Advice on R Package Building
Give advice about good practices when building R packages. Advice includes functions and syntax to avoid, package structure, code complexity, code formatting, etc.
Installation
You can install the release version from CRAN
install.packages("goodpractice")and the development version from GitHub
pak::pak("ropensci-review-tools/goodpractice")Usage
library(goodpractice)
gp("<my-package>")Example
library(goodpractice)
# use example package contained in the goodpractice package
pkg_path <- system.file("bad1", package = "goodpractice")
g <- gp(pkg_path)#> ── R CMD build ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
#> checking for file ‘/tmp/Rtmpoq5BBi/remotes9dcd65cdcc55/badpackage/DESCRIPTION’ ... ✔ checking for file ‘/tmp/Rtmpoq5BBi/remotes9dcd65cdcc55/badpackage/DESCRIPTION’
#> ─ preparing ‘badpackage’:
#> checking DESCRIPTION meta-information ... ✔ checking DESCRIPTION meta-information
#> checking vignette meta-information ... ✔ checking vignette meta-information
#> ─ checking for LF line-endings in source and make files and shell scripts (400ms)
#> ─ checking for empty or unneeded directories
#> ─ building ‘badpackage_1.0.0.tar.gz’
#>
#>
g#> ── GP badpackage ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
#>
#> It is good practice to
#>
#> ✖ not use "Depends" in DESCRIPTION, as it can cause name clashes, and poor interaction with other packages. Use "Imports" instead.
#> ✖ omit "Date" in DESCRIPTION. It is not required and it gets invalid quite often. A build date will be added to the package when you
#> perform `R CMD build` on it.
#> ✖ add a "URL" field to DESCRIPTION. It helps users find information about your package online. If your package does not have a
#> homepage, add an URL to GitHub, or the CRAN package package page.
#> ✖ add a "BugReports" field to DESCRIPTION, and point it to a bug tracker. Many online code hosting services provide bug trackers for
#> free, https://github.com, https://gitlab.com, etc.
#> ✖ omit trailing semicolons from code lines. They are not needed and most R coding standards forbid them
#>
#> 'R/semicolons.R:4:30'
#> 'R/semicolons.R:5:29'
#> 'R/semicolons.R:9:38'
#>
#> ✖ not import packages as a whole, as this can cause name clashes between the imported packages. Instead, import only the specific
#> functions you need.
#> ✖ fix this R CMD check ERROR: VignetteBuilder package not declared: ‘knitr’ See section ‘The DESCRIPTION file’ in the ‘Writing R
#> Extensions’ manual.
#> ✖ avoid 'T' and 'F', as they are just variables which are set to the logicals 'TRUE' and 'FALSE' by default, but are not reserved
#> words and hence can be overwritten by the user. Hence, one should always use 'TRUE' and 'FALSE' for the logicals.
#>
#> 'R/tf.R'
#> 'R/tf.R'
#> 'R/tf.R'
#> 'R/tf.R'
#> 'R/tf.R'
#> ... and 4 more lines
#>
#> ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
# show all available checks
# all_checks()
# run only a specific check
g_url <- gp(pkg_path, checks = "description_url")
g_url#> ── GP badpackage ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
#>
#> It is good practice to
#>
#> ✖ add a "URL" field to DESCRIPTION. It helps users find information about your package online. If your package does not have a
#> homepage, add an URL to GitHub, or the CRAN package package page.
#> ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
# which checks were carried out?
checks(g_url)
# which checks failed?
failed_checks(g)#> [1] "no_description_depends"
#> [2] "no_description_date"
#> [3] "description_url"
#> [4] "description_bugreports"
#> [5] "lintr_semicolon_linter"
#> [6] "no_import_package_as_a_whole"
#> [7] "rcmdcheck_package_dependencies_present"
#> [8] "truefalse_not_tf"
# show the first 5 checks carried out and their results
results(g)[1:5,]Contributors
All contributions to this project are gratefully acknowledged using the allcontributors package following the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind are welcome!
Code
 gaborcsardi |
 hfrick |
 mpadge |
 owenjonesuob |
 ddbortoli |
 KarinaMarks |
 olivroy |
 dougmet |
 fabian-s |
 noamross |
 MichaelChirico |
 fkohrt |
 anasimmons |
 andrewl776 |
 HAlexander23 |
 jsta |
 LiNk-NY |
 nfultz |
 russHyde |
 marberts |
Issue Authors
Issue Contributors
 drisso |
 HarryJAlexander |
 gmbecker |
 daattali |
 joelnitta |
 lgallindo |
 annakrystalli |
 sda030 |
 mccroweyclinton-EPA |