proj_path() not necessarily absolutized for create_*()

[adomingues]

Maybe this is an intended behaviour, but I am not sure and this report. Reproducible example:
(using console R)

library(usethis)
pkg_dir <- file.path(".", "testLicense")
create_package(pkg_dir)
Changing active project to testLicense
✔ Creating 'R/'
✔ Creating 'man/'
✔ Writing 'DESCRIPTION'
✔ Writing 'NAMESPACE'
✔ Changing working directory to './testLicense'

use_mit_license("António Domingues")
# Error: File file does not exist
getwd()
[1] "/home/adomingu/sandbox/testLicense"

The error is also a little strange, File file does not exist (sic).

If I now change to the package directory, outside R:

cd /home/adomingu/sandbox/testLicense
R

library(usethis)
use_mit_license("António Domingues")
✔ Setting License field in DESCRIPTION to 'MIT + file LICENSE'
✔ Writing 'LICENSE.md'
✔ Adding '^LICENSE\\.md$' to '.Rbuildignore'
✔ Writing 'LICENSE'

all is fine and dandy.

I repeated the test using Rstudio (Version 1.1.383) and the error is now gone, that is, use_mit_license works as intended. I wonder if there is something extra that Rstudio does in the background that is not replicated in console ("vanilla") R.

 devtools::session_info()
Session info ------------------------------------------------------------------
 setting  value                       
 version  R version 3.4.3 (2017-11-30)
 system   x86_64, linux-gnu           
 ui       X11                         
 language en_US                       
 collate  en_US.UTF-8                 
 tz       Europe/Berlin               
 date     2018-01-25                  

Packages ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 package    * version    date       source                          
 assertthat   0.2.0      2017-04-11 CRAN (R 3.4.1)                  
 backports    1.1.2      2017-12-13 cran (@1.1.2)                   
 base       * 3.4.3      2017-12-01 local                           
 clisymbols   1.2.0      2017-05-21 cran (@1.2.0)                   
 compiler     3.4.3      2017-12-01 local                           
 crayon       1.3.4      2017-09-16 CRAN (R 3.4.1)                  
 datasets   * 3.4.3      2017-12-01 local                           
 desc         1.1.1      2017-08-03 cran (@1.1.1)                   
 devtools     1.13.4     2017-11-09 CRAN (R 3.4.2)                  
 digest       0.6.14     2018-01-14 CRAN (R 3.4.3)                  
 graphics   * 3.4.3      2017-12-01 local                           
 grDevices  * 3.4.3      2017-12-01 local                           
 memoise      1.1.0      2017-04-21 CRAN (R 3.4.1)                  
 methods    * 3.4.3      2017-12-01 local                           
 R6           2.2.2      2017-06-17 CRAN (R 3.4.1)                  
 rprojroot    1.3-2      2018-01-03 CRAN (R 3.4.3)                  
 rstudioapi   0.7        2017-09-07 CRAN (R 3.4.1)                  
 stats      * 3.4.3      2017-12-01 local                           
 usethis    * 1.2.0      2018-01-19 CRAN (R 3.4.3)                  
 utils      * 3.4.3      2017-12-01 local                           
 whisker      0.3-2      2013-04-28 CRAN (R 3.4.1)                  
 withr        2.1.1.9000 2018-01-02 Github (jimhester/withr@df18523)

[jennybc]

Hmmm .... this works for me outside RStudio. Can you add proj_get() to your failing Console example, before use_mit_license(), and also show me a traceback()? Also, will you confirm the version of usethis in your Console session is also 1.2.0, as I see in session info above. You can use packageVersion("usethis").

[adomingues]

I was also surprised myself since it worked perfectly just a couple of weeks ago. (Thank you for creating the package by the way - very useful).

Back to testing.

proj_get()
[1] "./testLicense"
se_mit_license("António Domingues")
Error: File file does not exist

The error is reproducible on my system (Ubuntu 16.04).

