# Path of this package?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [October 16, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401 "2018-10-16T13:33:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![e3c6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e79b87/32.png) [@e3c6](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/e3c6)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 1:33pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/1 "2018-10-16T13:33:07Z")

</div>

Suppose I am developing a package MyPkg. How can I get the path to MyPkg.jl? I used `Pkg.dir() * "MyPkg/"`, but that doesn’t work in Julia 1.0 anymore

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**Author:** ![ExpandingMan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/expandingman/32/866_2.png) [@ExpandingMan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ExpandingMan)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/2 "2018-10-16T13:38:38Z")

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```julia
import MyPkg; pathof(MyPkg)

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![e3c6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e79b87/32.png) [@e3c6](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/e3c6)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/3 "2018-10-16T13:44:49Z")

</div>

But am I supposed to `import MyPkg` _inside_ `MyPkg`??

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ExpandingMan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/expandingman/32/866_2.png) [@ExpandingMan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ExpandingMan)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/4 "2018-10-16T14:12:31Z")

</div>

Oh no, sorry I didn’t realize you meant within the package. For that you can do

```julia
pathof(@ __MODULE__ )

```

Or, more likely you’ll want to use `@ __DIR__ ` which gives the directory of the current file.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chakravala](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chakravala/32/6832_2.png) [@chakravala](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chakravala)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 12:53am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/5 "2018-10-17T00:53:33Z")

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It seems unreasonable to me that `Pkg.dir` is deprecated, because it makes a lot of sense to have a quick way of navigating to a package directory without importing it first. I know there is another way to do it, but it isn’t a simple and straight forward syntax.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![e3c6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e79b87/32.png) [@e3c6](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/e3c6)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 12:03pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/6 "2018-10-17T12:03:20Z")

</div>

> [@chakravala](#):
>
> it makes a lot of sense to have a quick way of navigating to a package directory without importing it first

See [this answer](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/4). No need to import the package first.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tamas\_Papp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tamas_papp/32/25949_2.png) [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 1:50pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/7 "2018-10-17T13:50:19Z")

</div>

> [@chakravala](#):
>
> it makes a lot of sense to have a quick way of navigating to a package directory without importing it first

This would also require importing, but eliminates one step:

> <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/pull/29636>
>
> Sometimes one just wants to open the source of a package to read the code. With …\`Pkg3\`, the source location is no longer that obvious. This PR allows eg
> \`\`\`julia
> julia\> using Tables
> 
> julia\> edit(Tables) # open src/Tables.jl in the editor
> \`\`\`
> 
> This is made possible via \`Base.pathof\`, courtesy of #28310.
> 
> As currently \`edit(::Module)\` errors, this is not a breaking change, but an extension.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ExpandingMan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/expandingman/32/866_2.png) [@ExpandingMan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ExpandingMan)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/8 "2018-10-17T13:56:20Z")

</div>

> [@e3c6](#):
>
> See [this answer](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/4). No need to import the package first.

Well, that’s only if you’re already within the module! I also find the loss of `Pkg.dir` a little bit frustrating (even though in the context that the OP was referring to, `@ __DIR__ ` or even `pathof(@ __MODULE__ )` is preferable). I think one of the reasons this may have been done is to allow for the possibility that the actual location of the package is ambiguous until it is imported. It would however be nice if there were still some options for getting the path of a package that’s not currently imported.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![StefanKarpinski](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stefankarpinski/32/24_2.png) [@StefanKarpinski](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StefanKarpinski)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 1:59pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/9 "2018-10-17T13:59:06Z")

</div>

Could someone clamoring for the return of `Pkg.dir()` please tell me how it should work in the new system? I didn’t just delete it because I’m a jerk, there is no reasonable answer for it to return anymore.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ExpandingMan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/expandingman/32/866_2.png) [@ExpandingMan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ExpandingMan)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/10 "2018-10-17T14:06:53Z")

</div>

> [@ExpandingMan](#):
>
> I think one of the reasons this may have been done is to allow for the possibility that the actual location of the package is ambiguous until it is imported.

See my quote above. As often happens with crticisms, this one has often come from us simply not knowing the details.

Still, `import` evaluates _something_, maybe some options for showing a list of possibilities of what _might_ be imported were you to call `import`? (Again, I’m saying this without knowing the details of how it actually works.) (Also, in case you will accuse me of sounding crazy, keep in mind that many of us spend a lot of our time on packages checked out with `dev`).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kristoffer.carlsson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kristoffer.carlsson/32/22_2.png) [@kristoffer.carlsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kristoffer.carlsson)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/11 "2018-10-17T14:24:40Z")

</div>

To add some details.

When running `import Foo` there are two steps happening.

Step one:

Determine what “Foo” means in this context. This is determined by finding the unique UUID for “Foo”. If you are in “top level” (for example in the REPL) this is determined by looking in Project.toml for an entry `Foo = "aefe..."` where the right hand side is the UUID. If we are in a package (`Bar`) and execute the `import` the UUID is determined by looking at Manifest.toml, finding the `[[Bar]]` entry with the correct UUID and look up the UUID for `Foo` there.

