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/.

Examples

Run this code

library(devtools)
build_github_devtools()

#### Restart R before continuing ####
install.packages("./devtools.zip", repos = NULL)

# Remove the package after installation
unlink("./devtools.zip")