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Story #16264

closed

Handle R SDK dependencies better

Added by Peter Amstutz almost 5 years ago. Updated about 4 years ago.

Status:
Resolved
Priority:
Normal
Assigned To:
Category:
SDKs
Target version:
Start date:
Due date:
% Done:

100%

Estimated time:
(Total: 0.00 h)
Story points:
-
Release relationship:
Auto

Description

Our build was broken for a while because Rcpp (a transitive dependency of a package we depend on) had a new release that is broken on R 3.3.

We were running our tests on Debian 9, which ships with R 3.3.

A fix was committed to upstream Rcpp, so the problem resolved itself, but we should have a more stable strategy for R dependencies.

Recompiling R dependencies every time is also very expensive.

Options

Use Debian packages

When we did the R SDK originally (about two years ago) most of the packages we needed were not in Debian. Since then, it appears they have been added to Debian 10, and are also available in a Debian 9 backport:

https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=r-cran-devtools&searchon=names&suite=all&section=all

Of course this requires targeting Debian for the test builds, but we do that already. To get the maximum benefit it also requires that all the R packages we need are in Debian.

Pinned install

R doesn't have anything like a Gemfile.lock or "pip freeze". However someone has created a tool that computes an install plan so each package is installed at exactly each version we want.

https://www.ccdatalab.org/blog/2019/8/9/pinning-transitive-r-dependencies-for-fun-and-reproducible-builds

This works on any R install. The drawback is that we still end up compiling the whole world every time.


Files

20200925-doc-gen-timing.png (91.4 KB) 20200925-doc-gen-timing.png Ward Vandewege, 09/25/2020 06:26 PM

Subtasks 1 (1 open0 closed)

Task #16879: ReviewNewPeter Amstutz

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Related issues 3 (0 open3 closed)

Related to Arvados - Bug #16267: arvbox build uses arvados-server installResolvedWard Vandewege09/24/2020

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Related to Arvados - Story #16053: [boot] subcommand to install/update dev and runtime dependenciesResolvedTom Clegg03/31/2020

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Related to Arvados - Bug #16586: ArvadosR: Dependency package(s) 'XML' not available.ResolvedTom Clegg

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