[R-pkg-devel] vignette with third party software

[Dominik Leutnant]

Thanks, Iñaki! Hopefully, the following is read by Uwe and/or the other CRAN maintainers:

The problem: 
My "swmmr" package provides functions to connect to the software "SWMM" (stormwater management model), offered by the US environmental protection agency (US EPA).
Inside the package, tests and vignettes call the external software with arguments, e.g. "swmm5.exe ARG1 ARG2 ARG3". 
Because the software is not installed on CRAN, checks on re-building of vignette outputs and tests will always fail.

Option 1: 
From the previous discussion with Iñaki (thanks again!), I learned that third party software could eventually be installed on the CRAN system.
Although I don't know the prerequisites, at least the source code of the computational engine of SWMM software is public domain and offered by the US EPA (available with make files from
https://www.epa.gov/water-research/storm-water-management-model-swmm#downloads). 
Thus, if the engine could be compiled and installed on CRAN, the package and the vignettes could be fully tested/build on CRAN as well. 

Option 2:
Package tests are only locally executed. Vignettes either need to be removed from the package or maybe there is another way, that precompiled vignettes as html files could be accepted.

So, if anyone could point me in the right direction, I would be very thankful! 
Also, if anything is unclear, please feel free to get back to me!

Best regards 
Dominik

Am 26.02.18, 17:52 schrieb "Iñaki Úcar" <i.ucar86 at gmail.com>:

    2018-02-26 17:46 GMT+01:00 Dominik Leutnant <leutnant at fh-muenster.de>:
    > That sounds promising!
    > SWMM indeed is open source and I compile versions for LINUX and Mac OS X by myself (Precompiled Windows executable is available from mentioned website you've mentioned).
    > So, how can I reach out to Uwe and Jeroen most easily for them?
    > Do they eventually read this conversation?
    
    I've just discovered that some mails ago one of us clicked "reply"
    instead of "reply to all" and we are off-list now. :-)
    
    You may reply to the original thread providing a summary of this
    off-list conversation, and then ask if SWMM could be considered to be
    installed on CRAN. Mention Uwe explicitly, he'll read it eventually,
    and point him to the proper resources (i.e., SWMM's source code).
    
    Iñaki
    
    >
    >
    >
    >
    > Am 26.02.18, 17:33 schrieb "Iñaki Úcar" <i.ucar86 at gmail.com>:
    >
    >     2018-02-26 16:58 GMT+01:00 Dominik Leutnant <leutnant at fh-muenster.de>:
    >     > Oh, he really could do that? How about the other OS?
    >
    >     I think so. There are many external components installed on CRAN for
    >     many packages. I suppose it depends on whether they are open source or
    >     not, etc.
    >
    >     About the OSes, I see "Source Code for the SWMM Computational Engine" here:
    >
    >     https://www.epa.gov/water-research/storm-water-management-model-swmm#downloads
    >
    >     Is that what you need? Because, according to the makefiles inside, it
    >     should compile on Windows and Linux (then, probably on OSX too).
    >
    >     I would ask. It doesn't hurt, and you already have a "no". ;-)
    >
    >     Iñaki
    >
    >     >
    >     > However, you're right: I should add "SystemRequirements" to the description field.  Thanks for that!
    >     >
    >     >
    >
    >