Smart Knit does not respect .RProfile / {renv}

[beansrowning]

Describe the bug
Smart/background knitting session ignores workspace .RProfile. This is an issue in my case, as I use {renv} and the background process can't locate the library path even when the working directory is changed to "workspace root".

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Pull up any rmarkdown template
2. use {renv} to install dependencies
3. Run "Knit"
4. See error

Do you want to fix by self? (We hope your help!)

I can assist, but don't code in TS normally.

Expected behavior
Smart knit either launches non-vanilla by default, or has an additional option to respect workspace environment.

Screenshots
If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Environment (please complete the following information):

• OS: Win 10
• VSCode Version: 1.61.0-insider
• R Version: 4.1.0
• vscode-R version: 2.3.0

[ElianHugh]

Thanks for reporting this! I'll have to double check, but I suspect this is because the cwd isn't set when launching the knit process, should have a fix tonight

[ElianHugh]

@beansrowning would you be able to test if this PR solves the renv issue?

[beansrowning]

Yes, I'll try it out today @ElianHugh. Thanks for the quick work on that!

[beansrowning]

Ha, well now I've bricked my install. I uninstalled the extension, rebuilt your branch and installed that, and now none the the commands work:

I tried to revert by deleting the extension and re-installing 2.3 from VSCode, but it's still broken. Seems like this is a known bug, but is there any guidance?

#106, #6, #72

[ElianHugh]

Argh! It's weird that reinstalling didn't work, it makes me think that it didn't clear out the previous install.

Would you be able to delete any R extension folder that is present under '%USERPROFILE%.vscode\extensions'? It should be something like 'Ikuyadeu.r-2.3'.

Sorry for the trouble!

[beansrowning]

Ah, wiping the directory did the trick--thanks!

Unfortunately, I still can't get the vsix file I built to install correctly (or it appears to, and then results in the command not found errors above).

[ManuelHentschel]

Unfortunately, I still can't get the vsix file I built to install correctly [...]

Have you tried with the vsix file from here?

[beansrowning]

Unfortunately, I still can't get the vsix file I built to install correctly [...]

Have you tried with the vsix file from here?

That one did the trick, thanks! Fix confirmed working on my platform 🎉

[renkun-ken]

I update #807 so that the knit process is started from the knit working directory, i.e. either workspace root or document folder so that multi-root workspace is properly supported. I wonder what should be the behavior for the following scenario:

Workspace root contains .Rprofile and renv folder, and the rmd file is located in a subfolder (e.g. doc). If "document folder" is chosen as the knit working directory, should we also respect the .Rprofile and renv setup in the workspace root?

Or should we always start the knit process from the workspace root of the document since renv and .Rprofile is mostly setup in the workspace root?

[renkun-ken]

I tried the same in RStudio and its behavior is keeping the working directory of the knit process consistent with the knit working directory, i.e. if "document folder" is chosen, then the knit process is also started from the document folder, as currently implemented in #807.

[arnold-c]

I think I might be running into the same issue with {renv}, and believe that it may have to do with the knit wd implemented in #807. Similarly, VSCode-R cannot find the {renv} library using .libPaths() using the radian terminal when trying to knit (smart or otherwise), and therefore cannot knit files that contain packages in the {renv} library. The Rmd file is in a subdirectory or the workspace root which contains the renv/ folder and .Rprofile e.g., project-root/analysis/glm/test.Rmd. I believe that although RStudio keeps the wd of the knit process consistent with the output directory, it still finds the {renv} library, so I wonder if there's something else going on in RStudio? The code works with inline evaluation perfectly (i.e., when not knitting).

Another data point is that I am using a {targets} pipeline, and this runs perfectly in VSCode-R, as I believe this sets the wd to the project root during the pipeline run (ropensci/targets#230).

Thanks for the work putting this together - it's been great moving towards using VSCode for R!

OS: macOS Big Sur v11.6
VSCode Version: 1.62.0-insider
R Version: 4.1.1
vscode-R version: 2.3.1