[R-pkg-devel] Announcing Bazel for R packages

[Siddhartha Bagaria]

Hello,

We have released some Bazel rules for R packages.
https://github.com/grailbio/rules_r

What is Bazel?

Bazel <https://bazel.build/> is an industry tested build system that can be
used for continuous integration and testing in large monorepos (multiple
software libraries as part of one repository).

When should you use Bazel for your R packages?

1. Continuous integration and testing
If your organization already uses Bazel, and you have R packages as part of
the same repo. These rules will run unit tests or R CMD check on changes to
your package, or any dependency as part of the same build system that your
organization uses. You can also deploy docker images with your R packages
installed in them as part of your continuous integration.

2. Reproducible builds
Using Bazel will force you to fix versions of your package dependencies,
and every build will be reproducible. Updates to package dependencies can
then be vetted and be done incrementally if desired. This is an alternative
to maintaining a private repository of CRAN/Bioc packages or using a CRAN
snapshot service.

If these do not concern you, then you should not consider Bazel because of
the additional complexity introduced.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Sid

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