title: Prepare your system for package development output: html_document:
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Although we'll build a very simple package, we're still going to use the most modern and powerful tools for R package development. In theory, this could eventually involve compiling C/C++ code, which means you need what's called a build environment.
back to All the package things
Update R and RStudio
Embarking on your career as an R package developer is an important milestone. Why not celebrate by updating R and RStudio? This is something we recommended early and we recommend doing it often. Go back to Day 0 of the course for reminders on the process.
2014-11 FYI: TA Bernhard was running R version 3.1.2 and RStudio 0.98.1056 during this lesson.
Special considerations for Windows
Sorry folks! Yes here we are again, installing software together while the Mac people sit there looking smug.
Warning: we are still weighing various recommendations for what Windows users should do. You can probably get by for quite a while without installing Rtools as described below, but it will eventually be come necessary and the devtools package will alert you to this. For example, once your package development/building activities involve compiling code, you will need Rtools.
You need to install Rtools. This is NOT an R package but is rather "a collection of resources for building packages for R under Microsoft Windows, or for building R itself". Go here and do what it says:
http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/Rtools/
Note the repeated advice to stay current: "We recommend that users use the latest release of Rtools with the latest release of R."
R packages to help you build yet more R packages
Install the following packages. If you already have them, update them. versions reflect TA Bernhard's system when lesson was delivered 2014-11
devtools1.6.1roxygen24.0.2testthat0.9.1knitr1.7
Example of how to check which version of a package you've got installed:
`packageVersion("devtools")`
Example of how to install a package and all it's dependencies:
`install.packages("devtools", dependencies = TRUE)`
See how profound your problem with out-of-date packages is:
`old.packages()`
Just update everything:
`update.packages(ask = FALSE)`
CAVEAT: The above examples will only consult your default library and default CRAN mirror. If you want to target a non-default library, use function arguments to say so. Packages that you have installed from GitHub? You'll need to check the current-ness of your version and perform upgrades yourself.
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