They contain a record of the files and folders you want associated with the git project. This consists of a collection of invisible by default (they start with a `.’) files in the same directory as the R package we just created. Whenever this `project’ is loaded in RStudio, you will see that the top right panel has a `git’ tab – click on it and you will see something like:īefore going further, it’s worth briefly explaining the concept of your `local git repository’. Now we have an R package, with git set up locally. Be sure to tick the checkbox for `Create a git hub repository for this project’: Now enter a name and add any R functions you want to kick the package off. Now, here is how to set up an R package for development in R studio, and sharing via GitHub.Ĭlick File -> New project… -> Create project from: `New Directory’ -> Project Type: `R package’. See this excellent LifeHacker tutorial for how to set up Git (and GitHub), and an expanded `beginner’s’ explanation of what they are.

Hence why I have written this post – to serve as notes to self for future R packages. The rest of this post assumes that However, largely due to my inexpertise with git, I always find the initial set up a bit fiddly, and sensitive to the order in which things are done. Rstudio does an excellent job of enabling development of R packages with git, and syncing changes to github.

your collaborators) – you don’t need to email them the package every time you update it, just let them know to re-install from github. Therefore github provides an excellent way to share your package with it’s users (e.g.

With the excellent `devtools’ package, it is very easy to install R packages that are hosted on guthub from within R.

It serves as an off site backup of your precious code.

It is an appealing place to host an `in-development’ R package since: This enables the developer to easily revert back to a previous version of their code, should something go wrong. Github is web-hosted platform for sharing projects developed with the git versioning system (in particular this allows multiple developers to contribute to the same project, though that is generally beyond the scope of my work). These integrate into software projects to, among other things, record incremental changes at developer-chosen milestones. Git is a `versioning’ or `revision control’ system.

Rstudio github tutorial