Re: packaging an alternate R engine
[ Suggestion: s/parallel/alternate/ as "parallel" has some other connotation
in the context of computing / programming with data. ]
On 25 September 2015 at 14:35, Jonathon Love wrote:
| hi,
|
| i'm wanting to create a deb package for a parallel R installation.
|
| the software i'm working toward packaging, JASP, has some issues with
| the versions of R from CRAN, and i'd like to provide a parallel version
You know, you could talk to the package maintainer. Just a thought.
| of R (based on the older ubuntu versions) that JASP can use, and make it
There is no 'based on older ubuntu version'. You seem to just use older
packages for access to the then-current debian/ directory.
| available from my PPA.
|
| this is also nice, because it means i can provide consistent R versions
| across, say, ubuntu versions, without forcing users to use a particular
| version.
|
| i suspect this is at odds with the debian packaging philosophy, but how
| else does one handle these compatibility issues?
Just like with all other packages offering similar programs across different
packages. The easiest is to simply NOT conflict on file names and
locations. Because that would be serious packaging bug.
I *did* have an alternate package when the Jit patch for R was still
maintained by Stephen Milborrow [ it later clashed with changes in R's
internals which also made the need for the patch less compelling ]. Look for
r-base-core-ra. If you can't find I do of course have sources at home too.
That would be the cleanest path. We could (will ?) do the same with Radford
Neal's pqR (if there is interest), and once Google releases their CXXR-based
version (planned for the same time as R 3.3.0 next April).
I am fearful of modding the default R (from R Core) for fear of introducing
needless bugs in the transition. There will for the foreseeable future be a
"main R" and we will keep that packaged as is. (Speaking with my maintainer
hat and my R Foundation board member hat. YMMV.)
| anyhow, i'm having difficulty modifying the existing source package to
| install to a different location.
|
| i figure all i would need to do is add to r-base-core.dirs the lines:
|
| usr/lib/JASP
| usr/lib/JASP/R
|
| and to r-base-core.install the lines:
|
| usr/lib/R/* usr/lib/JASP/R
| usr/share/* usr/lib/JASP/
|
| and the files would be installed to the appropriate location (perhaps as
| well as to the old location).
|
| but when i `dpkg -c` the resulting file, none of its contents are at the
| new location.
|
| any tips on what i'm doing wrong?
See above. Just install to a different location, and provide a different
binary (well, script) than /usr/bin/R. Think through carefully what you want
to do with packages as the default from the mainline R package may or may not
work for you if you use an older code base.
Dirk
| with thanks
|
| jonathon
|
| --
|
| JASP - A Fresh Way to Do Statistics
| http://jasp-stats.org/
|
| --
|
| How happy is he born and taught,
| That serveth not another's will;
| Whose armour is his honest thought,
| And simple truth his utmost skill
|
| This man is freed from servile bands
| Of hope to rise, or fear to fall:
| Lord of himself, though not of lands,
| And, having nothing, yet hath all.
|
| -- Sir Henry Wotton
|
--
http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com | @eddelbuettel | edd@debian.org
Reply to: