[R-pkg-devel] .gitkeep file to prevent folder from erasing when empty

Hello everyone:

I am working on a vignette for a package that outputs reports for users. As
part of the vignette, users can manually run eval=FALSE code that creates
example reports. These example reports that they create can be saved to an
output folder within extdata (extdata/OutputFolder).

When I submit to CRAN, I will be sure that OutputFolder is empty. However,
whenever I make it empty, the entire folder disappears. To combat this
problem, I have placed a .gitkeep file within the OutputFolder.

I *believe* the presence of the .gitkeep file works as intended (prevents
the automatic removal of the OutputFolder when empty). However, upon
running check(), I receive a note:

*checking for hidden files and directories ... NOTE*
*Found the following hidden files and directories:*
*  inst/extdata/OutputFiles/.gitkeep*
*These were most likely included in error. See section ?Package*
*structure? in the ?Writing R Extensions? manual.*

Does anyone have advice on how to effectively remove this note? Otherwise,
does my rationale above seem like a reasonable purpose for keeping the note?

Thank you for helping me approach this!

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Hi,

You can include the .gitkeep file in .Rbuildignore. This will prevent it from
being present in the package you test or submit, but git willl still see it
and keep the directory.

Johannes

Am Montag, 3. Oktober 2016, 00:03:33 schrieb Luck Buttered:

Hello everyone:

I am working on a vignette for a package that outputs reports for users. As
part of the vignette, users can manually run eval=FALSE code that creates
example reports. These example reports that they create can be saved to an
output folder within extdata (extdata/OutputFolder).

When I submit to CRAN, I will be sure that OutputFolder is empty. However,
whenever I make it empty, the entire folder disappears. To combat this
problem, I have placed a .gitkeep file within the OutputFolder.

I *believe* the presence of the .gitkeep file works as intended (prevents
the automatic removal of the OutputFolder when empty). However, upon
running check(), I receive a note:

*checking for hidden files and directories ... NOTE*
*Found the following hidden files and directories:*
*  inst/extdata/OutputFiles/.gitkeep*
*These were most likely included in error. See section ?Package*
*structure? in the ?Writing R Extensions? manual.*

Does anyone have advice on how to effectively remove this note? Otherwise,
does my rationale above seem like a reasonable purpose for keeping the note?

Thank you for helping me approach this!

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

On 03.10.2016 08:13, Johannes Ranke wrote:

Hi,

You can include the .gitkeep file in .Rbuildignore. This will prevent it
from
being present in the package you test or submit, but git willl still see
it
and keep the directory.

Johannes

Am Montag, 3. Oktober 2016, 00:03:33 schrieb Luck Buttered:

Hello everyone:

I am working on a vignette for a package that outputs reports for users.
As
part of the vignette, users can manually run eval=FALSE code that creates
example reports. These example reports that they create can be saved to
an
output folder within extdata (extdata/OutputFolder).

Note that this is a bad idea.
Your users may not have write access to that folder, e.g. for network
wiede installation as the one at my department.
Also, you have to ask users (por let them enter a path or file) before
writing somewhere on the filespace if not tempdir().

Best,
Uwe Ligges

When I submit to CRAN, I will be sure that OutputFolder is empty.
However,
whenever I make it empty, the entire folder disappears. To combat this
problem, I have placed a .gitkeep file within the OutputFolder.

I *believe* the presence of the .gitkeep file works as intended (prevents
the automatic removal of the OutputFolder when empty). However, upon
running check(), I receive a note:

*checking for hidden files and directories ... NOTE*
*Found the following hidden files and directories:*
*  inst/extdata/OutputFiles/.gitkeep*
*These were most likely included in error. See section ?Package*
*structure? in the ?Writing R Extensions? manual.*

Does anyone have advice on how to effectively remove this note?
Otherwise,
does my rationale above seem like a reasonable purpose for keeping the
note?

Thank you for helping me approach this!

        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Hello everyone:

Thank you for the helpful suggestions!

I moved the directory name to the .Rbuildignore file, as Johannes
suggested.

Uwe, thanks for bringing up that topic! Yes, I read that we cannot
automatically write files to user's filespace (outside of tempdir()). So,
there is nothing in our package that will automatically write to user's
filespace. However, we do allow users to manually enter the suggested path
when going over examples in the vignette (which is the
extdata/OutputFolder).

We did not think about if users cannot have write access to that folder.
However, that will not render the package useless for them. Instead, they
can manually enter an output folder pathway that works for them, and follow
the vignette examples that way. The presence of the extdata/OutputFolder
is just recommended for simplicity with following examples (and if write
available for users).

Thanks again!

