From 185561cdf3622ea801a3db08f4f0f4592e76d5b5 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Zirak <zirakertan@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2019 22:04:26 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Throw a descriptive error when a non-function is given to a
 runnable

Given a test such as:

```js
it('foobars', 4);
```

mocha used to throw the following error: `fn.call is not a function`.

While technically true, I have personally spent some minutes of my life chasing
what looked like a bug in the test itself, and not in the call to `it`. A more
descriptive error message helps bring attention to where the problem originates.

(Thanks to [ssube](https://github.com/ssube) for helping with the error wording.)
---
 lib/runnable.js            |  9 +++++++++
 test/unit/runnable.spec.js | 10 ++++++++++
 2 files changed, 19 insertions(+)

diff --git a/lib/runnable.js b/lib/runnable.js
index 2d0c428d46..0346b36346 100644
--- a/lib/runnable.js
+++ b/lib/runnable.js
@@ -338,6 +338,15 @@ Runnable.prototype.run = function(fn) {
   // for .resetTimeout()
   this.callback = done;
 
+  if (this.fn && typeof this.fn.call !== 'function') {
+    done(
+      new TypeError(
+        'A runnable must be passed a function as its second argument.'
+      )
+    );
+    return;
+  }
+
   // explicit async with `done` argument
   if (this.async) {
     this.resetTimeout();
diff --git a/test/unit/runnable.spec.js b/test/unit/runnable.spec.js
index 40ccc12c7e..0e42b9b315 100644
--- a/test/unit/runnable.spec.js
+++ b/test/unit/runnable.spec.js
@@ -670,6 +670,16 @@ describe('Runnable(title, fn)', function() {
         });
       });
     });
+
+    describe('when fn is not a function', function() {
+      it('should throw an error', function() {
+        var runnable = new Runnable('foo', 4);
+
+        runnable.run(function(err) {
+          expect(err.message, 'not to match', /fn\.call/);
+        });
+      });
+    });
   });
 
   describe('#isFailed()', function() {