CLI option --taskfile seems to be ignored

[rseichter]

Description

My attempts to specify a custom file name using --taskfile or -t result in "No Taskfile found" errors:

$ task --version
3.48.0
$ uname -v
Darwin Kernel Version 25.2.0: Tue Nov 18 21:09:34 PST 2025; root:xnu-12377.61.12~1/RELEASE_X86_64
$ ls -l *.yml
-rw-r--r-- 1 ralph staff 638 Feb 16 02:26 foo.yml
$ task --taskfile foo.yml
task: No Taskfile found at ""
task: Failed to run task "default": exit status 100

As you can see the file exists and is world-readable, so I am left with the impression that --taskfile is being ignored?

Version

3.48.0

Operating system

macOS 26.2

Experiments Enabled

No response

[trulede]

@rseichter you might experiment a little more with paths: ./foo.yml, somedir/foo.yml, /fullpath/foo.yml etc. and see if there is something particular to MacOS file system causing this. I would expect the full path to work (at least).

[rseichter]

@trulede I have tried using different file paths like you suggested, including the absolute path. The results are always the same, it does not work:

fish> task --taskfile /Users/ralph/foo.yml || echo $status
task: No Taskfile found at ""
task: Failed to run task "default": exit status 100
201

I have tried path variants in both bash and fish, by the way, on the off-chance that the behaviour might change. It does not. Possibly of interest: while task prints "exit status 100" to stderr, the actual returned value is 201 - Command execution error.

[trulede]

@rseichter this is the code (I think) that I think tries to read the file.

task/internal/fsext/fs.go

Line 122 in c4ecff7

func SearchPath(path string, possibleFilenames []string) (string, error) {

If path as set (to the value from the CLI then something in this function might indicate the reason this does not work. However, if path is not set then it would be as you suggest, somehow the parameter was not processed. A single fmt.Println(path) would indicate which case.

I don't have MacOS ... so I can't help you. But I would start looking in that area.

[rseichter]

@trulede I tried, even forked the project, but I am struggling with compiling a standalone binary. It's certainly not as simple as go build; this is a rather more complex project structure. Is there perhaps a macOS user among the developers who could help us with this issue? I am willing to assist, but if compilation is already a hurdle, it is rough going.