[R-pkg-devel] First R package, want to release to CRAN, have some questions about R CMD check and README.md

[Georgi Boshnakov]

When writing README.md, keep in mind that it may (and will!) appear and be rendered at many places, not only CRAN and Github. METACRAN is a prime example with always up-to-date information but there are a number of others. So links need to be written with that in mind. 

Also, some sites providing information about R packages may not be updated regularly or consistently, or may stop being updated altogether. I have also seen sites that render README 
but do not link to CRAN. A visitor in such sites may not have a clue when the information on it is obsolete.  So, it is a must to have a link in the README(.md) to the CRAN page of the package, even though on CRAN this looks strange. The most straightforward is probably a badge.  

Georgi Boshnakov

-----Original Message-----
From: R-package-devel <r-package-devel-bounces using r-project.org> On Behalf Of Michael Dewey
Sent: 08 March 2020 12:24
To: Jeffry Hesse <jhesse using sonatype.com>; Jeff Newmiller <jdnewmil using dcn.davis.ca.us>
Cc: Brittany Belle <bbelle using sonatype.com>; Adrian Powell <apowell using sonatype.com>; Ken Duck <kduck using sonatype.com>; r-package-devel using r-project.org
Subject: Re: [R-pkg-devel] First R package, want to release to CRAN, have some questions about R CMD check and README.md

As well as having a vignette one thing which encourages me to investigate a package is having NEWS. You may already have this of course.

Michael

On 07/03/2020 23:05, Jeffry Hesse wrote:
> Good to know!
> 
> Right now we are using the README.rmd file to create the README.md, I 
> imagine we'd create something akin to oysteR.rmd to create the vignette?
> The documentation on publishing to CRAN is great, but it's hard to 
> tell what a best practice is in this area. Also are vignettes strongly 
> suggested or mandatory? R CMD check is not failing for us right now 
> without having them, hence the question!
> 
> Appreciate the help!
> 
> On Sat, Mar 7, 2020 at 1:55 PM Jeff Newmiller 
> <jdnewmil using dcn.davis.ca.us>
> wrote:
> 
>> README.md is a github convention... do not try to treat it like part 
>> of the R package documentation. Instead, list it in your 
>> .Rbuildignore file and use it to inform developers how to change the 
>> package and to direct
>> (potential) users browsing the GitHub repo to read the more 
>> conventional R documentation of vignettes.
>>
>> On March 7, 2020 1:55:24 PM PST, Jeffry Hesse <jhesse using sonatype.com> wrote:
>>> Hi there!
>>>
>>> I and a few others have been working on an R package we'd like to 
>>> get on CRAN. The package itself checks R dependencies to see if they 
>>> have a known CWE or CVE attached to them, and is intended to help R 
>>> developers get a better understanding on the quality of the 
>>> dependencies they use!
>>>
>>> An example of it running is here:
>>>
>>>
>> https://61-244738782-gh.circle-artifacts.com/0/~/oysteR/oysteR.Rcheck
>> /00install.out
>>>
>>> And example of the output of R CMD check is here:
>>>
>>>
>> https://61-244738782-gh.circle-artifacts.com/0/~/oysteR/oysteR.Rcheck
>> /00check.log
>>>
>>> I have had some confusing experiences thus far with a README.md 
>>> file, and excluded it in our .Rbuildignore, because I kept getting:
>>>
>>> * checking top-level files ... WARNING Conversion of ‘README.md’ 
>>> failed:
>>> "template" (line 18, column 17):
>>> unexpected "("
>>> expecting "." or "$"
>>>
>>> This error is very cryptic to me, and I couldn't figure it out after 
>>> a bunch of wonderful googling :)
>>>
>>> The README.rmd file is here:
>>> https://github.com/sonatype-nexus-community/oysteR/blob/master/READM
>>> E.Rmd
>>>
>>> Output README.md generated with rmarkdown is here:
>>>
>> https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sonatype-nexus-community/oysteR/mas
>> ter/README.md
>>>
>>> Ideally I think it would be nice to include it in our R package, but 
>>> that WARNING keeps scaring me :)
>>>
>>> If anyone has any insight into the cause of that warning, would love 
>>> to know.
>>>
>>> Any other feedback on the package would be great too! I'm not an R 
>>> developer by trade (but love it), and this is my first go at this.
>>> Figured
>>> I'd reach out here to hopefully help save some back and forth 
>>> between CRAN maintainers when I go to submit.
>>>
>>> CODE: https://github.com/sonatype-nexus-community/oysteR
>>>
>>> Also, we are actively looking for contributors that want to help 
>>> out, so if this project interests you, come on over!
>>>
>>> Cheers, and thanks in advance for any help!
>>
>> --
>> Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.
>>
> 
> 

--
Michael
http://www.dewey.myzen.co.uk/home.html

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