[ENH] move tests for dependency checks and deep_equals to utils module

skbase/testing/test_all_objects.py

@@ -18,9 +18,9 @@
 from skbase.testing.utils._conditional_fixtures import (
     create_conditional_fixtures_and_names,
 )
-from skbase.testing.utils._dependencies import _check_soft_dependencies
 from skbase.testing.utils.inspect import _get_args
 from skbase.utils.deep_equals import deep_equals
+from skbase.utils.dependencies import _check_soft_dependencies
 
 __author__: List[str] = ["fkiraly"]
 

skbase/tests/test_base.py

@@ -77,9 +77,9 @@
 import scipy.sparse as sp
 
 from skbase.base import BaseEstimator, BaseObject
-from skbase.testing.utils._dependencies import _check_soft_dependencies
 from skbase.tests.conftest import Child, Parent
 from skbase.tests.mock_package.test_mock_package import CompositionDummy
+from skbase.utils.dependencies import _check_soft_dependencies
 
 
 # TODO: Determine if we need to add sklearn style test of

skbase/utils/dependencies/tests/__init__.py

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+"""Testing utilities for depeendency checkers."""

skbase/testing/utils/tests/test_check_dependencies.py → skbase/utils/dependencies/tests/test_check_dependencies.py

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import pytest
 from packaging.requirements import InvalidRequirement
 
-from skbase.testing.utils._dependencies import _check_soft_dependencies
+from skbase.utils.dependencies._dependencies import _check_soft_dependencies
 
 
 def test_check_soft_deps():

skbase/testing/utils/tests/test_deep_equals.py → skbase/utils/tests/test_deep_equals.py

@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
 
-from skbase.testing.utils._dependencies import _check_soft_dependencies
 from skbase.utils.deep_equals import deep_equals
+from skbase.utils.dependencies import _check_soft_dependencies
 
 # examples used for comparison below
 EXAMPLES = [