Step two:

Ok, so now we know what “Foo” means (i.e we have determined the concrete Foo package out of all possible packages that are named Foo). Now we need to know what concrete path of Foo to load (there can be multiple versions of Foo installed at the same time). This is done by looking in Manifest.toml entry for the uuid we just found (the one for Foo) and if there is a `path` entry there, that will be the path to `Foo`, if there is a `git-tree-sha` entry (as is the case for versioned packages) a “slug” will be computed according to a hashing strategy (based on UUID and `git-tree-sha`). Every `package` directory in `DEPOT_PATH` is now searched for a path with that slug and if it is found that will be loaded.

Concrete example:

I have installed Example and want to know what will be the loaded path when loading it in the REPL. The Project.toml file contains the entry

```julia
Example = "7876af07-990d-54b4-ab0e-23690620f79a"

```

so the UUID will be `"7876af07-990d-54b4-ab0e-23690620f79a"`.

The Manifest.toml contains

```julia
[[Example]]
deps = ["Test"]
git-tree-sha1 = "8eb7b4d4ca487caade9ba3e85932e28ce6d6e1f8"
uuid = "7876af07-990d-54b4-ab0e-23690620f79a"
version = "0.5.1"

```

So there is a `git-tree_sha1` entry so we compute the slug as

```julia
julia> sha = Base.SHA1("8eb7b4d4ca487caade9ba3e85932e28ce6d6e1f8")
SHA1("8eb7b4d4ca487caade9ba3e85932e28ce6d6e1f8")

julia> uuid = Base.UUID("7876af07-990d-54b4-ab0e-23690620f79a")
UUID("7876af07-990d-54b4-ab0e-23690620f79a")

julia> Base.version_slug(uuid, sha)
"kH44X"

```

We will now search every `package` folder inside `DEPOT_PATH` for `"Example/kH44X"`:

```julia
julia> isdir(joinpath(DEPOT_PATH[1], "packages", "Example", "kH44X"))
true

```

So that will be the path that we load. A short form of doing this whole process for top level scope is

```julia
julia> Base.find_package("Example")
"/Users/kristoffer/.julia/packages/Example/kH44X/src/Example.jl"

```

If I now do `dev Example`

```julia
(v1.1) pkg> dev Example
  Updating git-repo `https://github.com/JuliaLang/Example.jl.git`
 Resolving package versions...
  Updating `~/.julia/environments/v1.1/Project.toml`
  [7876af07] ↑ Example v0.5.1 ⇒ v0.5.1+ [`~/.julia/dev/Example`]
  Updating `~/.julia/environments/v1.1/Manifest.toml`
  [7876af07] ↑ Example v0.5.1 ⇒ v0.5.1+ [`~/.julia/dev/Example`]

```

then the Manifest looks like

```julia
[[Example]]
deps = ["Test"]
path = "/Users/kristoffer/.julia/dev/Example"
uuid = "7876af07-990d-54b4-ab0e-23690620f79a"
version = "0.5.1+"

```

so we will just directly use `/Users/kristoffer/.julia/dev/Example` as the path:

```julia
julia> Base.find_package("Example")
"/Users/kristoffer/.julia/dev/Example/src/Example.jl"

```

Note that a dependency can depend on a completely different package to Example but that happens to also be called “Example” with a different UUID. So the answer to `Pkg.dir("Example")` is dependent on who you ask.

---

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**Author:** ![chakravala](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chakravala/32/6832_2.png) [@chakravala](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chakravala)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/12 "2018-10-17T14:49:28Z")

</div>

> [@e3c6](#):
>
> See [this answer](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/4). No need to import the package first.

This requires me to be calling from within the package, it doesn’t work outside the package.

> [@StefanKarpinski](#):
>
> Could someone clamoring for the return of `Pkg.dir()` please tell me how it should work in the new system? I didn’t just delete it because I’m a jerk, there is no reasonable answer for it to return anymore.

How about some way of determining the package path that does not require the `import` statement, just a simple `Pkg.dir` command that uses the `Manifest` to determine if the name of the package is unique, and if the name is unique, return the only path that is possible. Otherwise, if there are multiple choices, give a multiple choice menu in the REPL using `TerminalMenus`, for example… that is one solution.

As I understand it, calling `import` also loads the package, precompiles, etc? I don’t want that, only the `dir`.

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**Author:** ![kristoffer.carlsson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kristoffer.carlsson/32/22_2.png) [@kristoffer.carlsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kristoffer.carlsson)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/13 "2018-10-17T14:53:23Z")

</div>

> [@chakravala](#):
>
> I don’t want that, only the `dir` .

For what purpose?

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**Author:** ![chakravala](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chakravala/32/6832_2.png) [@chakravala](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chakravala)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/14 "2018-10-17T14:54:47Z")

</div>

> [@kristoffer.carlsson](#):
>
> For what purpose?

