[R-sig-Debian] Suggestions to improve the info page of /bin/linux/debian

[Mathieu Basille]

Hi Johannes,

I didn't know what would be the best approach to modify the page—how it was 
generated, is there a central place, etc.—which is why I posted on 
r-sig-debian in the first place. Anyway, although I'm more or less familiar 
with markdown and pandoc, it was easier for me to edit directly README.html 
as it was on CRAN. Please find attached a revision with the modifications I 
suggested earlier. Again, I tried to be correct to the best of my 
knowledge, but I may not be entirely accurate.

I simply edited (and formated the file) using Emacs, and manually added the 
TOC and other suggested modifications (notably reorganization). I think 
there is still room for improvement, but this should get things started. I 
cleaned the layout, but left most of the actual code and text unchanged.

I think the whole page would also benefit from a CSS, e.g. for titles 
(instead of caps), but left it without it.

Best,
Mathieu.


Le 02/03/2015 04:09, Johannes Ranke a écrit :
> Hi Mathieu,
>
> thanks for your input. It reminds me how I got involved in the Debian
> backports, as I thought the Debian README on CRAN needed an update...
>
> At the moment I do not have the time to reorganize the README, so if you would
> like to go ahead and implement your changes into a README.html, I wouldn't
> mind. Otherwise I am willing to pick up your suggestions, but it will take me
> some time to get around to do it.
>
>  From my work on R package vignettes I know that pandoc is able to generate
> single html documents with linked TOC from markdown, which is more flexible
> than the text2html stuff I am using at the moment (as well as Michael does).
> But maybe you or someone else on this list knows another convenient way? Or it
> could be written in HTML using div tags and a hand-crafted css...
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Johannes
>
> Am Donnerstag, 26. Februar 2015, 15:49:58 schrieb Mathieu Basille:
>> After Johannes set up the CRAN repository for Jessie, I had quite some
>> trouble figuring out what any user should do to have a running and
>> up-to-date R in Debian (particularly Testing). Part of the problem is, I
>> think, the overwhelming documentation on the page "DEBIAN PACKAGES OF R
>> SOFTWARE" which is provided on CRAN at /bin/linux/debian. Some information
>> is also lacking in places.
>>
>> So here are a few suggestions to try to arrange this page. The main one is
>> actually a reorganization of the whole page, which should make it easier
>> from a user perspective. Note that I think all information I added is
>> correct, but it might not be entirely accurate.
>>
>> I think the page in itself would benefit largely from the inclusion of a
>> table of contents (with links to sections). With the page reorganized, that
>> would follow this:
>>
>> INSTALLATION
>>      ADMINISTRATION AND MAINTENANCE
>>      PATHWAYS TO R PACKAGES
>> BACKPORTS ON CRAN
>>      SUPPORTED PACKAGES
>>      DEBIAN WHEEZY (STABLE)
>>      DEBIAN JESSIE (TESTING)
>>      DEBIAN SQUEEZE (OLD STABLE)
>>      DEBIAN SID (UNSTABLE)
>>      SECURE APT
>>      SUPPORTED PLATFORMS
>> REPORTING PROBLEMS
>> BACKPORTING FOR DEBIAN
>> ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
>>
>> I added at the bottom of this message a few modifications of some of these
>> (sub-)sections. The vast majority of the information is already there, so
>> these are really minor changes, except for the Jessie sub-section.
>>
>> Hope this helps,
>> Mathieu.
>>
>>
>> ==========================================================================
>>
>> INSTALLATION
>>
>> With an appropriate entry in /etc/apt/sources.list *(see below according to
>> the branch of Debian used)*, the newest R release *including recommended
>> packages* can be installed using a command sequence like
>>
>>
>> SUPPORTED PACKAGES
>>
>> [Remove:]   r-cran-rmatrix
>>
>>
>> DEBIAN JESSIE (TESTING)
>>
>> As of end of January 2015, there is a new repository containing binaries
>> for Jessie (current testing). This repository hosts all supported packages
>> presented above, and is updated upon new R releases.
>>
>> To use R supported packages on Debian Jessie, simply add something like
>>
>>      deb http://<favorite-cran-mirror>/bin/linux/debian jessie-cran3/
>>
>> to the file /etc/apt/sources.list on your computer. You need to substitute
>> <favorite-cran-mirror> by one of the mirror URLs listed in
>>
>>      http://cran.r-project.org/mirrors.html
>>
>> Alternatively, it is possible to use APT-pining to install only R-related
>> packages from SID using Debian official repositories (/!\ Warning: should
>> be reserved to advanced users already familiar with pining their Debian
>> system). Simply add the supported packages (and other r-cran-* of interest)
>> in /etc/apt/preferences with a priority greater or equal than the priority
>> of regular testing packages:
>>
>>      Package: r-base r-base-core r-base-dev r-recommended r-cran-boot
>> r-cran-cluster r-cran-class r-cran-codetools r-cran-foreign
>> r-cran-kernsmooth r-cran-lattice r-cran-mass r-cran-matrix r-cran-mgcv
>> r-cran-nlme r-cran-nnet r-cran-rpart r-cran-spatial r-cran-survival littler
>> r-cran-rodbc python-rpy python-rpy2 rkward r-cran-jags r-cran-coda
>>      Pin: release o=Debian,a=unstable,l=Debian
>>      Pin-Priority: 900
>>
>>
>> DEBIAN SID (UNSTABLE)
>>
>> The latest stable versions of R and R packages are readily available in
>> official Debian SID repositories.

-- 

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Mathieu Basille
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