[R-pkg-devel] [Learning] the secret of Win[dows C-backed packages]

One other option is to include the src for libmagic inside your
package, and use that as a fallback if it's not installed on the
system. That gives linux users what they want (linking to the system
package), and windows users what they want (it just works). It only
works for simple libraries, but it looks like libmagic might qualify.

I could have sworn I did that in a package, but I can't remember which one
:(

Hadley

On Sat, Aug 13, 2016 at 11:34 AM, Bob Rudis <bob at rud.is> wrote:

Hey folks,

I usually stare in awe at the C-backed packages that rely on eternal
libraries which are super-easy to get working on macOS & *nix _but_ that
also work perfectly on Windows. I fire up Windows (*maybe*) once a month

to

test some of my packages but I'm curious as to what I need to do to

setup a

more extended toolchain to create libraries such as are found in
https://github.com/rwinlib.

Jeroen (I think others, too) seem to effortlessly package those up and I
fully grok his "anticonf" setup and the 32-bit & 64-bit Windows library
setup. I just can't seem to actually do the building.

Why I'm asking what I'm asking (below) is that I'm working on something

for

the $DAYJOB now - https://github.com/hrbrmstr/wand - that requires

libmagic

and I kinda, unfortunately, actually need it to also work on Windows (it
usually doesn't matter, but this time some folks who use Windows systems

at

work need to use this forthcoming package).

Rather than b[eu]g Jeroen or others for library building/packaging, I'd

be

very, keenly interested in learning what else besides Rtools I need to
install to be able to make similar binary bundles to include during
installation (and to have my compiled pkgs work on Windows).

My disdain for Windows and my frustration with the super-limited

toolchain

components installed with Rtools is probably contributing to my inability
to solve this on my own (no bash.exe...rly?). I used to use cygwin back

in

the day but there are so many cautions in the main R docs abt compatible
versions that I'd rather not spend hours or days figuring out something
that others already have.

One example here is that I actually managed to get one of the libmagic
support packages (the regex library) built and installed on Windows (in

the

toolchain /usr/local) but can't get libmagic's `configure` script to
find/use it.

I'm more than willing to write up any copious pointers folks provide

into a

detailed, attributed blog post or R Journal article since this is

seriously

the only bit holding me back from working on and releasing a ton of other
compilation-required packages to CRAN. I also know I'm not the only one

who

gets stalled when trying to get similar things (especially those with

full

Boost dependencies) to work on Windows.

thx,

-Bob

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