[R-pkg-devel] Suggests with non-CRAN packages

[Uwe Ligges]

 From the CRAN polcies:

"Packages on which a CRAN package depends should be available from a 
mainstream repository: if any mentioned in ‘Suggests’ or ‘Enhances’ 
fields are not from such a repository, where to obtain them at a 
repository should be specified in an ‘Additional_repositories’ field of 
the DESCRIPTION file (as a comma-separated list of repository URLs) or 
for other means of access, described in the ‘Description’ field. "

Best,
Uwe Ligges




On 03.01.2024 18:19, Josiah Parry wrote:
> Thanks, both. I'm not familiar with Additional_repositories. Must the 
> package source be specified there? Or can it be specified via 
> documentation a la Rd file?
> 
> On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 12:14 PM Uwe Ligges 
> <ligges using statistik.tu-dortmund.de 
> <mailto:ligges using statistik.tu-dortmund.de>> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>     On 03.01.2024 17:58, Duncan Murdoch wrote:
>      > On 03/01/2024 11:33 a.m., Josiah Parry wrote:
>      >> I have a scenario where I have an exported function that
>     requires the
>      >> installation a package that *is not* available on CRAN. The body
>     of the
>      >> function is generally:
>      >>
>      >> fx <- function() {
>      >>    rlang::check_installed("noncranpkg")
>      >>    noncranpkg::gx()
>      >> }
>      >>
>      >> As required, this package is in the Suggests field. But this
>     results in a
>      >> note:
>      >>
>      >> checking package dependencies ... NOTE
>      >> Package suggested but not available for checking: ‘noncranpkg’
>      >>
>      >> Can this be safely ignored?
>      >
>      > Uwe said yes, and he's an authority.  But for your users, it
>     might be
>      > nice to include an Additional_repositories field so they can find
>     the
>      > package.  This needs to be organized as an actual repository; the
>     drat
>      > package is a very convenient way to set one up.
> 
>     Thanks for elaborating, yes of course, people have to declare where to
>     get the package from. The note from above is still unavoidable in
>     that case.
> 
>     Best,
>     Uwe
> 
>      >
>      > Duncan Murdoch
>      >
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