[R-pkg-devel] Package submission rejected as it fails checks on Debian

[Ben Bolker]

   Not important (of course) but where does the 5000 kWh per tree number 
come from?  Is that (dry weight) x (50% carbon per dry weight) / (carbon 
content of CO2 emissions per kWh) ?

https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator#results

   If we say 200 watts x 15 minutes (allowing us to take up the whole 
server for checking on 5 different platforms) we have .05 kWh. Let's say 
we do this 300 times/year for a package, so 15 kWh. Hard to get 'tree 
equivalents' from the EPA web site, but this is equivalent to 1.2 
gallons of petrol/gasoline consumption (0.011 metric tonnes)


On 2023-02-23 12:59 p.m., Duncan Murdoch wrote:
> Hi Martin.
> 
> I think your calculations are way off.  A one-tonne tree contains about 
> 5000 kWh of energy.  A typical computer server uses about 200 watts, and 
> can process many jobs simultaneously on different cores, but let's say 
> the whole server is dedicated to the Github action.  Then it would 
> consume 1 kWh in 5 hours, and would take about 10 days to consume 1% of 
> a tree.
> 
> Duncan Murdoch
> 
> On 23/02/2023 11:29 a.m., Martin Maechler wrote:
>>>>>>> Spencer Graves
>>>>>>>      on Tue, 21 Feb 2023 05:25:39 -0600 writes:
>>
>>      > On 2/21/23 2:34 AM, Vasileios Nikolaidis wrote:
>>      >> Yes, with all this I can think where I may have messed up. So 
>> thanks for
>>      >> the help, at least it verified it is indeed an issue with the 
>> code. As
>>      >> far as OSs, I use Ubuntu variants a lot and (on several 
>> machines) but
>>      >> these days I have easier access to Windows (with WSL2 btw). I 
>> also like
>>      >> a strict compiler (and linker), there is usually a reason why 
>> they are
>>      >> strict. So if it is not obvious from examining the code,  I 
>> will set up
>>      >> something (be it WSL, VM or Docker) for testing.
>>
>>
>>      > If you have NOT tried "GitHub Action" yet, I highly recommend it.
>>      > For my packages, every time I do "git push", it automatically 
>> runs "R
>>      > CMD build / check" on 5 different platforms -- with no further 
>> effort on
>>      > my part other than checking the results.
>>
>> [ Sorry, but for once I'd like to raise this here ...]:
>>
>> well... how many "trees" does that cost every time you push?
>> I guess it will be less than one, but I'd also guess it be more
>> than 1% of one.. and even if that was more than reality, ...
>>
>> I hope you are all aware that even though this looks "free", all
>> this mostly unnecessary (rebuilding some of the things *every*
>> time from scratch, downloading lots of stuff, even though from a
>> closeby server) traffic and server run time will partly be paid
>> by the kids and grand kids of people living in Bangladesh,
>> Polynesia, ... (and maybe even in say Amsterdam)
>> Global Warming *is* a threat, and we living in rich nations letting run
>> more and more computer networks and servers (cooling, heating,
>> gray energy including lots of CO2 produce by building construction, ...)
>> does add to it.
>>
>> [[[yes, I may be partly wrong,  and
>>      no, it's a loss of time if we start a flame/mud/... war here 
>> about this;
>>      just consider it a small outlier voice ...
>> ]]]
>>
>>
>>      > It should be easy to get something to work following the 
>> instructions
>>      > in Wickham and Bryan, R Packages[1] or copying the code from 
>> another
>>      > package.[2] If that fails, you might be able to get help from 
>> this list.
>>      > I got valuable suggestions from Dir Eddelbuettel and Duncan 
>> Murdoch.
>>
>>
>>      > I don't know if any version of Debian is available on GitHub 
>> Action.
>>      > However, if CRAN is rejecting your package on GitHub Action, a 
>> question
>>      > about that to this list might help make it available.  If you have
>>      > special Ubuntu configuration issues that are not provided in the
>>      > standard GitHub Action configurations, asking here might help 
>> you with
>>      > that.
>>
>>
>>      > Hope this helps,
>>      > Spencer Graves
>>
>>
>>      > [1]
>>
>>
>>      > https://r-pkgs.org
>>
>>
>>      > [2] e.g.,
>>
>>
>>      > https://github.com/JamesRamsay5/fda
>>
>>      >>
>>      >> Thanks again,
>>      >>
>>      >> Vasilis
>>      >>
>>      >>
>>      >>
>>      >> Στις 2023-02-20 23:09, Dirk Eddelbuettel έγραψε:
>>      >>> On 20 February 2023 at 22:37, Vasileios Nikolaidis wrote:
>>      >>> | Thanks for taking the time to check it. The hint about the 
>> virtual
>>      >>> | 'layer' class is valuable.
>>      >>> | I will look into it.
>>      >>>
>>      >>> Sounds good, glad to have been of assistance.  On a lark, I 
>> also tried
>>      >>> your
>>      >>> most recent CRAN release, and it installs and loads fine here.
>>      >>>
>>      >>> | PS I am tempted to set up a Debian test platform to speed 
>> up fixing the
>>      >>> | package.
>>      >>> | (Or abandon submitting the package to CRAN alltogether.)
>>      >>>
>>      >>> I love working on Linux. And these days I hear from some 
>> friends that
>>      >>> having
>>      >>> WSL2 on a (recent enough) Windows computer is also good as it 
>> effectively
>>      >>> gives a second machine with Ubuntu on it.  Docker can also be 
>> helpful,
>>      >>> as are
>>      >>> the online resources -- rhub has helped me with both macos 
>> and windows
>>      >>> builds.
>>      >>>
>>      >>> Dirk
>>      >>
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-- 
Dr. Benjamin Bolker
Professor, Mathematics & Statistics and Biology, McMaster University
Director, School of Computational Science and Engineering
(Acting) Graduate chair, Mathematics & Statistics
 > E-mail is sent at my convenience; I don't expect replies outside of 
working hours.