release_questions not found when package not loaded

[corybrunson]

I just noticed that release() does not ask questions from release_questions() when the package is not loaded, e.g. via load_all(). The crux of it seems to be pkgload::ns_env(pkg$package), which returns NULL in this case. If this is intentional, then i urge it be mentioned in the documentation, and i'm glad to submit a PR for that. But from memory i don't think this has always been the case, and i don't want to presume how best to fix it in that case.

I'm not sure how to create a reprex for this due to the interactive nature of it—but i'd be glad for a pointer.

Thank y'all for release() and all of {devtools}. It is invaluable to me.

[jennybc]

Looks like this has come up before: #2383

Yes, there is no way for devtools to know about the release questions if it is not loaded. It is expected that you would have used devtools::load_all() before running devtools::release().

Even more relevant IMO is that the maintainers of devtools and friends are all-in on use_release_issue() instead of release(). Indeed release() is slated to begin a deprecation process (#2500). I was a bit of a hold-out for while (#2483), but even I have not used release() in recent memory. Having a checklist, as produced by use_release_issue(), has worked much better than some interactive one-shot process that literally ends with the package being submitted to CRAN.

My recommendation is to put your custom checks in a similar unexported function called release_bullets() to have them appended to the checkboxes in any release issue you open.

https://usethis.r-lib.org/reference/use_release_issue.html?q=release_bul#customization

Overview of the release process that's best supported by devtools/usethis today:

https://r-pkgs.org/release.html#sec-release-process

[corybrunson]

Thank you! I apologize for not checking for related past issues. And the documentation is of course unnecessary if the function is slated for deprecation.

[jennybc]

No worries! We definitely haven't done everything we can/should to make the preferred workflow clear (yet).