[R-pkg-devel] Indicate dependency on kitty in DESCRIPTION

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 2025-07-07 11:23 a.m., Jan van der Laan wrote:
> 
> I have a package, which I am thinking to submit to CRAN. It can output
> graphics/plots to the kitty terminal (https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/).
> However, I am not sure if and how I should indicate the dependency on
> kitty. The package builds and installs fine without kitty. However, you
> can't really use it without it (it will generate errors when you try).
> 
> Two possible fields in the DESCRIPTION could be:
> 
> SystemRequirements: kitty
> 
> And since, kitty only runs on macos and linux:
> 
> OS_type: unix
> 
> Should I add these? Like above?

I think the SystemRequirements field is enough.  *Your package* doesn't 
depend on unix, it just depends on kitty.

Duncan Murdoch