diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 719c104..39ada59 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -39,5 +39,5 @@ after_success:
   - coverage report -m
   - which coveralls
   - coveralls
-  - source deactivate
+  - conda deactivate
   - conda env remove -y -n $PY_ENV
diff --git a/src/spec2nexus/_requirements.py b/src/spec2nexus/_requirements.py
index 657df11..8f3e57a 100644
--- a/src/spec2nexus/_requirements.py
+++ b/src/spec2nexus/_requirements.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 # The full license is in the file LICENSE.txt, distributed with this software.
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-
+REQUIREMENTS = "requirements.txt"
 
 def learn_requirements():
     """
@@ -16,12 +16,10 @@ def learn_requirements():
     
     ALL packages & version restrictions stated in requirements.txt
     """
-    req_file = 'requirements.txt'
-    reqs = []
-
     import os
     path = os.path.dirname(__file__)
-    req_file = os.path.join(path, '..', req_file)
+    req_file = os.path.join(path, '..', '..', REQUIREMENTS)
+    reqs = []
     if not os.path.exists(req_file):
         # not needed with installed package
         return reqs

_requirements module: unit tests
see: https://coveralls.io/builds/24564191/source?filename=src/spec2nexus/_requirements.py
diff --git a/tests/test_requirements.py b/tests/test_requirements.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a1cc90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_requirements.py
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+'''
+unit tests for the _requirements module
+'''
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# :author:    Pete R. Jemian
+# :email:     prjemian@gmail.com
+# :copyright: (c) 2014-2019, Pete R. Jemian
+#
+# Distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License.
+#
+# The full license is in the file LICENSE.txt, distributed with this software.
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+import os, sys
+import numpy
+import unittest
+from builtins import isinstance
+
+_test_path = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..'))
+_path = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(_test_path, 'src'))
+
+sys.path.insert(0, _path)
+sys.path.insert(0, _test_path)
+
+from spec2nexus import _requirements
+
+import tests.common
+
+
+class Test(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_learn_requirements(self):
+        reqs = _requirements.learn_requirements()
+        self.assertTrue(isinstance(reqs, list))
+        self.assertGreater(len(reqs), 0)
+        self.assertEqual(len(reqs), 5)
+        self.assertTrue("h5py" in reqs)
+        self.assertTrue("numpy" in reqs)
+
+
+def suite(*args, **kw):
+    test_suite = unittest.TestSuite()
+    test_list = [
+        Test,
+        ]
+    for test_case in test_list:
+        test_suite.addTest(unittest.makeSuite(test_case))
+    return test_suite
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    runner=unittest.TextTestRunner()
+    runner.run(suite())

pip install -e .[dev]
parse_log_pytest
requirements.txt
pytest
apt-get update apt-get install -y gcc
3.6
requirements.txt
pytest --no-header -rA --tb=line --color=no -p no:cacheprovider -W ignore::DeprecationWarning
attrs==22.2.0
cached-property==1.5.2
certifi==2021.5.30
cycler==0.11.0
h5py==3.1.0
importlib-metadata==4.8.3
iniconfig==1.1.1
kiwisolver==1.3.1
lxml==5.3.1
matplotlib==3.3.4
numpy==1.19.5
packaging==21.3
Pillow==8.4.0
pluggy==1.0.0
py==1.11.0
pyparsing==3.1.4
pytest==7.0.1
python-dateutil==2.9.0.post0
six==1.17.0
-e git+https://github.com/prjemian/spec2nexus.git@9ad0fd7aacf1633bfaae1be55f61cf2f672262a7#egg=spec2nexus
tomli==1.2.3
typing_extensions==4.1.1
zipp==3.6.0

name: spec2nexus
channels:
  - defaults
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r
  - conda-forge
dependencies:
  - _libgcc_mutex=0.1=main
  - _openmp_mutex=5.1=1_gnu
  - ca-certificates=2025.2.25=h06a4308_0
  - certifi=2021.5.30=py36h06a4308_0
  - ld_impl_linux-64=2.40=h12ee557_0
  - libffi=3.3=he6710b0_2
  - libgcc-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libgomp=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libstdcxx-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - ncurses=6.4=h6a678d5_0
  - openssl=1.1.1w=h7f8727e_0
  - pip=21.2.2=py36h06a4308_0
  - python=3.6.13=h12debd9_1
  - readline=8.2=h5eee18b_0
  - setuptools=58.0.4=py36h06a4308_0
  - sqlite=3.45.3=h5eee18b_0
  - tk=8.6.14=h39e8969_0
  - wheel=0.37.1=pyhd3eb1b0_0
  - xz=5.6.4=h5eee18b_1
  - zlib=1.2.13=h5eee18b_1
  - pip:
      - attrs==22.2.0
      - cached-property==1.5.2
      - cycler==0.11.0
      - h5py==3.1.0
      - importlib-metadata==4.8.3
      - iniconfig==1.1.1
      - kiwisolver==1.3.1
      - lxml==5.3.1
      - matplotlib==3.3.4
      - numpy==1.19.5
      - packaging==21.3
      - pillow==8.4.0
      - pluggy==1.0.0
      - py==1.11.0
      - pyparsing==3.1.4
      - pytest==7.0.1
      - python-dateutil==2.9.0.post0
      - six==1.17.0
      - tomli==1.2.3
      - typing-extensions==4.1.1
      - zipp==3.6.0
prefix: /opt/conda/envs/spec2nexus

tests/test_requirements.py::Test::test_learn_requirements
src/spec2nexus/_requirements.py .travis.yml
src/spec2nexus/_requirements.py .travis.yml