devtools::dev_sitrep() returns a confusing error about root when not run properly

[lcolladotor]

Hi,

After reading about devtools::dev_sitrep() I tried it blindly on a non-package directory. After checking #2105 and args(devtools::dev_sitrep) I realized that I should be running this function inside a package directory (unless I change the argument values) and that it works perfectly. However, the error message Error: Could not find package root. was confusing to me and maybe this could be improved.

Best,
Leo

R info

Incorrect use with confusing error:

> devtools::dev_sitrep()
Error: Could not find package root.
> install.packages('root')
Warning message:
package ‘root’ is not available (for R version 3.6.1)
> devtools::dev_sitrep()
Error: Could not find package root.
> traceback()
4: stop("Could not find package root.", call. = FALSE)
3: package_file(path = x)
2: as.package(pkg)
1: devtools::dev_sitrep()
> options(width = 120)
> sessioninfo::session_info()
─ Session info ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 setting  value
 version  R version 3.6.1 (2019-07-05)
 os       macOS Mojave 10.14.6
 system   x86_64, darwin15.6.0
 ui       X11
 language (EN)
 collate  en_US.UTF-8
 ctype    en_US.UTF-8
 tz       America/New_York
 date     2019-09-26

─ Packages ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 package     * version date       lib source
 assertthat    0.2.1   2019-03-21 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 backports     1.1.4   2019-04-10 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 callr         3.3.2   2019-09-22 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.1)
 cli           1.1.0   2019-03-19 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 colorout    * 1.2-1   2019-07-27 [1] Github (jalvesaq/colorout@7ea9440)
 crayon        1.3.4   2017-09-16 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 desc          1.2.0   2018-05-01 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 devtools    * 2.2.1   2019-09-24 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.1)
 digest        0.6.21  2019-09-20 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 ellipsis      0.3.0   2019-09-20 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 fs            1.3.1   2019-05-06 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 glue          1.3.1   2019-03-12 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 magrittr      1.5     2014-11-22 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 memoise       1.1.0   2017-04-21 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 pkgbuild      1.0.5   2019-08-26 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.1)
 pkgload       1.0.2   2018-10-29 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 prettyunits   1.0.2   2015-07-13 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 processx      3.4.1   2019-07-18 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 ps            1.3.0   2018-12-21 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 R6            2.4.0   2019-02-14 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 Rcpp          1.0.2   2019-07-25 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 remotes       2.1.0   2019-06-24 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 rlang         0.4.0   2019-06-25 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 rprojroot     1.3-2   2018-01-03 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 sessioninfo   1.1.1   2018-11-05 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 testthat    * 2.2.1   2019-07-25 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 usethis     * 1.5.1   2019-07-04 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)
 withr         2.1.2   2018-03-15 [1] CRAN (R 3.6.0)

[1] /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/3.6devel/Resources/library

Correct use:

## My default terminal directory is: /Users/lcollado/Dropbox/Code/
## I did this with `cd recount` but well, setwd() will work too:
> setwd('recount')
> devtools::dev_sitrep()
── R ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
* version: 3.6.1
* path: '/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/3.6/Resources/'
── devtools ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
* version: 2.2.1
── dev package ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
* package: 'recount'
* path: '/Users/lcollado/Dropbox/Code/recount/'
✔ All checks passed

[jimhester]

I improved the error message when you run devtools functions outside of a package directory in (894bd53). You are actually the second person today who has misinterpreted the error to mean you need to install the 'root' package, so clearly it was confusing.

I also have modified dev_sitrep() to work without error when run outside a package directory in b722f80, which should close this issue.

[lcolladotor]

Awesome! Thanks Jim =)

Best,
Leo

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