre-commit all passed. The chmod test still skips on my Windows machine, so the Linux CI jobs are the real check for it.