[R-pkg-devel] Seeking help with a phantom "re-building vignettes" error in 00check.log from CRAN

[Jeff Lewis]

Hi,


I am hoping someone has a solution to my befuddling situation.  I am trying
to push an update of a package that has been on CRAN for over a decade.

I am running into a perplexing issue that creates an error in the Windows
build when I submit the package to CRAN.  The error does not occur on:
win-builder-devel,
Debian on CRAN, my mac, or in Docker using r-base on my mac.  Here is the
reported error and the lines above and below in the 00check.log from CRAN
(under windows):


...

* checking package vignettes ... OK
* checking re-building of vignette outputs ... [13s] ERROR
Error(s) in re-building vignettes:
--- re-building 'wnominate.Rnw' using Sweave


* checking PDF version of manual ... [21s] OK
...


In other environments, I get


...

* checking package vignettes ... OK
* checking re-building of vignette outputs ... [6s/6s] OK
* checking PDF version of manual ... [3s/3s] OK

...


The complete logs (that otherwise appear ok to me) are linked below
(though, of course, they will disappear in a few days):

https://win-builder.r-project.org/incoming_pretest/wnominate_1.5_20240607_192611/Windows/00check.log
https://win-builder.r-project.org/incoming_pretest/wnominate_1.5_20240607_192611/Debian/00check.log
https://win-builder.r-project.org/6518MsBoQpPl/00check.log


I know that there is something going on with the vignette (which is, FWIW,
in Sweave) construction process, but I cannot figure out what.  On my mac,
using "--compact-vignettes=both" when doing the build doesn't change the
vignette pdf size, but on other platforms it does.  qpdf and gs are
available to R on my mac, but weirdly, if I try to do the compacting
directly using

> tools::compactPDF(gs_quality = "ebook", "wnominate.pdf", verbose = TRUE)

I get back

qs_quality="ebook" : use_gs=TRUE, use_qpdf=TRUE
#{pdf}s = length(paths) = 1
- wnominate.pdf:    gs: res=0;  + qpdf: res=0;
    ==> (new=7.4894e+06)/(old=451405) = 16.5913 .. not worth using

This would (I think) suggest that the "compacting" would make the pdf 16.5
times bigger which seems like an issue.  On the other platforms, compacting
does what I expect.  It reduces the pdf file by about 50%.  I thought the
"uncompacted" vignette was the cause of the error when I originally
submitted to CRAN last night and got a similar error, so I rebuilt the
package using Docker and submitted that build.  However, no dice. So, maybe
the compacting issue is not related to what is hanging me up now.  In any
case, this is where I am right now.

I maintain this package for a friend who has retired and I thought the
tedious part of keeping it on CRAN was going to be bringing 4k+ lines of
legacy Fortran (sort of) into the 21th century, but I have now spent way
more time on this mysterious vignette building error.  I hope someone can
share a solution or even just a strategy for figuring this issue out.


Best,


Jeff


-- 

Jeffrey B. Lewis
Special Assistant to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
    for Academic Planning and Budget
Professor, Department of Political Science
University of California, Los Angeles
BOX 951472, 4289A Bunche Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1472

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