[Rd] Make scripts during package installation?

[Henrik Bengtsson]

During installation of a package, Makevars/Makefile in src/ is
processed.  I've always considered the purpose of this for compiling
native code.  Is that it's solely purpose, or is it alright to use it
also for non-code compilation purposes, e.g. building inst/
subdirectories on the fly?  If not, are there other means to create
non-static inst/ subdirectories during installation?

The immediate need I have right now is that untar an archive to
inst/testScripts/.  The reason why I need this is that a package can
only contain pathnames of length <= 100 characters (restriction in the
tar file format), and mine are longer than that, e.g.
aroma.affymetrix/inst/testScripts/system/chipTypes/Mapping50K_Hind240,Xba240/test20080730,100K,BPN,alleleSpecific.R
[115 chars].  See also
http://www.r-project.org/nosvn/R.check/r-devel-linux-x86_64-fedora/aroma.affymetrix-00check.html
. One strategy is to create a local tar file referring to files
system/chipTypes/Mapping50K_Hind240,Xba240/test20080730,100K,BPN,alleleSpecific.R
and then untar it to aroma.affymetrix/inst/testScripts/ during
installation.  I want to this under the assumption that after the
package installation is completed, the package directory is read-only
so nothing can be updated after that step.  Note that this cannot be
done during package built, only installation.

/Henrik