Fix path handling of paths passed to --config

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 <!-- next-header -->
 ## [Unreleased] - ReleaseDate
+### Changed
+- [PR#802](https://github.com/EmbarkStudios/cargo-deny/pull/802) made relative paths passed to `--config` be resolved relative to the current working directory (rather than the resolved manifest path's directory).
+### Fixed
+- [PR#802](https://github.com/EmbarkStudios/cargo-deny/pull/802) fixed path handling of paths passed to `--config` ([#748](https://github.com/EmbarkStudios/krates/issues/748)).
+
+
 ## [0.18.5] - 2025-09-22
 ### Changed
 - [PR#789](https://github.com/EmbarkStudios/cargo-deny/pull/789) changed it so that release binaries are now built with LTO.

src/cargo-deny/check.rs

@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ pub(crate) fn cmd(
         graph,
         output,
     } = ValidConfig::load(
-        krate_ctx.get_config_path(args.config.clone()),
+        krate_ctx.get_config_path(args.config.as_deref())?,
         krate_ctx.get_local_exceptions_path(),
         &mut files,
         log_ctx,

src/cargo-deny/common.rs

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+use anyhow::Context;
 use cargo_deny::{
-    PathBuf,
+    Path, PathBuf,
     diag::{self, FileId, Files, Severity},
     licenses::LicenseStore,
 };
@@ -12,6 +13,17 @@ pub(crate) fn load_license_store() -> Result<LicenseStore, anyhow::Error> {
     LicenseStore::from_cache()
 }
 
+pub(crate) fn current_dir_utf8() -> anyhow::Result<PathBuf> {
+    let current_dir =
+        std::env::current_dir().context("could not access current working directory")?;
+
+    let current_dir = PathBuf::from_path_buf(current_dir)
+        .map_err(|pb| anyhow::anyhow!("path '{}' is not utf-8", pb.display()))
+        .context("could not access current working directory")?;
+
+    Ok(current_dir)
+}
+
 pub struct KrateContext {
     pub manifest_path: PathBuf,
     pub workspace: bool,
@@ -28,41 +40,51 @@ pub struct KrateContext {
 }
 
 impl KrateContext {
-    pub fn get_config_path(&self, config_path: Option<PathBuf>) -> Option<PathBuf> {
-        if let Some(cp) = config_path {
-            if cp.is_absolute() {
-                Some(cp)
-            } else {
-                Some(self.manifest_path.parent().unwrap().join(cp))
-            }
+    pub fn get_config_path(&self, config_path: Option<&Path>) -> anyhow::Result<Option<PathBuf>> {
+        if let Some(config_path) = config_path {
+            let current_dir = current_dir_utf8()?;
+            Self::resolve_config_path(&current_dir, config_path).map(Some)
         } else {
-            let mut p = self.manifest_path.parent();
+            Ok(Self::default_config_path(&self.manifest_path))
+        }
+    }
 
-            while let Some(parent) = p {
-                let mut config_path = parent.join("deny.toml");
+    fn resolve_config_path(current_dir: &Path, config_path: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<PathBuf> {
+        if config_path.is_absolute() {
+            Ok(config_path.to_owned())
+        } else {
+            Ok(current_dir.join(config_path))
+        }
+    }
 
-                if config_path.exists() {
-                    return Some(config_path);
-                }
+    fn default_config_path(manifest_path: &Path) -> Option<PathBuf> {
+        let mut p = manifest_path.parent();
 
-                config_path.pop();
-                config_path.push(".deny.toml");
+        while let Some(parent) = p {
+            let mut config_path = parent.join("deny.toml");
 
-                if config_path.exists() {
-                    return Some(config_path);
-                }
+            if config_path.exists() {
+                return Some(config_path);
+            }
 
-                config_path.pop();
-                config_path.push(".cargo/deny.toml");
-                if config_path.exists() {
-                    return Some(config_path);
-                }
+            config_path.pop();
+            config_path.push(".deny.toml");
+
+            if config_path.exists() {
+                return Some(config_path);
+            }
 
-                p = parent.parent();
+            config_path.pop();
+            config_path.push(".cargo/deny.toml");
+
+            if config_path.exists() {
+                return Some(config_path);
             }
 
-            None
+            p = parent.parent();
         }
+
+        None
     }
 
     pub fn get_local_exceptions_path(&self) -> Option<PathBuf> {
@@ -545,3 +567,49 @@ impl<'a> DiagPrinter<'a> {
         self.which.lock(self.max_severity)
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[inline]
+    fn temp_dir() -> tempfile::TempDir {
+        tempfile::tempdir().unwrap()
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_resolve_config_path() {
+        let temp_dir = temp_dir();
+
+        let current_dir = PathBuf::from_path_buf(temp_dir.path().to_path_buf()).unwrap();
+        std::fs::File::create(current_dir.join("deny.toml")).unwrap();
+
+        let expected = current_dir.join("deny.toml");
+
+        let abs_path = current_dir.join("deny.toml");
+        let actual = KrateContext::resolve_config_path(&current_dir, &abs_path).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(actual, abs_path);
+
+        let rel_path = Path::new("./deny.toml");
+        let actual = KrateContext::resolve_config_path(&current_dir, rel_path).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(actual, expected);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_default_config_path() {
+        let temp_dir = temp_dir();
+
+        let current_dir = PathBuf::from_path_buf(temp_dir.path().to_path_buf()).unwrap();
+        std::fs::File::create(current_dir.join("Cargo.toml")).unwrap();
+        let manifest_path = current_dir.join("Cargo.toml");
+
+        let actual = KrateContext::default_config_path(&manifest_path);
+        let expected = None;
+        assert_eq!(actual, expected);
+
+        std::fs::File::create(current_dir.join("deny.toml")).unwrap();
+        let actual = KrateContext::default_config_path(&manifest_path);
+        let expected = Some(current_dir.join("deny.toml"));
+        assert_eq!(actual, expected);
+    }
+}

src/cargo-deny/fetch.rs

@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ pub fn cmd(
     args: Args,
     krate_ctx: crate::common::KrateContext,
 ) -> Result<(), Error> {
-    let cfg_path = krate_ctx.get_config_path(args.config.clone());
+    let cfg_path = krate_ctx.get_config_path(args.config.as_deref())?;
 
     let mut files = Files::new();
     let ValidConfig { advisories, .. } = ValidConfig::load(

src/cargo-deny/init.rs

@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@ pub struct Args {
 const CONTENTS: &[u8] = include_bytes!("../../deny.template.toml");
 
 pub fn cmd(args: Args, ctx: crate::common::KrateContext) -> Result<(), Error> {
-    let cfg_path = args.config.unwrap_or_else(|| PathBuf::from("deny.toml"));
-    let cfg_path = ctx
-        .get_config_path(Some(cfg_path))
-        .context("unable to get full path to config")?;
+    let cfg_path = {
+        let cfg_path = args.config.unwrap_or_else(|| PathBuf::from("deny.toml"));
+        ctx.get_config_path(Some(&cfg_path))?
+            .context("unable to get full path to config")?
+    };
 
     // make sure the file does not exist yet
     ensure!(

src/cargo-deny/list.rs

@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ pub fn cmd(
     use licenses::LicenseInfo;
     use std::{collections::BTreeMap, fmt::Write};
 
-    let cfg_path = krate_ctx.get_config_path(args.config.clone());
+    let cfg_path = krate_ctx.get_config_path(args.config.as_deref())?;
 
     let mut files = Files::new();
     let ValidConfig { graph, .. } = ValidConfig::load(