R devel - May 2007 - Passing R CMD Check without data

I have a package which passes R CMD check with the --no-vignettes option.
However, it does not pass the check without that, as the vignette relies on
some data files that I cannot distribute. However, I would like the package
to pass the check so that I can put it on CRAN, so that other people with
access to the dataset can put the data into the package, and then rebuild
the vignettes themselves.

One solution that was suggested to me on r-help was to have the vignette
read off tex from a pre-built file which can be compiled with Sweave
previously. However, this isnt really a graceful solution to handle the
problem. Is it possible to put something in the Rnw file which would make it
pass R CMD check even without the data? (I.E. it checks for the data, if it
is present then it rebuilds the vignette, if not, then R CMD check leaves it
alone)

Sincerely,
Arjun Ravi Narayan
contact@arjunnarayan.com

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"Arjun Ravi Narayan" <contact at arjunnarayan.com> writes:
> I have a package which passes R CMD check with the --no-vignettes option.
> However, it does not pass the check without that, as the vignette relies on
> some data files that I cannot distribute. However, I would like the package
> to pass the check so that I can put it on CRAN, so that other people with
> access to the dataset can put the data into the package, and then rebuild
> the vignettes themselves.
I would recommend having a separate vignette that uses toy data, if
that is all that is available, that demonstrates the basic use of
the package.  A consider part of the value of a package vignette,
IMHO, is having something that (i) the user can run interactively on
their own, and (ii) can be automatically checked.

Your current vignette can be included as pdf (the Rnw could live in
another place under inst/).

You might also look at the vsn package in Bioconductor which uses a
Makefile to avoid R CMD check from building its vignette because it is
too time consuming...

+ seth

-- 
Seth Falcon | Computational Biology | Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
http://bioconductor.org