When i try to run bitcoin with -testnet and -datadir=someotherdir
things get stored as expected, in someotherdir/testnet
but if i try to run it with -server (or run bitcoind), it complains that it can't find rpcpassword, even though it is present in someotherdir/testnet.

Warning: To use the "-server" option, you must set rpcpassword=
in the configuration file: someotherdir/testnet/bitcoin.conf
If the file does not exist, create it with owner-readable-only file permissions.

the file is of course quite present, and has correct permissions.

i have tried copying the .conf file into stock ~/.bitcoin/testnet location, i have tried making a symlink from there to the whole dir - nothing helps. the only way to make it stop complaining is to stop using the -datadir argument, and let it store things in the default location.

This is a bug, and should be fixed. :)

Note, I have thus far only tried it with -testnet, I do not know if this behavior is only present when using -testnet or not. This needs testing.