2024.09.03 release cannot build in a directory that does not exist

[SecondSkoll]

The new release (2024.09.03) throws an error if the output directory does not exist. It needs to build both the _build and any doctrees directory else it errors out.

Reverting to 2024.04.16 fixes the issue.

Error log below:

. .sphinx/venv/bin/activate; sphinx-autobuild -b dirhtml "." "_build" -c . -d .sphinx/.doctrees -j auto
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/skoll/git/sphinx-docs-starter-pack/.sphinx/venv/bin/sphinx-autobuild", line 8, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
             ^^^^^^
  File "/home/skoll/git/sphinx-docs-starter-pack/.sphinx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/sphinx_autobuild/__main__.py", line 34, in main
    args, build_args = _parse_args(list(argv))
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/skoll/git/sphinx-docs-starter-pack/.sphinx/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/sphinx_autobuild/__main__.py", line 101, in _parse_args
    args.outdir = Path(sphinx_args.outputdir).resolve(strict=True)
                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.12/pathlib.py", line 1242, in resolve
    s = self._flavour.realpath(self, strict=strict)
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "<frozen posixpath>", line 435, in realpath
  File "<frozen posixpath>", line 470, in _joinrealpath
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '_build'

If you then manually create the _build directory:

root@DESKTOP-*:~/test/sphinx-docs-starter-pack# mkdir _build
root@DESKTOP-*:~/test/sphinx-docs-starter-pack# make run
make -f Makefile.sp sp-run
make[1]: Entering directory '/root/test/sphinx-docs-starter-pack'
. .sphinx/venv/bin/activate; sphinx-autobuild -b dirhtml "." "_build" -c . -d .sphinx/.doctrees -j auto
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/root/test/sphinx-docs-starter-pack/.sphinx/venv/bin/sphinx-autobuild", line 8, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/root/test/sphinx-docs-starter-pack/.sphinx/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/sphinx_autobuild/__main__.py", line 34, in main
    args, build_args = _parse_args(list(argv))
  File "/root/test/sphinx-docs-starter-pack/.sphinx/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/sphinx_autobuild/__main__.py", line 103, in _parse_args
    args.doctree_dir = Path(sphinx_args.doctreedir).resolve(strict=True)
  File "/root/.pyenv/versions/3.10.7/lib/python3.10/pathlib.py", line 1077, in resolve
    s = self._accessor.realpath(self, strict=strict)
  File "/root/.pyenv/versions/3.10.7/lib/python3.10/posixpath.py", line 395, in realpath
    path, ok = _joinrealpath(filename[:0], filename, strict, {})
  File "/root/.pyenv/versions/3.10.7/lib/python3.10/posixpath.py", line 430, in _joinrealpath
    st = os.lstat(newpath)
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '.sphinx/.doctrees'
make[1]: *** [Makefile.sp:69: sp-run] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/root/test/sphinx-docs-starter-pack'
make: *** [Makefile:30: run] Error 2

If I then make the .sphinx/.doctrees directory it works fine:

. .sphinx/venv/bin/activate; sphinx-autobuild -b dirhtml "." "_build" -c . -d .sphinx/.doctrees -j auto
[sphinx-autobuild] Starting initial build
[sphinx-autobuild] > sphinx-build -b dirhtml . _build -c . -d .sphinx/.doctrees -j auto
Running Sphinx v8.0.2
loading translations [en]... done
matplotlib is not installed, social cards will not be generated
myst v4.0.0: MdParserConfig(commonmark_only=False, gfm_only=False, enable_extensions={'substitution', 'linkify', 'deflist'}, disable_syntax=[], all_links_external=False, links_external_new_tab=False, url_schemes=('http', 'https', 'mailto', 'ftp'), ref_domains=None, fence_as_directive=set(), number_code_blocks=[], title_to_header=False, heading_anchors=0, heading_slug_func=None, html_meta={}, footnote_sort=True, footnote_transition=True, words_per_minute=200, substitutions={}, linkify_fuzzy_links=True, dmath_allow_labels=True, dmath_allow_space=True, dmath_allow_digits=True, dmath_double_inline=False, update_mathjax=True, mathjax_classes='tex2jax_process|mathjax_process|math|output_area', enable_checkboxes=False, suppress_warnings=[], highlight_code_blocks=True)
building [mo]: targets for 0 po files that are out of date
writing output...
building [dirhtml]: targets for 2 source files that are out of date
updating environment: [new config] 2 added, 0 changed, 0 removed
reading sources... [100%] readme
looking for now-outdated files... none found
pickling environment... done
checking consistency... done
preparing documents... done
copying assets...
copying static files... done
copying extra files... done
copying assets: done
/root/test/sphinx-docs-starter-pack/.sphinx/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/sphinx_tabs/tabs.py:335: RemovedInSphinx90Warning: The str interface for _JavaScript objects is deprecated. Use js.filename instead.
  if path.suffix == ".js" and path.as_posix() in context["script_files"]:
/root/test/sphinx-docs-starter-pack/.sphinx/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/sphinx_tabs/tabs.py:336: RemovedInSphinx90Warning: The str interface for _JavaScript objects is deprecated. Use js.filename instead.
  context["script_files"].remove(path.as_posix())
/root/test/sphinx-docs-starter-pack/.sphinx/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/sphinx_tabs/tabs.py:335: RemovedInSphinx90Warning: The str interface for _JavaScript objects is deprecated. Use js.filename instead.
  if path.suffix == ".js" and path.as_posix() in context["script_files"]:
/root/test/sphinx-docs-starter-pack/.sphinx/venv/lib/python3.10/site-packages/sphinx_tabs/tabs.py:336: RemovedInSphinx90Warning: The str interface for _JavaScript objects is deprecated. Use js.filename instead.
  context["script_files"].remove(path.as_posix())
writing output... [100%] readme
generating indices... genindex done
writing additional pages... search done
dumping search index in English (code: en)... done
dumping object inventory... done
build succeeded.

The HTML pages are in _build.
[sphinx-autobuild] Serving on http://127.0.0.1:8000
[sphinx-autobuild] Waiting to detect changes...

[hugovk]

Please see PR #175.

[SecondSkoll]

Please see PR #175.

You may want to change that PR from a draft and tag AA-Turner for a review- as they seem to be the most active maintainer of sphinx-autobuild recently.

[hugovk]

It's not a draft :) But let's tag @AA-Turner here as well 👋