After an upgrade to PHPUnit 13, a green suite reports notices and deprecations from its mocks; what do they mean and how do you clear them?

## Why a passing suite gets noisy PHPUnit 13 draws a hard line between a **test stub**, which only answers calls, and a **mock object**, which also verifies them. Older suites often used `createMock()` for every double, including ones that only supplied data. The runner now reports each place where a mock is used as a stub, or where an expectation is written so loosely that it checks nothing. These reports are **PHPUnit notices** and **PHPUnit deprecations**: issues about how the test is written, distinct from PHP's own deprecations raised by the code under test. ## The four messages you will meet | Message source | Trigger | Status in PHPUnit 13 | |---|---|---| | no-expectations notice | a `createMock()` double with no count rule and no argument rule | notice after the test | | `any()` deprecation | `expects($this->any())` | hard-deprecated since 12.5.5, removed in 14 | | `with*()` without `expects()` | `$mock->method('send')->with(...)` | hard-deprecated since 13.0.2 | | `atLeast(0)` deprecation | `atLeast()` with a non-positive argument | hard-deprecated since 13.0.2 | Note that `expects($this->any())` does not silence the first notice: PHPUnit does not count "any number of calls" as an invocation-count rule, so such a mock both triggers the deprecation and still counts as having no expectations. ## Clearing the no-expectations notice The full text is "No expectations were configured for the mock object for Mailer. Consider refactoring your test code to use a test stub instead. The #[AllowMockObjectsWithoutExpectations] attribute can be used to opt out of this check." Work through three cases: 1. **The double only supplies data.** Replace `$this->createMock(UserRepository::class)` with `self::createStub(UserRepository::class)`. Everything chained after `method()` keeps working, because stubs support the same `willReturn*()` answers. 2. **The call is the behaviour under test.** Add the real rule, for example `expects($this->once())->method('send')`, so the mock verifies something. 3. **A shared `setUp()` creates the mock and only some tests add expectations.** Put `#[AllowMockObjectsWithoutExpectations]` on the test class or on the specific methods. Prefer creating the mock inside the tests that verify it, since the attribute hides the signal for every test it covers. ## Clearing the deprecations - For `any()`: if the count genuinely does not matter, the double should be a stub; if it does, state it with `once()`, `exactly(n)`, `atLeastOnce()` or `atMost(n)`. - For `with()` without `expects()`: add the count rule in front, or drop `with()` and use a stub if you only wanted a return value. A `with()` without a count rule verified less than it appeared to. - For `atLeast(0)`: a lower bound of zero is satisfied even when the method is never called, so it verifies nothing; write the rule you mean, or use a stub. Two related soft deprecations need no immediate action but belong on the list: `id()` and `after()` for cross-method ordering, soft-deprecated since 13.1.0. ## Seeing and enforcing the reports By default a notice or deprecation from PHPUnit leaves the run green. Useful switches: - `--display-phpunit-notices` and `--display-phpunit-deprecations` print the details and the test each one came from; - the CLI option `--fail-on-phpunit-notice` makes a notice fail the run, which is how a team keeps a cleaned suite clean; - **sealing**: ending a mock's configuration chain with `seal()` (it lives on the builder that `method()` and `expects()` return) turns every unconfigured method into a zero-calls expectation and forbids further configuration, with "This test double has been sealed and cannot be configured further". It catches calls the test did not anticipate. ## What not to do - Do not blanket the suite with `#[AllowMockObjectsWithoutExpectations]` to make the output quiet; the attribute switches off the one signal that shows a mock verifying nothing. - Do not swap `any()` for `atLeast(0)`: the deprecation simply moves, and the rule still checks nothing. - Do not add `expects($this->once())` to a query just to satisfy the notice; that welds the test to how often the service reads data. - Do not confuse these reports with deprecations raised by the code under test; those come from PHP and are fixed in production code, not in the test. ## A sensible order of work 1. Run the suite once with both display flags and collect the messages. 2. Fix the no-expectations notices first; most are mechanical `createMock()` to `createStub()` changes. 3. Replace `any()` and loose `with()` calls, deciding per test whether a call count matters. 4. Turn on failing on PHPUnit notices in CI so the suite cannot drift back before PHPUnit 14 removes the deprecated APIs.