diff --git a/mpsd-software-environment.py b/mpsd-software-environment.py
index 76690377c802b1cf0fd05a4fb704228f8c9b396b..a2651bc488db7a9801ffdfa39b31719ded50132e 100755
--- a/mpsd-software-environment.py
+++ b/mpsd-software-environment.py
@@ -827,12 +827,27 @@ def start_new_environment(release, from_release, target_dir):
     raise NotImplementedError(msg)
 
 
-def environment_status(mpsd_release, script_dir):
-    """Show status of a release."""
-    msg = f"Showing status of release {mpsd_release} in {script_dir}"
+def environment_status(mpsd_release: str, root_dir: Union[str, Path]) -> dict:
+    """Show status of release in installation.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    mpsd_release : str
+        A string representing the MPSD release version.
+    root_dir : pathlib.Path
+        A Path object representing the path to the directory where
+        the release and toolchains will be installed.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    toolchain_map : dict
+    A dictionary containing available microarchitectures as keys and
+    a list of available toolchains as values for each microarchitecture.
+    """
+    msg = f"Showing status of release {mpsd_release} in {root_dir}"
     logging.info(msg)
     plog = logging.getLogger("print")
-    release_base_dir = script_dir / mpsd_release
+    release_base_dir = root_dir / mpsd_release
     microarch = get_native_microarchitecture()
     toolchain_dir = release_base_dir / microarch
     spack_dir = toolchain_dir / "spack"