[R-pkg-devel] Building Vignettes

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 24/07/2021 12:46 p.m., Danielle Maeser wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I have a question concerning the oncoPredict R package. I noticed this
> package requires obtaining the .tar.gz file, then selecting the option to
> install, and then  'Build Source Package' inorder to build the vignettes.
> 
> However, this isn't always the case with other packages. These require
> installing from the .tar.gz file, but they don't also require building the
> source package.
> 
> Why is building the source package required in some cases but not in others?
> 
> Any assistance would be appreciated.

Usually people include the built vignettes in the .tar.gz file, but if 
it was created with the --no-build-vignettes option, they won't be 
included.

If they are not included, you'll need to install the package to build them.

Some people create .tar.gz files for packages by methods other than 
running R CMD build (or equivalent functions).  Those may not be 
recognized by the R installer, so you would need to untar them, run R 
CMD build yourself, and then install the corrected tarball.

Duncan Murdoch