Running ng version outside an Angular project has confusing output

[dgp1130]

🐞 Bug report

Command

• update
• version

Is this a regression?

No

Description

I have a monorepo where I am adding an Angular project. As a result, it exists in a subdirectory. Since many tools (such as ng) expect the project to be the working directory, I often use the pattern (cd path/to/subproject/ && run some tool). The subshell means I'm returned back to my original directory.

This pattern does not play well with ng version and ng update. I was trying to update to version 9 prerelease and saw the following:

$ (cd services/ng-frontend/ && ng update @angular/cli @angular/core --next)
# Successful update...
$ ng version
     _                      _                 ____ _     ___                                            
    / \   _ __   __ _ _   _| | __ _ _ __     / ___| |   |_ _|                                           
   / △ \ | '_ \ / _` | | | | |/ _` | '__|   | |   | |    | |                                            
  / ___ \| | | | (_| | |_| | | (_| | |      | |___| |___ | |                                            
 /_/   \_\_| |_|\__, |\__,_|_|\__,_|_|       \____|_____|___|                                           
                |___/                                                                                   
                                                                                                        
                                                                                                        
Angular CLI: 8.3.21                                                                                     
Node: 13.5.0                                                                                            
OS: linux x64                                                                                           
Angular:                                                                                                
...                                                                                                     
                                                                                                        
Package                      Version                                                                    
------------------------------------------------------                                                  
@angular-devkit/architect    0.803.21                                                                   
@angular-devkit/core         8.3.21
@angular-devkit/schematics   8.3.21
@schematics/angular          8.3.21
@schematics/update           0.803.21
rxjs                         6.4.0

This was confusing and made me think the update failed, however the update was actually fine. My mistake here was running ng version in the root of my monorepo, rather than the Angular project. After noticing this I tried:

$ (cd services/ng-frontend/ && ng version)
     _                      _                 ____ _     ___
    / \   _ __   __ _ _   _| | __ _ _ __     / ___| |   |_ _|
   / △ \ | '_ \ / _` | | | | |/ _` | '__|   | |   | |    | |
  / ___ \| | | | (_| | |_| | | (_| | |      | |___| |___ | |
 /_/   \_\_| |_|\__, |\__,_|_|\__,_|_|       \____|_____|___|
                |___/
    

Angular CLI: 9.0.0-rc.7
Node: 13.5.0
OS: linux x64

Angular: 9.0.0-rc.7
... animations, cli, common, compiler, compiler-cli, core, forms
... language-service, platform-browser, platform-browser-dynamic
... router
Ivy Workspace: Yes

Package                           Version
-----------------------------------------------------------
@angular-devkit/architect         0.900.0-rc.7
@angular-devkit/build-angular     0.900.0-rc.7
@angular-devkit/build-optimizer   0.900.0-rc.7
@angular-devkit/build-webpack     0.900.0-rc.7
@angular-devkit/core              9.0.0-rc.7
@angular-devkit/schematics        9.0.0-rc.7
@ngtools/webpack                  9.0.0-rc.7
@schematics/angular               9.0.0-rc.7
@schematics/update                0.900.0-rc.7
rxjs                              6.5.4
typescript                        3.6.4
webpack                           4.41.2

Which is what I expected post-update.

IMHO this dichotomy is confusing. When the user is in an Angular project, it lists versions of that project. When outside an Angular project, it lists the global versions and it is very easy to look at the wrong one.

I'm not sure what the ideal solution to this problem would be. There could be two different commands, such as an ng global-version and ng project-version, but this might add too much additional complexity to be worth it. Maybe the output could simply be updated to be more clear? Such as having some big red text saying "No Angular project detected at $PWD"?