CODEWITHSUNDEEP
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mckbrd
mckbrd

Reputation: 1135

Publishing beta version of an R package

I develop an R package, hosted on my own package repository. I have several stable versions and I can install them as expected: install.packages("lib") installs the latest version and if I want to install a prior version, I can always use install.packages("https://myrepo/lib_0.1.2.tar.gz").

I now want to publish beta releases to my repository. From https://combine-australia.github.io/r-pkg-dev/versioning.html, I understand that packages that have a "dev" component (the fourth number, e.g. 0.1.2.9000) should be considered unstable versions. I therefore expect them to be ignored when using install.packages("lib"), but to be able to install them using install.packages("https://myrepo/lib_0.1.2.9000.tar.gz").

However, this is not the behavior I experience: if lib_0.1.1.tar.gz and lib_0.1.2.9000.tar.gz are published, install.packages("lib") will install lib_0.1.2.9000.tar.gz. Indeed, tools::write_PACKAGES generates a PACKAGES file with version 0.1.2.9000, not 0.1.1 as I would expect. I know I could alter the PACKAGES file manually to include 0.1.1 instead of 0.1.2.9000, but I would like to use standard tools as much as possible.

Is there a way to make tools::write_PACKAGES not list versions with a dev component? Or generate the PACKAGES files I expect with another standard tool?

Upvotes: 5

Views: 82

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