build_github_devtools: Build the development version of devtools from GitHub.
Description
This function is especially useful for Windows users who want to upgrade
their version of devtools to the development version hosted on on GitHub.
In Windows, it's not possible to upgrade devtools while the package is loaded
because there is an open DLL, which in Windows can't be overwritten. This
function allows you to build a binary package of the development version of
devtools; then you can restart R (so that devtools isn't loaded) and install
the package.
Usage
build_github_devtools(outfile = NULL)
Arguments
outfile
The name of the output file. If NULL (the default), it uses
./devtools.tgz (Mac and Linux), or ./devtools.zip (Windows).
Value
a string giving the location (including file name) of the built
package
Details
Mac and Linux users don't need this function; they can use
install_github to install devtools directly, without going
through the separate build-restart-install steps.
This function requires a working development environment. On Windows, it
needs http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/Rtools/.
library(devtools)
build_github_devtools()
#### Restart R before continuing ####install.packages("./devtools.zip", repos = NULL)
# Remove the package after installationunlink("./devtools.zip")