How to check your package with R-devel

In response to an update to ggplot2 (now verson 0.9.2) I had to make some minor changes to our package TripleR. The CRAN maintainers also asked to …

Please also fix other issues that may be apparent in checks with a current R-devel.

Now, how can this be done? Here’s my workflow on Mac OS (might be slightly different on Win or Linux):

1.   Install R-develparallel to your existing (stable) R version
   1.  Before installation, run sudo pkgutil --forget org.r-project.R.Leopard.fw.pkg in the Terminal, otherwise the installer will overwrite your existing version
   2. Rename your R.app and R64.app or move them temporarily into another folder, as the installer of R-devel probably will replace them by new version that are not compatible with your existing stable R version.
2.   Use RSwitch to change the active R version
3.   Install packages which your own packages depends on; you have to do it from source, as the binaries for the R-devel do not exist: install.packages("lme4", type="source")
4.  Check your own package using following flag: R CMD check pkg --as-cran
5. Check if your package also works on Windows using winbuilder

Furthermore, check whether your package follows the CRAN Repository Policies.

PS: Finally, I managed to get rid of the annoying R CMD check warnings like “no visible binding for global variable ‘x’”. These occured due to the ggplot2 syntax. Here‘s a solution.