renv::dependencies() ignores renv::settings$snapshot.type("explicit"), contrary to what is said in the doc.

[ColinFay]

Description of the bug

If I git clone the following package: https://github.com/ThinkR-open/MockShinySessionInTest

Then do

> renv::settings$snapshot.type("explicit");renv::dependencies() |> tail() |> knitr::kable()
Finding R package dependencies ... Done!


|   |Source                                               |Package    |Require |Version |Dev   |
|:--|:----------------------------------------------------|:----------|:-------|:-------|:-----|
|23 |/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/R/app_config.R   |config     |        |        |FALSE |
|24 |/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/README.Rmd       |rmarkdown  |        |        |FALSE |
|25 |/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/README.Rmd       |knitr      |        |        |FALSE |
|26 |/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/tests/spelling.R |spelling   |        |        |FALSE |
|27 |/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/tests/testthat.R |testServer |        |        |FALSE |
|28 |/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/tests/testthat.R |testthat   |        |        |FALSE |

You can see that the function finds the testServer package

Expected result

The doc states the following :

Explicit dependencies
Alternatively, you can suppress dependency discover and instead rely on an explicit set of packages recorded by you in a project DESCRIPTION file. Call renv::settings$snapshot.type("explicit") to enable "explicit" mode, then enumerate your dependencies in a project DESCRIPTION file.

https://rstudio.github.io/renv/reference/dependencies.html#explicit-dependencies

Given that testServer is not in the DESCRIPTION file (see here), I would have expected it to be left out of the results.

Even more, I would have expected {renv} to not look into the R, Readme.Rmd, etc...

> renv::settings$snapshot.type("explicit");renv::dependencies()$Source |> unique()
Finding R package dependencies ... Done!
 [1] "/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/DESCRIPTION"     
 [2] "/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/dev/01_start.R"  
 [3] "/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/dev/02_dev.R"    
 [4] "/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/dev/03_deploy.R" 
 [5] "/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/dev/run_dev.R"   
 [6] "/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/NAMESPACE"       
 [7] "/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/R/app_config.R"  
 [8] "/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/README.Rmd"      
 [9] "/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/tests/spelling.R"
[10] "/private/tmp/MockShinySessionInTest/tests/testthat.R"

Am I missing something?

[kevinushey]

Sorry, the documentation here is misleading. "explicit" mode only changes how renv::snapshot() enumerates dependencies, it does not change the behavior of renv::dependencies() itself, which always infers dependencies based on static analysis of files within the project.