[Rd] Correct use of tools::R_user_dir() in packages?

[Iñaki Ucar]

On Thu, 29 Jun 2023 at 01:34, Carl Boettiger <cboettig using gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks Simon, I was very much hoping that would be the case!  It may
> be that I just need to put the version requirement on 4.0 then.  I
> will be sure to add this version restriction to my packages (which
> technically I should be doing anyway since this function didn't exist
> in early versions of `tools`.)

In my experience, you *can* store stuff in those directories, but you
are required to clean up after yourself in CRAN checks. In other
words, if something is left behind when the check ends, CRAN won't be
happy.

Iñaki

>
> Cheers,
>
> Carl
>
> ---
> Carl Boettiger
> http://carlboettiger.info/
>
> On Wed, Jun 28, 2023 at 12:59 PM Simon Urbanek
> <simon.urbanek using r-project.org> wrote:
> >
> > Carl,
> >
> > I think your statement is false, the whole point of R_user_dir() is for packages to have a well-defined location that is allowed - from CRAN policy:
> >
> > "For R version 4.0 or later (hence a version dependency is required or only conditional use is possible), packages may store user-specific data, configuration and cache files in their respective user directories obtained from tools::R_user_dir(), provided that by default sizes are kept as small as possible and the contents are actively managed (including removing outdated material)."
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Simon
> >
> >
> > > On 28/06/2023, at 10:36 AM, Carl Boettiger <cboettig using gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > tools::R_user_dir() provides configurable directories for R packages
> > > to write persistent information consistent with standard best
> > > practices relative to each supported operating systems for
> > > applications to store data, config, and cache information
> > > respectively.  These standard best practices include writing to
> > > directories in the users home filespace, which is also specifically
> > > against CRAN policy.
> > >
> > > These defaults can be overridden by setting the environmental
> > > variables R_USER_DATA_DIR , R_USER_CONFIG_DIR, R_USER_CACHE_DIR,
> > > respectively.
> > >
> > > If R developers should be using the locations provided by
> > > tools::R_user_dir() in packages, why does CRAN's check procedure not
> > > set these three environmental variables to CRAN compliant location by
> > > default (e.g. tempdir())?
> > >
> > > In order to comply with CRAN policy, a package developer can obviously
> > > set these environmental variables themselves within the call for every
> > > example, every unit test, and every vignette.  Is this the recommended
> > > approach or is there a better technique?
> > >
> > > Thanks for any clarification!
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > >
> > > Carl
> > >
> > > ---
> > > Carl Boettiger
> > > http://carlboettiger.info/
> > >
> > > ______________________________________________
> > > R-devel using r-project.org mailing list
> > > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
> > >
> >
>
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-- 
Iñaki Úcar