From 7bb7b22487fc4bfc7f375aa5080f00ae1bd1fb7e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Hadley Wickham <h.wickham@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 13:07:32 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] Simplify `build_site()`

Fixes #2578
---
 NEWS.md           |  1 +
 R/build-site.R    | 32 +++++++-------------------------
 man/build_site.Rd | 14 ++++++--------
 3 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 33 deletions(-)

diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 9c2d1d782..8a39da72c 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # devtools (development version)
 
+* `build_site()` now just calls `pkgdown::build_site()`, meaning that you will get more (informative) output by default (#2578).
 * New `check_mac_devel()` function to check a package using the macOS builder at https://mac.r-project.org/macbuilder/submit.html (@nfrerebeau, #2507)
 * `is_loading()` is now re-exported from pkgload (#2556).
 * `load_all()` now errors if called recursively, i.e. if you accidentally include a `load_all()` call in one of your R source files (#2617).
diff --git a/R/build-site.R b/R/build-site.R
index 9935963c3..8b66bda52 100644
--- a/R/build-site.R
+++ b/R/build-site.R
@@ -1,32 +1,14 @@
-#' Execute \pkg{pkgdown} build_site in a package
+#' Run `pkgdown::build_site()`
 #'
-#' `build_site()` is a shortcut for [pkgdown::build_site()], it generates the
-#'   static HTML documentation.
+#' This is a thin wrapper around [pkgdown::build_site()], used for generating
+#' static HTML documentation. Learn more at <https://pkgdown.r-lib.org>.
 #'
-#' @param path path to the package to build the static HTML.
-#' @param ...  additional arguments passed to [pkgdown::build_site()]
-#' @inheritParams install
-#'
-#' @return NULL
+#' @param path Path to the package to build the static HTML.
+#' @param ...  Additional arguments passed to [pkgdown::build_site()].
 #' @export
-build_site <- function(path = ".", quiet = TRUE, ...) {
+build_site <- function(path = ".", ...) {
   rlang::check_installed("pkgdown")
 
   save_all()
-
-  pkg <- as.package(path)
-
-  check_dots_used(action = getOption("devtools.ellipsis_action", rlang::warn))
-
-  withr::with_temp_libpaths(action = "prefix", code = {
-    install(pkg = pkg$path, upgrade = "never", reload = FALSE, quiet = quiet)
-    if (isTRUE(quiet)) {
-      withr::with_output_sink(
-        file_temp(),
-        pkgdown::build_site(pkg = pkg$path, ...)
-      )
-    } else {
-      pkgdown::build_site(pkg = pkg$path, ...)
-    }
-  })
+  pkgdown::build_site(pkg = path, ...)
 }
diff --git a/man/build_site.Rd b/man/build_site.Rd
index c56cdcc03..0d3a08809 100644
--- a/man/build_site.Rd
+++ b/man/build_site.Rd
@@ -2,18 +2,16 @@
 % Please edit documentation in R/build-site.R
 \name{build_site}
 \alias{build_site}
-\title{Execute \pkg{pkgdown} build_site in a package}
+\title{Run \code{pkgdown::build_site()}}
 \usage{
-build_site(path = ".", quiet = TRUE, ...)
+build_site(path = ".", ...)
 }
 \arguments{
-\item{path}{path to the package to build the static HTML.}
+\item{path}{Path to the package to build the static HTML.}
 
-\item{quiet}{If \code{TRUE}, suppress output.}
-
-\item{...}{additional arguments passed to \code{\link[pkgdown:build_site]{pkgdown::build_site()}}}
+\item{...}{Additional arguments passed to \code{\link[pkgdown:build_site]{pkgdown::build_site()}}.}
 }
 \description{
-\code{build_site()} is a shortcut for \code{\link[pkgdown:build_site]{pkgdown::build_site()}}, it generates the
-static HTML documentation.
+This is a thin wrapper around \code{\link[pkgdown:build_site]{pkgdown::build_site()}}, used for generating
+static HTML documentation. Learn more at \url{https://pkgdown.r-lib.org}.
 }