On Mon, Oct 3, 2016 at 2:25 AM, Uwe Ligges <ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.
de> wrote:

On 03.10.2016 08:13, Johannes Ranke wrote:

Hi,

You can include the .gitkeep file in .Rbuildignore. This will prevent it
from
being present in the package you test or submit, but git willl still see
it
and keep the directory.

Johannes

Am Montag, 3. Oktober 2016, 00:03:33 schrieb Luck Buttered:

Hello everyone:

I am working on a vignette for a package that outputs reports for
users. As
part of the vignette, users can manually run eval=FALSE code that
creates
example reports. These example reports that they create can be saved to
an
output folder within extdata (extdata/OutputFolder).

Note that this is a bad idea.
Your users may not have write access to that folder, e.g. for network
wiede installation as the one at my department.
Also, you have to ask users (por let them enter a path or file) before
writing somewhere on the filespace if not tempdir().

Best,
Uwe Ligges

When I submit to CRAN, I will be sure that OutputFolder is empty.
However,
whenever I make it empty, the entire folder disappears. To combat this
problem, I have placed a .gitkeep file within the OutputFolder.

I *believe* the presence of the .gitkeep file works as intended
(prevents
the automatic removal of the OutputFolder when empty). However, upon
running check(), I receive a note:

*checking for hidden files and directories ... NOTE*
*Found the following hidden files and directories:*
*  inst/extdata/OutputFiles/.gitkeep*
*These were most likely included in error. See section ?Package*
*structure? in the ?Writing R Extensions? manual.*

Does anyone have advice on how to effectively remove this note?
Otherwise,
does my rationale above seem like a reasonable purpose for keeping the
note?

Thank you for helping me approach this!

        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Hello everyone:

Inside .Rbuildignore, I put the following line:

^OutputFolder$

However, I notice that the extdata/OutputFolder still disappears if
there are no files inside of it. (I am thinking this happens when I push
changes to Github). I am trying to keep the extdata/OutputFolder present
(whether or not it has files inside of it) for both github and when I
submit the package.

Thanks again for any input you may have!




On Mon, Oct 3, 2016 at 8:15 AM, Luck Buttered <luckbuttered at gmail.com
<mailto:luckbuttered at gmail.com>> wrote:

    Hello everyone:

    Thank you for the helpful suggestions!

    I moved the directory name to the .Rbuildignore file, as Johannes
    suggested.

    Uwe, thanks for bringing up that topic! Yes, I read that we cannot
    automatically write files to user's filespace (outside of
    tempdir()). So, there is nothing in our package that will
    automatically write to user's filespace. However, we do allow users
    to manually enter the suggested path when going over examples in the
    vignette (which is the extdata/OutputFolder).

    We did not think about if users cannot have write access to that
    folder. However, that will not render the package useless for them.
    Instead, they can manually enter an output folder pathway that works
    for them, and follow the vignette examples that way. The presence of
    the extdata/OutputFolder is just recommended for simplicity with
    following examples (and if write available for users).

    Thanks again!

    On Mon, Oct 3, 2016 at 2:25 AM, Uwe Ligges
    <ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.de
    <mailto:ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.de>> wrote:



        On 03.10.2016 08:13, Johannes Ranke wrote:

            Hi,

            You can include the .gitkeep file in .Rbuildignore. This
            will prevent it from
            being present in the package you test or submit, but git
            willl still see it
            and keep the directory.

            Johannes

            Am Montag, 3. Oktober 2016, 00:03:33 schrieb Luck Buttered:

                Hello everyone:

                I am working on a vignette for a package that outputs
                reports for users. As
                part of the vignette, users can manually run eval=FALSE
                code that creates
                example reports. These example reports that they create
                can be saved to an
                output folder within extdata (extdata/OutputFolder).



        Note that this is a bad idea.
        Your users may not have write access to that folder, e.g. for
        network wiede installation as the one at my department.
        Also, you have to ask users (por let them enter a path or file)
        before writing somewhere on the filespace if not tempdir().

        Best,
        Uwe Ligges





                When I submit to CRAN, I will be sure that OutputFolder
                is empty. However,
                whenever I make it empty, the entire folder disappears.
                To combat this
                problem, I have placed a .gitkeep file within the
                OutputFolder.

                I *believe* the presence of the .gitkeep file works as
                intended (prevents
                the automatic removal of the OutputFolder when empty).
                However, upon
                running check(), I receive a note:

                *checking for hidden files and directories ... NOTE*
                *Found the following hidden files and directories:*
                *  inst/extdata/OutputFiles/.gitkeep*
                *These were most likely included in error. See section
                ?Package*
                *structure? in the ?Writing R Extensions? manual.*

                Does anyone have advice on how to effectively remove
                this note? Otherwise,
                does my rationale above seem like a reasonable purpose
                for keeping the note?

                Thank you for helping me approach this!

                        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]