Very reasonable question.

Very reasonable answer: say, you want to edit a package before loading it. then `cd` to it and edit the change desired, and then load the package afterwards. The package I am trying to edit causes the `Revise` module to crash, so using `Revise` is not an option for me at the moment.

The current `import` way does not allow me to reload the package after editing.

---

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**Author:** ![kristoffer.carlsson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kristoffer.carlsson/32/22_2.png) [@kristoffer.carlsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kristoffer.carlsson)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/15 "2018-10-17T14:57:16Z")

</div>

> [@chakravala](#):
>
> reasonable answer: say, you want to edit a package before loading it.

Packages that are just `add`ed are considered immutable (in will in the future be read-only so you shouldn’t hand-edit those). Packages that are “developed” (those that have a `path` entry), have their path printed when using `st` in the Pkg REPL.

It seems `Base.find_package` should work well for your interactive use.

---

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**Author:** ![chakravala](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chakravala/32/6832_2.png) [@chakravala](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chakravala)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/16 "2018-10-17T14:58:41Z")

</div>

> [@kristoffer.carlsson](#):
>
> It seems `Base.find_package` should work well for your interactive use.

Yea, that would do what I want. Thanks. I can alias it as `Pkgdir = Base.find_package` in `startup.jl`.

---

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**Author:** ![Tamas\_Papp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tamas_papp/32/25949_2.png) [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/17 "2018-10-17T16:31:50Z")

</div>

> [@StefanKarpinski](#):
>
> someone clamoring for the return of `Pkg.dir()` please tell me how it should work in the new system?

When I was missing this feature, I was thinking of something like splitting off the directory of the result of `Base.find_package`, or equivalently `Base.pathof` _without loading the module_.

But now that I have used 1.0 a bit more, I don’t miss `Pkg.dir` that much. I think that removing it was the right decision, since it served as a basis for various other use cases, all of which have better solutions. Namely,

1. testing, coverage, and docs generation in `.travis.yml` and other CI servises (solution: no need to have the directory directly, and one can always use projects),
2. locating files relative to source (solution: use `@ __DIR__ ` as a basis for this, ideally via a function),
3. just want to browse the files, eg for reading the source (solution: `import`, then `pathof`, or `pkg> dev` for editing as suggested above).

---

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**Author:** ![ExpandingMan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/expandingman/32/866_2.png) [@ExpandingMan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ExpandingMan)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/18 "2018-10-17T16:56:18Z")

</div>

Having read @kristoffer.carlsson’s explanation, I actually have gone back to thinking that having something like `Pkg.dir` was indeed a reasonable request. I think what we were looking for was just something that would give you whatever _would_ be the path of the package that _would_ be imported by `import`. (It looks like this functionality is indeed provided by `Base.find_package`.)

Now, I should temper this somewhat, and say that probably the reason we think this is reasonable is because many of us here are probably very used to living on the bleeding edge of packages, and when we think of a package we are always thinking about the latest release or the checked-out master. I have a feeling that if `Base.find_package` got out in the wild where people would be using it for whom this would not be the case it might start to cause massive confusion.

> [@Tamas\_Papp](#):
>
> testing, coverage, and docs generation in `.travis.yml` and other CI servises (solution: no need to have the directory directly, and one can always use projects),

I’m not so confident that this is always true (granted, I’ve only just started seriously messing around with CI CD). You may still need it for some packages such as coverage. Certainly you migt need it if there’s any not-explicitly-Julia-related stuff in your package directory, or perhaps for deployment of scripts.

Otherwise I agree, for the most part you shouldn’t need it. Indeed, for the original purpose of this thread, `@ __DIR__ ` is a much more appropriate solution and using `Base.find_package` for such a purpose would only invite problems.

---

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**Author:** ![Tamas\_Papp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tamas_papp/32/25949_2.png) [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/19 "2018-10-17T16:57:44Z")

</div>

> [@ExpandingMan](#):
>
> You may still need it for some packages such as coverage.

See [https://github.com/fredrikekre/Literate.jl/tree/master/test/coverage](https://github.com/fredrikekre/Literate.jl/tree/master/test/coverage) and similar.

---

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**Author:** ![kristoffer.carlsson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kristoffer.carlsson/32/22_2.png) [@kristoffer.carlsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kristoffer.carlsson)\
**Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401/20 "2018-10-17T17:03:33Z")

</div>

> [@ExpandingMan](#):
>
> I’m not so confident that this is always true (granted, I’ve only just started seriously messing around with CI CD). You may still need it for some packages such as coverage. Certainly you migt need it if there’s any not-explicitly-Julia-related stuff in your package directory, or perhaps for deployment of scripts.

You don’t need any `Pkg.dir` for this because for CI you are already in the repo. There is no reason to ask Pkg what path the package is in because you are already in it!

[Next page](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/path-of-this-package/16401.md?page=2)