[R-pkg-devel] how to specify to let a package only build 64bit on CRAN

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 11/05/2020 7:54 a.m., Jan Wijffels wrote:
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I have a package which I would like to host on CRAN. The package is at https://github.com/bnosac/golgotha
> The package only builds on 64bit however because the package uses R package reticulate which requires a python library called torch which does not build on 32 bit platforms.
> So installation only works using INSTALL_opts = "--no-multiarch"
> 
> How do you specify this to the CRAN maintainers that this is the way it should be set up on CRAN such that it only is built for 64bit systems.
> 

I don't see how your package has any 32 bit dependence, since it has no 
src directory.  It's probably sufficient to declare the dependency on 
reticulate, which indirectly implies the 32 bit dependence.  But if 
reticulate works on 32 bit systems as long as users don't need "torch",
then just state that.

One thing I'd recommend:  you should try to change the dependency from 
Depends to Imports.  If there are a few reticulate functions that you 
want your users to have access to, you can import them and re-export 
them so they're available from your package as well.

Duncan