R package guidelines - ArchWiki

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This document covers standards and guidelines on writing PKGBUILDs for R packages. Most information can be obtained by looking at the package's `DESCRIPTION` file. You can get most of this from inside R by running `tools::CRAN_package_db()`. You could also visit CRAN, Bioconductor link1, and Bioconductor link2 for all the R packages' information.

## Package naming

Packages should be named `r-pkgname`, where pkgname is taken from the `Package` field from the `DESCRIPTION` file. The package name should be lowercase.

## Package Version

Take it from the `Version` field. R allows packages to have colons and hyphens in their version, this is disallowed in PKGBUILDs. Convert these to a period or underscore.

## Arch

See PKGBUILD#arch. If the package's CRAN webpage has `NeedsCompilation: yes` it is likely architecture-specific. Otherwise, it is likely not.

## Dependencies

R packages listed in `Depends`, `Imports`, or the `LinkingTo` fields in a package's `DESCRIPTION` file should be listed under depends.

R packages listed in `Suggests` should be listed as optdepends.

Some packages require external tools, these are listed under `SystemRequirements`.

gcc-fortran is needed as depends for some packages but is not always listed in the `DESCRIPTION` file.

## Source

All R packages available on CRAN are available at the website `https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/cranname_cranversion.tar.gz` where `cranname` is the name of the package on CRAN and `cranversion` the cran version.

R packages avalable on Bioconductor are available at the website `https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/src/contrib/bcname_bcname.tar.gz` or `https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/data/annotation/src/contrib/bcname_bcname.tar.gz` where `bcname` is the name of the package on Bioconductor and `bcver` the version.

## Build and Package

R has built-in support for building packages. Here are three templates of `PKGBUILD`s for three repositories: MRAN, CRAN and Bioconductor. MRAN is a snapshot mirror of CRAN, using this template will allow the package to build even when out-of-date.

### MRAN

    _cranname=
    _cranver=
    _updatedate=YYYY-MM-DD
    pkgname=r-${_cranname,,}
    pkgver=${_cranver//[:-]/.}
    pkgrel=1
    pkgdesc=""
    arch=()
    url="https://cran.r-project.org/package=${_cranname}"
    license=()
    depends=(r)
    makedepends=()
    optdepends=()
    source=("https://cran.microsoft.com/snapshot/${_updatedate}/src/contrib/${_cranname}_${_cranver}.tar.gz")
    sha256sums=()

    build() {
      R CMD INSTALL ${_cranname}_${_cranver}.tar.gz -l "${srcdir}"
    }

    package() {
      install -dm0755 "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/R/library"

      cp -a --no-preserve=ownership "${_cranname}" "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/R/library"
    }

### CRAN

    _cranname=
    _cranver=
    pkgname=r-${_cranname,,}
    pkgver=${_cranver//[:-]/.}
    pkgrel=1
    pkgdesc=""
    arch=()
    url="https://cran.r-project.org/package=${_cranname}"
    license=()
    depends=(r)
    makedepends=()
    optdepends=()
    source=("https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/${_cranname}_${_cranver}.tar.gz")
    sha256sums=()

    build() {
      R CMD INSTALL ${_cranname}_${_cranver}.tar.gz -l "${srcdir}"
    }

    package() {
      install -dm0755 "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/R/library"

      cp -a --no-preserve=ownership "${_cranname}" "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/R/library"
    }

### Bioconductor

    _bcname=
    _bcver=
    pkgname=r-${_bcname,,}
    pkgver=${_bcver//[:-]/.}
    pkgrel=1
    pkgdesc=""
    arch=()
    url="https://bioconductor.org/packages/${_bcname}"
    license=()
    depends=(r)
    makedepends=()
    optdepends=()
    source=("https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/src/contrib/${_bcname}_${_bcver}.tar.gz")
    # or
    # source=("https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/data/annotation/src/contrib/${_bcname}_${_bcver}.tar.gz")
    sha256sums=()

    build() {
      R CMD INSTALL ${_bcname}_${_bcver}.tar.gz -l "${srcdir}"
    }

    package() {
      install -dm0755 "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/R/library"

      cp -a --no-preserve=ownership "${_bcname}" "${pkgdir}/usr/lib/R/library"
    }

## Tips and tricks

### Bioconductor repository

To access the bioconductor packages easily, you can add the bioarchlinux repository.

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- Arch package guidelines