Dirk Eddelbuettel
2021-May-04 19:22 UTC
[Rd] Testing R build when using --without-recommended-packages?
On 4 May 2021 at 11:25, Henrik Bengtsson wrote: | FWIW, | | $ ./configure --help | ... | --with-recommended-packages | use/install recommended R packages [yes] Of course. But look at the verb in your Subject: no optionality _in testing_ there. You obviously need to be able to build R itself to then build the recommended packages you need for testing. Dirk -- https://dirk.eddelbuettel.com | @eddelbuettel | edd at debian.org
Henrik Bengtsson
2021-May-04 20:03 UTC
[Rd] Testing R build when using --without-recommended-packages?
Two questions to R Core: 1. Is R designed so that 'recommended' packages are optional, or should that be considered uncharted territories? 2. Can such an R build/installation be validated using existing check methods? -- Dirk, it's not clear to me whether you know for sure, or you draw conclusions based your long experience and reading. I think it's very important that others don't find this thread later on and read your comments as if they're the "truth" (unless they are). I haven't re-read it from start to finish, but there are passages in 'R Installation and Administration' suggesting you can build and install R without 'recommended' packages. For example, post-installation, Section 'Testing an Installation' suggests you can run (after making sure `make install-tests`): cd tests ../bin/R CMD make check but they fail the same way. The passage continuous "... and other useful targets are test-BasePackages and test-Recommended to run tests of the standard and recommended packages (if installed) respectively." (*). So, to me that hints at 'recommended' packages are optional just as they're "Priority: recommended". Further down, there's also a mentioning of: $ R_LIBS_USER="" R --vanilla> Sys.setenv(LC_COLLATE = "C", LC_TIME = "C", LANGUAGE = "en") > tools::testInstalledPackages(scope = "base")which also produces errors when 'recommended' packages are missing, e.g. "Failed with error: 'there is no package called 'nlme'". (*) BTW, '../bin/R CMD make test-BasePackages' gives "make: *** No rule to make target 'test-BasePackages'. Stop." Thanks, /Henrik On Tue, May 4, 2021 at 12:22 PM Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd at debian.org> wrote:> > > On 4 May 2021 at 11:25, Henrik Bengtsson wrote: > | FWIW, > | > | $ ./configure --help > | ... > | --with-recommended-packages > | use/install recommended R packages [yes] > > Of course. But look at the verb in your Subject: no optionality _in testing_ there. > > You obviously need to be able to build R itself to then build the recommended > packages you need for testing. > > Dirk > > -- > https://dirk.eddelbuettel.com | @eddelbuettel | edd at debian.org