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

[Max Turgeon]

Hi Jeffry,


Going back to your original problem with README.md: as far as I can see, it seems that the warning message is triggered by running pandoc on README.md; see for example these lines:

https://github.com/wch/r-source/blob/6705a31c7fadc646180e1b62a70fc85f447e4d55/src/library/tools/R/check.R#L1291-L1292


I tried running tools:::.pandoc_md_for_CRAN on your README.md file, but I couldn't reproduce the warning on my machine (I get a different warning, related to the lack of title). I don't know how to fix your issue, but this information may help narrow it down for you.


Best,


Max Turgeon
Assistant Professor
Department of Statistics
Department of Computer Science
University of Manitoba
maxturgeon.ca<http://maxturgeon.ca>


________________________________
From: R-package-devel <r-package-devel-bounces using r-project.org> on behalf of Georgi Boshnakov <georgi.boshnakov using manchester.ac.uk>
Sent: March 8, 2020 2:13:47 PM
To: Michael Dewey; Jeffry Hesse; Jeff Newmiller
Cc: Brittany Belle; Adrian Powell; Ken Duck; 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

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 A visitor in such sites may not have a clue when the information on it is obsolete.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

______________________________________________
R-package-devel using r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-package-devel
______________________________________________
R-package-devel using r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-package-devel

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]