title :)

What happens when we change the Rmd file and commit?

In Blog 5 you had the first exposure to Github Actions. We just checked frontmatter compliance (as we do for this round). You see that we have added a second action - here, we are converting the Rmarkdown document to a markdown file by running render_rmarkdown on Github. This action passes successfully for this document. We want to do something similar for blog #4.

Now start reading …

Read the vignette Introduction to renv for the renv R package by Kevin Ushey.

Then do:

1. Install the R package renv on your local machine.

2. In the project for blog 4, initialize the workflow used by the renv package.

3. Add all dependencies to the environment (implicitly by installing all the depepndencies or explicilty by listing dependencies in a DESCRIPTION file).

4. Add the renv folder to your blog 4 repository, and push the changes.

5. Is the github action working? Read any potential error messages in the workflow and try to fix things. Make sure to check stackoverflow for help, don’t forget our Discussion board!

Write a blog post addressing the following questions:

1. What is the idea of the renv package?

“The renv package is a new effort to bring project-local R dependency management to your projects. The goal is for renv to be a robust, stable replacement for the Packrat package, with fewer surprises and better default behaviors.

Underlying the philosophy of renv is that any of your existing workflows should just work as they did before – renv helps manage library paths (and other project-specific state) to help isolate your project’s R dependencies, and the existing tools you’ve used for managing R packages (e.g. install.packages(), remove.packages()) should work as they did before.”

This essentially is telling us that the idea of renv is to work as a better controlled and more sturdy dependency management system. The overall goal seems to present itself as being able to integrate renv into current workflow to better keep track of dependencies and packages.

2. In 50 to 100 words describe your experience working with renv. What went well? What did not go so well?

I was hesitant to begin working the renv and having error messages produce… it is discouraging when things come back as failed or not working as you would likeI understand that renv may come in handy when trying make packages that will be able to stand alone and help to sort of isolate working environments, but I have not yet been able to figure out exactly how to implement it.