Improve error handling when a broken workspace is activated

lib/ramble/ramble/cmd/__init__.py

@@ -273,13 +273,20 @@ def find_workspace(args):
             # nothing was set; there's no active environment
             if not ws:
                 return None
-
-    # if we get here, env isn't the name of a spack environment; it has
-    # to be a path to an environment, or there is something wrong.
+            elif not ramble.workspace.is_workspace_dir(ws):
+                env_var = ramble.workspace.ramble_workspace_var
+                raise ramble.workspace.RambleActiveWorkspaceError(
+                    f'The environment variable {env_var} refers to an invalid ramble workspace.'
+                )
+
+    # if we get here, ws isn't the name of a ramble workspace; it has
+    # to be a path to a workspace, or there is something wrong.
     if ramble.workspace.is_workspace_dir(ws):
         return ramble.workspace.Workspace(ws)
 
-    raise ramble.workspace.RambleWorkspaceError('no workspace in %s' % ws)
+    raise ramble.workspace.RambleWorkspaceError(
+        f'No workspace in {ws}'
+    )
 
 
 def find_workspace_path(args):

lib/ramble/ramble/cmd/workspace.py

@@ -193,7 +193,8 @@ def workspace_deactivate(args):
         )
 
     if ramble.workspace.active_workspace() is None:
-        logger.die('No workspace is currently active.')
+        if ramble.workspace.ramble_workspace_var not in os.environ:
+            logger.die('No workspace is currently active.')
 
     cmds = ramble.workspace.shell.deactivate_header(args.shell)
     env_mods = ramble.workspace.shell.deactivate()

lib/ramble/ramble/main.py

@@ -812,6 +812,8 @@ def _main(argv=None):
                 ramble.workspace.shell.activate(ws)
         # print the context but delay this exception so that commands like
         # `ramble config edit` can still work with a bad workspace.
+        except ramble.workspace.RambleActiveWorkspaceError as e:
+            workspace_format_error = e
         except ramble.config.ConfigFormatError as e:
             e.print_context()
             workspace_format_error = e
@@ -861,18 +863,22 @@ def finish_parse_and_run(parser, cmd_name, workspace_format_error):
     # Now that we know what command this is and what its args are, determine
     # whether we can continue with a bad workspace and raise if not.
     edit_cmds = ["workspace", "config"]
-    allowed_subcommands = ['edit', 'list']
+    allowed_subcommands = ['edit', 'list', 'deactivate']
+
     if workspace_format_error:
         raise_error = False
         if cmd_name.strip() in edit_cmds:
-            logger.msg(
-                "Error while reading workspace config. In some cases this can be " +
-                "avoided by passing `-W` to ramble"
-            )
-            raise_error = True
             subcommand = getattr(args, "%s_command" % cmd_name, None)
-            if subcommand in allowed_subcommands:
-                raise_error = False
+
+            if subcommand != "deactivate":
+                raise_error = True
+                logger.msg(
+                    "Error while reading workspace config. In some cases this can be " +
+                    "avoided by passing `-W` to ramble or by running\n" +
+                    "`ramble workspace deactivate`"
+                )
+                if subcommand in allowed_subcommands:
+                    raise_error = False
 
         if raise_error:
             raise workspace_format_error

lib/ramble/ramble/workspace/__init__.py

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
     Workspace,
     RambleWorkspaceError,
     RambleConflictingDefinitionError,
+    RambleActiveWorkspaceError,
     RambleMissingApplicationError,
     RambleMissingWorkloadError,
     RambleMissingExperimentError,
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@
     'Workspace',
     'RambleWorkspaceError',
     'RambleConflictingDefinitionError',
+    'RambleActiveWorkspaceError',
     'RambleMissingApplicationError',
     'RambleMissingWorkloadError',
     'RambleMissingExperimentError',

lib/ramble/ramble/workspace/workspace.py

@@ -1589,6 +1589,10 @@ class RambleConflictingDefinitionError(RambleWorkspaceError):
     """Error when conflicting software definitions are found"""
 
 
+class RambleActiveWorkspaceError(RambleWorkspaceError):
+    """Error when an invalid workspace is activated"""
+
+
 class RambleMissingApplicationError(RambleWorkspaceError):
     """Error when using an undefined application in an experiment
     specification"""