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Apply .Rbuildignore before copying files in R CMD build

7 messages · Alexey Sergushichev, Duncan Murdoch, Kevin Ushey +1 more

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Hi,

Is there any reason why .Rbuildignore is not used before copying package
files in R CMD build?

For some of the packages I develop I have rather large directories with
miscellaneous files for testing and other purposes. They are in my
.Rbuildignore (and .gitignore) file, but that doesn't prevent R CMD build
from trying to copy them on the build process. Having them copied either
breaks the build completely because /tmp directory gets out of space, or
just slows it down a lot. So I wonder if there is a specific reason for
this behavior and whether it could be change or controlled by some
parameter.

There is some discussion in the context of pkgbuild package:
https://github.com/r-lib/pkgbuild/issues/59 It provides a hackish
workaround for that, which also does not work on Windows.

Best,
Alexey
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On 2024-08-28 5:59 p.m., Alexey Sergushichev wrote:
I think the reason is simplicity.  The build process can add, delete or 
modify files.  You wouldn't want that to happen on the original source 
files, so R copies the files to a temporary location to run things.

If it applied .Rbuildignore first, then important files for the build 
might not be available, and the build could fail.

Having an R package that needs so much data that you can't fit two 
copies of it on your disk is a really unusual situation.  I think it 
will have to be up to you to fix it (by increasing your temp space, or 
decreasing the size of some of those files, or something else).

Duncan Murdoch
#
Hi Alexey,

It's kind of gross, but if you need a local solution, you could put
your own executable `cp` script on your PATH somewhere, and have that
do something "smart" when it's invoked by R. One way to detect that
would be to check if the `R_CMD` environment variable is set. For
example:

https://gist.github.com/kevinushey/2351194ba540627831fa2d58073c097a

For posterity, this was filed some time ago on R's bug tracker at:

https://bugs.r-project.org/show_bug.cgi?id=17549

Best,
Kevin
On Wed, Aug 28, 2024 at 3:00?PM Alexey Sergushichev <alsergbox at gmail.com> wrote:
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modify files.  You wouldn't want that to happen on the original source
files, so R copies the files to a temporary location to run things.
might not be available, and the build could fail.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Thanks, I didn't realize that.
copies of it on your disk is a really unusual situation.  I think it
will have to be up to you to fix it (by increasing your temp space, or
decreasing the size of some of those files, or something else).

These files are not required, but help to run and test some things. But I
guess I have to deal with that.

--
Alexey


On Wed, Aug 28, 2024 at 5:11?PM Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.duncan at gmail.com>
wrote:

  
  
#
your own executable `cp` script on your PATH somewhere, and have that
do something "smart" when it's invoked by R.

Hah! Currently I opted out to using pkgbuild functions and specified
`Config/build/copy-method: link` in my DESCRIPTION file (
https://pkgbuild.r-lib.org/reference/build.html). It's also a bit weird,
but at least easy to do now.
https://bugs.r-project.org/show_bug.cgi?id=17549

Thanks for the link!

--
ALexey
On Wed, Aug 28, 2024 at 5:13?PM Kevin Ushey <kevinushey at gmail.com> wrote:

            

  
  
#
On Thu, Aug 29, 2024 at 12:12?AM Duncan Murdoch
<murdoch.duncan at gmail.com> wrote:
[...]
AFAICT the ignored files are deleted right after the copy, so they
are not present during the build process. (But FIXME.)
#
On 2024-08-29 3:34 p.m., G?bor Cs?rdi wrote:
I think some builds do that, but builds of packages with vignettes 
generally do an install of the package, and that might need the ignored 
files.  There could be other situations too.

You probably know this, but for the benefit of those who don't:  you can 
read the build operations in the 1100 line function 
tools:::.build_packages, which starts here: 
https://github.com/wch/r-source/blob/1bdf2503322b43ce8698008eb5bc1f55bc8a58c2/src/library/tools/R/build.R#L93

The prepare_pkg() function is run between the copy and the cleanup, and 
it might do a package install.

Duncan Murdoch