[R-pkg-devel] If you had to choose one binary to preserve for a pkg, which would it be?

[Tomas Kalibera]

On 1/22/23 22:36, Uri Simonsohn wrote:
> This is not a perfect list for this question, but possibly a good list.
I think this is a good match.
> I maintain 'groundhog', a package that seeks to simplify reproducibility
> of R code based on R packages.
> It has so far relied on MRAN  for binaries of older/archived versions of
> packages, but MRAN is shutting down.
> Posit (R Studio) also has archived binaries, but they are less
> transparent about it,  they do not have Mac binaries, and I am a little
> uncomfortable relying on a 3rd party again, specially because their
> archive is more difficult to navigate and this is part of a for-profit
> venture so access is far from guaranteed. So...
>
> I will create an independent archive of all binaries for packages for
> Windows and Mac machines.
>
> Instead of having daily backups like MRAN does/did, i will keep just one
> binary per combination of package, version, R version, operating system.
> So a single 'rio' 0.5.0 binary for Windows for R-4.2.x, for example
> (MRAN keeps a daily copy of such file instead, possibly with 100+
> identical or nearly identical copies).
>
> I need to decide whether to keep the first binary that was uploaded to
> CRAN, the last one, or one in the middle, etc.
> In  concept binaries should work regardless of which file is chosen, but
> there is a reason, i guess they are rebuilt so often so it may make a
> difference in the margin which of the many builts available in MRAN is
> chosen to be preserved. I think it has to do with changes in underlying
> packages used to build them, but am not sure.
> This decision will also guide future archiving, which of the many
> versions of to be uploaded to CRAN binaries are preserved.

I think the date-based snapshots made sense, that corresponded to how 
packages were tested and built together. I am afraid you cannot get 
close to that by choosing a single version. If you really must use only 
one, probably the latest.

If I wanted some reasonably reliable repeatability of computations, I 
would though keep a virtual machine snapshot with the matching OS, 
matching version of R, the packages installed (probably from source in 
case debugging became needed), and all external dependencies. Ideally 
with disconnected network to make sure the computation works fully 
locally, and as I would not be updating the OS, for security as well. I 
would keep that snapshot intact - never save the machine state again to 
it. And if possible convert it to several image formats just in case the 
virtualization software stops being supported or no longer can read 
certain formats.

Tomas

>
> So, if you have experience or knowledge on this, which of the many
> previously created binaries for a given package version would you choose
> to archive long-term?
> Groundhog will always attempt to install from source if a binary fails,
> so a certain error rate is tolerable.
>
> Uri
>
> ----------------------------------
>
> Uri Simonsohn (urisohn.com)
>
> Professor of Behavioral Science, ESADE, Barcelona
>
> Senior Fellow, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
>
> Blog at:  DataColada.org <www.DataColada.org>
>
> Easy data sharing: ResearchBox.org
>
> Twitter: @uri_sohn
>
>
>
>
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