Should poetry show command show information about the root package of the project itself?

[mshonichev]

Hello, everyone!

I'm not sure if it's a bug report or feature request, so I spur a discussion. :)

It seems a bit counterintuitive from the usability perspective to me when I try to run poetry show <name-of-the-root-package> and got package not found error.

If that's a design decision, then at least the error message is confusing, cause it says exactly Package <name> not found even after poetry install.

What's more confusing is that similar pip command succeeds: pip show <name-of-the-root-package> shows that a package IS installed.

I've found a related feature request [#7731], but neither it has a lot enthusiasm upon it, nor about my actual case alone.

What do you think, should I file this issue alone as feature request or as bug?

Should this issue be revised at the dawn of the package-less poetry projects (1.8.0) [#8770]?

---

Steps to reproduce:

1. create a simple package, add some dependency, install the package

$ poetry new whatevername
Created package whatevername in whatevername
$ cd whatevername
$ poetry add typer
Using version ^0.9.0 for typer

Updating dependencies
Resolving dependencies... (0.3s)

Package operations: 1 install, 0 updates, 0 removals

  • Installing typer (0.9.0)

Writing lock file

$ poetry install
Installing dependencies from lock file

No dependencies to install or update

Installing the current project: whatevername (0.1.0)

now, show the package and dependency via both pip and poetry

show pip:

$ pip show typer
Name: typer
Version: 0.9.0
Summary: Typer, build great CLIs. Easy to code. Based on Python type hints.
Home-page: https://github.com/tiangolo/typer
Author: Sebastián Ramírez
Author-email: tiangolo@gmail.com
License: 
Location: /private/tmp/test-data/.data/lib/python3.11/site-packages
Requires: click, typing-extensions
Required-by: whatevername

$ pip show whatevername
Name: whatevername
Version: 0.1.0
Summary: 
Home-page: 
Author: Max Shonichev
Author-email: m.shonichev@github.com
License: 
Location: /private/tmp/test-data/.data/lib/python3.11/site-packages
Editable project location: /private/tmp/test-data/whatevername
Requires: idna, typer
Required-by: 

show poetry:

$ poetry show typer
 name         : typer                                                              
 version      : 0.9.0                                                              
 description  : Typer, build great CLIs. Easy to code. Based on Python type hints. 

dependencies
 - click >=7.1.1,<9.0.0
 - typing-extensions >=3.7.4.3

$ poetry show whatevername
Package whatevername not found

NB: Reproduces as well even after poetry build && pip install dist/whatevername-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl

[radoering]

What do you think, should I file this issue alone as feature request or as bug?

I think there are arguments for both:

• feature request: the project itself is special and poetry show might be designed to show dependencies
• bug: the documentation says poetry show shows packages (not dependencies)

I'd probably tend to feature request because the documentation about poetry show is not that good anyway (also see last point).

Should this issue be revised at the dawn of the package-less poetry projects (1.8.0) [https://github.com//issues/8770]?

That's a very good point. I assume in non-package mode the behavior of poetry show should not change; in package mode the feature request is still valid.

To put it in a nutshell, I think a feature request might make sense. As always, of course, it has to be important enough for someone to implement it.

NB: Reproduces as well even after poetry build && pip install dist/whatevername-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl

By the way, poetry show does not show the installed version but the locked version of a package (and the color shows if it's installed or not). Therefore, it's clear that a pip install of an abitrary package has no influence on poetry show. Admittedly, the documentation is quite vague about that and could use some improvements.

[mshonichev]

By the way, poetry show does not show the installed version but the locked version of a package (and the color shows if it's installed or not).

oops, that explains a lot.

I'll think a documentation pitch is really what is required here, introducing new behaviour without actual community needs is a no go