[R-pkg-devel] packaging biosig for R

[Alois Schlögl]

Thanks for your response. For *nix (Linux, MacOSX), this can be
achieved. For windows, currently the only way to compile libbiosig is
through mingw-cross-compiler environment (MXE) [1]  or in cygwin.
Currently, libbiosig does not compile with with VC++for various reasons,
and libbiosig has some hard dependencies (libiconv, suitesparse, dcmtk),
(there are dependencies on libb64, tinyxml), I'm wondering what the best
approach would be.

- Would it be ok, if libbiosig.dll is distributed in binary form ?

- Or would you accept a package that currently runs only on
MacOSX/Homebrew and Linux but not on Windows ?


Alois Schlögl 

[1] https://github.com/schloegl/mxe



Am 3/16/20 um 2:08 AM schrieb Duncan Murdoch:
> I suspect the question in this case depends on the availability of
> libbiosig.  If CRAN test machines don't have that and its source isn't
> included in the R package, then it will fail on initial install.  CRAN
> doesn't have a lot of resources to install difficult libraries; I have
> no idea if that applies in this case.
>
> I believe the most robust way to handle this sort of package is to
> have a configure script that looks for the lib on the installing
> machine, and uses that copy if found, otherwise compiles it from source.
>
> Duncan Murdoch
>
>
>
> On 15/03/2020 3:41 p.m., Jeff Newmiller wrote:
>> I am just a lurker (not representing CRAN) but I am having a hard
>> time understanding your question.
>>
>> Binary packages are a convenience for users, not a method for
>> submitting packages. When you have an R package accepted it is
>> accepted in source format.
>> If it doesn't exclude support for Windows or MacOSX then it will (in
>> time) be compiled into a binary form for distribution in addition to
>> being distributed is source form.
>>
>> As the maintainer, your responsibility is merely to confirm that your
>> source package is properly configured to be built in binary form
>> before you submit it to CRAN. This is normally accomplished by
>> successfully building it as binary in a testing environment. There
>> are various guides out there that can be helpful in accomplishing
>> this, e.g. [1].
>>
>> [1] https://kbroman.org/pkg_primer/pages/cran.htm
>>
>>
>> On March 15, 2020 1:07:41 AM PDT, "Alois Schlögl"
>> <alois.schloegl using gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear R packagers,
>>>
>>>
>>> the Biosig project [1] supports reading of about 50 different data
>>> format [2]. Recently, a language binding to R was added, because a user
>>> of Biosig asked for it.
>>>
>>>
>>> I've read the policy [3], and it seems the biosig would qualify as
>>> binary package. The underlying library (libbiosig) can be installed
>>>
>>> - on linux from source, or through debian/ubuntu package
>>>
>>> - on MacOSX through Homebrew.
>>>
>>> - for Windows I'm using MXE mingw-cross-compiler environment to build
>>> libbiosig.dll
>>>
>>>
>>> Would it be feasible to provide a package of biosig on cran ? What need
>>> to be considered ?
>>>
>>>
>>> Kind regards
>>>
>>>     Alois
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> [1] http://biosig.sourceforge.net/download.html
>>>
>>> [2] http://pub.ist.ac.at/~schloegl/biosig/TESTED
>>>
>>> [3] https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/policies.html
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> R-package-devel using r-project.org mailing list
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-package-devel
>>
>