Changes in version 0.0.8.9002                      

Breaking Changes

CRAN Compliance: Removed Automatic Package Installation

  - Removed automatic package installation from all package code to
    comply with CRAN policy that prohibits writing to user filespace
    during checks.

  - Pre-build package validation: Builds now check for all required
    packages (build engines, remote destinations) BEFORE starting the
    build process. If packages are missing, you get a clear error with a
    copy-paste installation command for all missing packages at once.

  - Improved error messages: When running interactively and a package is
    needed but not installed, projr provides clear, actionable error
    messages with exact installation commands. No automatic installation
    occurs to ensure CRAN compliance.

  - .dep_install_only() and .renv_lockfile_read() no longer
    automatically install missing packages. Instead, they throw clear,
    informative errors with installation instructions when required
    packages are missing.

  - Users must now manually install required optional dependencies
    before using features that depend on them. The error messages
    provide exact installation commands.

  - This change affects functions that previously auto-installed
    packages like:
    
      - Build engines (quarto, rmarkdown, bookdown)
      - Remote destinations (piggyback for GitHub, osfr for OSF)
      - GitHub operations (requires gh package)
      - Git operations in test mode (requires gert package)
      - License creation (requires usethis package)
      - Documentation generation (requires roxygen2 package)
      - And other optional features

  - For renv projects: Use renv::install() to install dependencies

  - For non-renv projects: Use install.packages() or
    remotes::install_github() as shown in error messages

Bug Fixes and Improvements

Piggyback (GitHub Releases) Operations

  - Improved debug output: All piggyback operations (download, upload,
    delete, list) now provide detailed debug messages when
    PROJR_OUTPUT_LEVEL="debug" is set
    
      - Shows repository and tag information
      - Reports file names and sizes
      - Displays success/failure status
      - Shows error messages from piggyback operations (previously
        hidden by suppressWarnings/suppressMessages)
      - Reports retry attempts with reasons
      - Logs cache clearing operations
      - Lists available vs. requested files

  - Better error handling for manifest.csv and VERSION file operations:
    
      - Added tryCatch blocks to handle download failures gracefully
      - Added informative debug messages for download attempts,
        successes, and failures
      - Fixed silent failures - now properly reports when files are not
        found or downloads fail
      - Improved error messages to help diagnose issues

  - Enhanced reliability:
    
      - All retry logic now includes debug output explaining why retries
        are happening
      - Piggyback operations provide better feedback about what's
        happening under the hood
      - Error messages from the piggyback package are no longer silently
        suppressed

Usage

To enable detailed debug output for piggyback operations:

# Set environment variable before running builds
Sys.setenv(PROJR_OUTPUT_LEVEL = "debug")
projr_build_patch()

# Or pass directly to build functions
projr_build_patch(output_level = "debug")

This will show detailed information about all GitHub release operations,
making it much easier to diagnose issues with manifest.csv, VERSION file
downloads, or release asset uploads.

  - Added a NEWS.md file to track changes to the package.