From b1f95247e40594c052c86a9c093a043e4fd96916 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ferkans-amir <amir.rezaei@tu-berlin.de>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2026 10:22:39 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 1/3] fix(config): raise UsageError for invalid or missing
 -c/--config-file paths

---
 src/_pytest/config/findpaths.py | 11 +++++++----
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/_pytest/config/findpaths.py b/src/_pytest/config/findpaths.py
index 2a4bed319a9..d9c336dfc2b 100644
--- a/src/_pytest/config/findpaths.py
+++ b/src/_pytest/config/findpaths.py
@@ -44,14 +44,13 @@ class ConfigValue:
 
 
 def _parse_ini_config(path: Path) -> iniconfig.IniConfig:
-    """Parse the given generic '.ini' file using legacy IniConfig parser, returning
-    the parsed object.
+    """Parse an ini file.
 
     Raise UsageError if the file cannot be parsed.
     """
     try:
         return iniconfig.IniConfig(str(path))
-    except iniconfig.ParseError as exc:
+    except (FileNotFoundError, iniconfig.ParseError) as exc:
         raise UsageError(str(exc)) from exc
 
 
@@ -313,8 +312,12 @@ def determine_setup(
 
     if inifile:
         inipath_ = absolutepath(inifile)
+        if not inipath_.is_file():
+            raise UsageError(f"Config file not found: {inipath_}")
         inipath: Path | None = inipath_
-        inicfg = load_config_dict_from_file(inipath_) or {}
+        inicfg = load_config_dict_from_file(inipath_)
+        if inicfg is None:
+            raise UsageError(f"Unrecognized or invalid config file: {inipath_}")
         if rootdir_cmd_arg is None:
             rootdir = inipath_.parent
     else:

From 98342841be34c12557a9da2355bc90cc1a31e09e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ferkans-amir <amir.rezaei@tu-berlin.de>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:27:47 +0200
Subject: [PATCH 2/3] changelog: add newsfragment for #14793

---
 changelog/14793.bugfix.rst | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
 create mode 100644 changelog/14793.bugfix.rst

diff --git a/changelog/14793.bugfix.rst b/changelog/14793.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2ee2a951c6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/14793.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Raise a clean :class:`~_pytest.config.UsageError` when explicit ``-c`` or ``--config-file`` paths do not exist or have unparseable configurations.

From bfb8479b3d87a58418dd43ba3229494f851cfc0b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "pre-commit-ci[bot]"
 <66853113+pre-commit-ci[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:28:23 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 3/3] [pre-commit.ci] auto fixes from pre-commit.com hooks

for more information, see https://pre-commit.ci
---
 changelog/14793.bugfix.rst | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/changelog/14793.bugfix.rst b/changelog/14793.bugfix.rst
index 2ee2a951c6c..96beec94b8a 100644
--- a/changelog/14793.bugfix.rst
+++ b/changelog/14793.bugfix.rst
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Raise a clean :class:`~_pytest.config.UsageError` when explicit ``-c`` or ``--config-file`` paths do not exist or have unparseable configurations.
+Raise a clean :class:`~_pytest.config.UsageError` when explicit ``-c`` or ``--config-file`` paths do not exist or have unparsable configurations.