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Submitting a package to CRAN: .tar.gz file

I have a package I am ready to submit to CRAN (everything checks out). However, in the spot where it says Choose File, I am unsure what file to choose, as it says it requires a .tar.gz file, which I gather is some kind of compressed file? Do I need to compress everything into a .tar.gz file? If so, how?

If not, I have a .Rproj file, and various files like namespace and description and license, so it is unclear to me which file to submit.

I apologize if this is a simple question, this is my first package to be submitted.

Solution

  • You have two options here. Use R's command line command:

    > R CMD build /path/to/package/directory

    Or use devtools::build from within R:

    R> devtools::build( "path/to/package/directory" )

    Both result in a tar.gz file on your local file system. The name will look like: mypackage_[Version].tar.gz

    It is this file that you load to CRAN.