Description
Open source software (OSS) is typically created in a decentralized self-organizing process by a communityof developers having the same or similar interests. A key factor for the success of OSS over the last two
decades is the Internet: Developers who rarely meet face-to-face can employ new means of communication,
both for rapidly writing and deploying software. Therefore, many tools emerged that assist a collaborative software development process, including in particular tools for source code management (SCM) and version control. R-Forge (http://R-Forge.R-project.org/) provides such a set of tools for SCM and various web-
based features (Theußl and Zeileis, 2008). It aims to provide a platform for collaborative development of R
packages, R-related software or further projects.
R-Forge offers three important features for R package developers. First, it offers a CRAN-style repository for hosting development releases of R packages. Second, a quality management system similar to that of CRAN checks packages on R-Forge in a standardized way on different platforms based on R CMD check. The resulting log files are accessible through the R-Forge web interface. Finally, developers have the opportunity to directly submit their packages to CRAN via a standardized web-based procedure.
In our talk we discuss the processes on R-Forge which are related to the package building and checking
system. On the one hand, these processes ensure that two important features, namely (1) the CRAN-style
repository, and (2) the quality management system satisfy specific standards like high availability and support for multiple platforms. On the other hand, these processes pose challenges in terms of the computational resources employed and the complexity of the systems being managed. We also discuss possible enhancements related to package development on R-Forge and how these enhancements can be suitably integrated.
| Period | 13 Jul 2009 → 14 Jul 2009 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Directions in Statistical Computing (DSC) |
| Event type | Unknown |
| Degree of Recognition | International |