[R-pkg-devel] vignette via devtools: sometimes found, sometimes not (same package)

Thu Apr 19 18:33:28 CEST 2018

Thanks a lot Thierry, I was happy to discover and implement a "drat"
installation workflow.
Unfortunately it did not solve the issue (but I will stick to drat).
Also, I checked the sessionInfo() and could not find any package version
discriminating accurately between computers that shows vignettes from those
who do not.
Only Windows computer have the issue but this proves nothing (and other
computers with the same OS version are fine).
Goergi, I did not yet retried outside RStudio (I am trying not to waste too
much time at the beginning of each course...
I wish I could hijack a problematic laptop but they don't let me do it as
they need them).
++
Alex

On 17 April 2018 at 10:42, Thierry Onkelinx <thierry.onkelinx at inbo.be>
wrote:

> Dear Alex,
>
> Have a look at drat
> (http://eddelbuettel.github.io/drat/DratForPackageAuthors.html). This
> makes it easier to distribute prepackaged R packages (including When
> you uploaded a new version, then the student would only have to do
> drat::addRepo("your_repo") and then install.pakages("LM2GLMM") or
> update.packages()
>
> Best regards,
>
> ir. Thierry Onkelinx
> Statisticus / Statistician
>
> Vlaamse Overheid / Government of Flanders
> INSTITUUT VOOR NATUUR- EN BOSONDERZOEK / RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR NATURE
> AND FOREST
> Team Biometrie & Kwaliteitszorg / Team Biometrics & Quality Assurance
> thierry.onkelinx at inbo.be
> Havenlaan 88 bus 73, 1000 Brussel
> www.inbo.be
>
> ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
> ///////////////////////////////
> To call in the statistician after the experiment is done may be no
> more than asking him to perform a post-mortem examination: he may be
> able to say what the experiment died of. ~ Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher
> The plural of anecdote is not data. ~ Roger Brinner
> The combination of some data and an aching desire for an answer does
> not ensure that a reasonable answer can be extracted from a given body
> of data. ~ John Tukey
> ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
> ///////////////////////////////
>
>
>
>
> 2018-04-16 19:38 GMT+02:00 Alexandre Courtiol <
> alexandre.courtiol at gmail.com>:
> > Re,
> >
> > On 16 April 2018 at 17:35, Georgi Boshnakov <
> > georgi.boshnakov at manchester.ac.uk> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> The problem is indeed difficult to debug but there are things that can
> be
> >> done to narrow it down.
> >>
> >> 1. Are there 1/3 unlucky computers fixed? (I.e does the problem occur
> >> always on the same computers) Also, do you really mean computer or user?
> >>
> >
> > Yes, I mean computer, not user.
> >
> >>
> >> 2. Are the students working under R studio? If so, does the same problem
> >> appear if the same procedure is run outside R studio.
> >>
> >
> > I will try tomorrow (but from memory I think the answer will be yes).
> >
> >>
> >> 3. Further to 2.,  You mention development mode - do (some) students
> also
> >> have a copy of your repository? This may be aproblem if they don't
> update
> >> it too.
> >>
> >
> > No, only me has the devel version.
> >
> >>
> >> 4. What happens if R is restarted?
> >
> >
> > I will try tomorrow (but I think the answer will be nothing).
> >
> >
> >> 5. It may be worth checking .Rprofle and similar for the concerned
> >> computers (or users, see 1.)
> >>
> >
> > I will try as well but most had a fresh install and did not mess with
> > settings.
> >
> >>
> >> Hope this is of some help.
> >>
> >
> > I will look at all this and also gather the session infos as Ben
> suggested.
> > I think I know how to proceed to get to the bottom of that, but I was
> just
> > hoping that the problem was already well known and the answer as well...
> > If it is for anyone, please reply. Otherwise, I will investigate.
> > Thanks to everyone.
> > Alex
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>  Georgi Boshnakov
> >>
> >>
> >> ________________________________________
> >> From: R-package-devel [r-package-devel-bounces at r-project.org] on behalf
> >> of Alexandre Courtiol [alexandre.courtiol at gmail.com]
> >> Sent: 16 April 2018 14:40
> >> To: List r-package-devel
> >> Subject: [R-pkg-devel] vignette via devtools: sometimes found, sometimes
> >> not (same package)
> >>
> >> Dear all,
> >> I am teaching a class and for that I created a R package that mostly
> >> contains vignettes (the slides of the course).
> >> I host the package on GitHub because I want the students to download
> every
> >> day the latest version of the package.
> >> Building the vignettes takes a couple of hours so I pre-build the
> vignettes
> >> using devtools::build_vignettes before pushing my updates to GitHub.
> >> The student install the package using
> >> devtools::install_github("courtiol/LM2GLMM").
> >> Then, they do library(LM2GLMM) and browseVignettes(package =
> "LM2GLMM")...
> >>
> >> ... and that works on 2/3 of the computers, for the others it says
> >> vignettes not found.
> >>
> >> Any idea why and what can I do to make it 100% success?
> >> Of course on my laptop it works, so I cannot investigate.
> >> Also, since they all use different versions of R, devtools or OS... I
> would
> >> like to know the one thing that must be changed if it comes from that
> (but
> >> I am not sure it does).
> >>
> >> I have added a back up function that works for the 1/3 of unfortunate
> >> students:
> >>
> >> get_vignettes <- function() {
> >>   utils::browseURL(paste0(find.package("LM2GLMM"), "/doc/")) ## for
> >> installed
> >>   utils::browseURL(paste0(find.package("LM2GLMM"), "/inst/doc/")) ##
> for
> >> development
> >>   return(invisible(NULL))
> >> }
> >>
> >> This functions opens de vignette folder and that shows that all the
> >> students actually have the html files installed correctly. But it is
> ugly
> >> because then they have to find the good html file and so forth, so I
> would
> >> rather have a better solution.
> >>
> >> Many thanks,
> >>
> >> Alex
> >>
> >> --
> >> Alexandre Courtiol
> >>
> >> http://sites.google.com/site/alexandrecourtiol/home
> >>
> >> *"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts"*, R. Feynman
> >>
> >>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >>
> >> ______________________________________________
> >> R-package-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-package-devel
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Alexandre Courtiol
> >
> > http://sites.google.com/site/alexandrecourtiol/home
> >
> > *"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts"*, R. Feynman
> >
> >         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-package-devel at r-project.org mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-package-devel
>

-- 
Alexandre Courtiol

http://sites.google.com/site/alexandrecourtiol/home

*"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts"*, R. Feynman

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]