Now the traceback:

9: stop(assertError(attr(res, "msg")))
8: assert_that(is_existing_file(file))
7: idesc_create_file(self, private, file)
6: idesc_create(self, private, cmd, file, text, package)
5: .subset2(public_bind_env, "initialize")(...)
4: description$new(file = file)
3: desc::desc_get(name, file = base_path)
2: use_description_field("License", "MIT + file LICENSE", overwrite = TRUE)
1: use_mit_license("António Domingues")

And the package version is indeed 1.2.0.

[jennybc]

I think this is complaining about not being able to find the DESCRIPTION file, which I don't understand.

BTW why are you specifying the "." in pkg_dir? Why do you want the path to be "./testLicense" instead of just "testLicense"? I suspect that is neither here nor there, but I'm dropping it.

Can you run this:

library(usethis)
pkg_dir <- "testLicense"
create_package(pkg_dir)
proj_get()
getwd()
list.files()
desc::desc_get("License", file = ".")
desc::desc_get("License", file = pkg_dir)

[adomingues]

BTW why are you specifying the "." in pkg_dir? Why do you want the path to be "./testLicense" instead of just "testLicense"?

Blindly following the instructions, except that instead of pointing to "tmp" directory, I set the current directory.

I suspect that is neither here nor there, but I'm dropping it.

Using create_package("testLicence") straight still returns the above error though. The error also persists when I tested on a different system, Debian server with R version 3.3.2. However, and for the sake of completeness, following the readme instructions works without a problem:

library(usethis)

# Create a new package -------------------------------------------------
tmp <- file.path(tempdir(), "mypkg")
create_package(tmp)
Changing active project to mypkg
✔ Creating 'R/'
✔ Creating 'man/'
✔ Writing 'DESCRIPTION'
✔ Writing 'NAMESPACE'
✔ Changing working directory to '/tmp/Rtmp20GJaq/mypkg'
> use_mit_license("My Name")
✔ Setting License field in DESCRIPTION to 'MIT + file LICENSE'
✔ Writing 'LICENSE.md'
✔ Adding '^LICENSE\\.md$' to '.Rbuildignore'
✔ Writing 'LICENSE'

So I really have no idea what is going on.

Can you run this:

Error is still there.

library(usethis)
pkg_dir <- "testLicense"
create_package(pkg_dir)
Changing active project to testLicense
✔ Creating 'R/'
✔ Creating 'man/'
✔ Writing 'DESCRIPTION'
✔ Writing 'NAMESPACE'
✔ Changing working directory to 'testLicense'
proj_get()
[1] "testLicense"
getwd()
[1] "/home/adomingu/sandbox/testLicense"
list.files()
[1] "DESCRIPTION" "man"         "NAMESPACE"   "R"          
desc::desc_get("License", file = ".")
               License 
"What license it uses" 
desc::desc_get("License", file = pkg_dir)
Error: File file does not exist

Maybe it is something stupid that I am missing, but I can't figure it out.

[jennybc]

Well, I see the problem now.

On my system, working outside of RStudio, proj_get() returns an absolute path:

> library(usethis)
> pkg_dir <- "~/tmp/testLicense"
> create_package(pkg_dir)
Changing active project to testLicense
✔ Changing working directory to '/Users/jenny/tmp/testLicense'
> proj_get()
[1] "/Users/jenny/tmp/testLicense"
> use_mit_license("jenny")
✔ Setting License field in DESCRIPTION to 'MIT + file LICENSE'
✔ Writing 'LICENSE.md'
✔ Adding '^LICENSE\\.md$' to '.Rbuildignore'
✔ Writing 'LICENSE'

whereas you are getting just testLicense. Once we change the working directory, this doesn't make any sense as the project directory.

So I need to sort out this path difference.

As a temporary workaround, you should set the project to the absolute path of current working directory. You can use proj_set(). You might need to use force = TRUE.

[jennybc]

Will you install from this branch and see if it is fixed?

devtools::install_github("r-lib/usethis@really-normalize")

[adomingues]

devtools::install_github("r-lib/usethis@really-normalize")

It works! Thank you.

[jennybc]

Great! I've re-opened because I need to add some tests and edit the NEWS. I'll close this when I merge the fix.