Fix: Ignore missing absolute paths for python discovery (#2907)

Co-authored-by: google-labs-jules[bot] <161369871+google-labs-jules[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Bernát Gábor <[email protected]>

Author: 3 people

docs/changelog/2870.bugfix.rst

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Ignore missing absolute paths for python discovery - by :user:`esafak`

src/virtualenv/discovery/builtin.py

@@ -116,8 +116,7 @@ def propose_interpreters(  # noqa: C901, PLR0912, PLR0915
         try:
             os.lstat(spec.path)  # Windows Store Python does not work with os.path.exists, but does for os.lstat
         except OSError:
-            if spec.is_abs:
-                raise
+            pass
         else:
             exe_raw = os.path.abspath(spec.path)
             exe_id = fs_path_id(exe_raw)

tests/unit/discovery/test_discovery.py

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import logging
 import os
+import subprocess
 import sys
 from argparse import Namespace
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -146,6 +147,61 @@ def test_returns_second_python_specified_when_more_than_one_is_specified_and_env
     assert result == mocker.sentinel.python_from_cli
 
 
+def test_absolute_path_does_not_exist(tmp_path):
+    """
+    Test that virtualenv does not fail when an absolute path that does not exist is provided.
+    """
+    # Create a command that uses an absolute path that does not exist
+    # and a valid python executable.
+    command = [
+        sys.executable,
+        "-m",
+        "virtualenv",
+        "-p",
+        "/this/path/does/not/exist",
+        "-p",
+        sys.executable,
+        str(tmp_path / "dest"),
+    ]
+
+    # Run the command
+    process = subprocess.run(
+        command,
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+        check=False,
+    )
+
+    # Check that the command was successful
+    assert process.returncode == 0, process.stderr
+
+
+def test_absolute_path_does_not_exist_fails(tmp_path):
+    """
+    Test that virtualenv fails when a single absolute path that does not exist is provided.
+    """
+    # Create a command that uses an absolute path that does not exist
+    command = [
+        sys.executable,
+        "-m",
+        "virtualenv",
+        "-p",
+        "/this/path/does/not/exist",
+        str(tmp_path / "dest"),
+    ]
+
+    # Run the command
+    process = subprocess.run(
+        command,
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+        check=False,
+    )
+
+    # Check that the command failed
+    assert process.returncode != 0, process.stderr
+
+
 @pytest.mark.usefixtures("mock_get_interpreter")
 def test_returns_first_python_specified_when_no_env_var_is_specified(mocker, monkeypatch, session_app_data):
     monkeypatch.delenv("VIRTUALENV_PYTHON", raising=False)