README.md

In goodpractice: Advice on R Package Building

goodpractice

Advice on R Package Building

Give advice about good practices when building R packages. Advice includes functions and syntax to avoid, package structure, code complexity, code formatting, etc.

Installation

You can install the release version from CRAN:

install.packages("goodpractice")

The development version can be installed from R-universe by enabling the ropensci-review-tools r-universe and installing the usual way:

options(repos = c(
    ropenscireviewtools = "https://ropensci-review-tools.r-universe.dev",
    CRAN = "https://cloud.r-project.org"
))
install.packages("goodpractice")

Or the development version can be installed directly from GitHub with:

pak::pak("ropensci-review-tools/goodpractice")

Usage

library(goodpractice)
gp("<my-package>")

Example

library(goodpractice)
# use example package contained in the goodpractice package
pkg_path <- system.file("bad1", package = "goodpractice")
g <- gp(pkg_path)
g

#> ── GP badpackage ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
#> 
#> It is good practice to
#> 
#>   ✖ not use "Depends" in DESCRIPTION, as it can cause name clashes, and poor interaction with other packages. Use "Imports" instead.
#>   ✖ omit "Date" in DESCRIPTION. It is not required and it gets invalid quite often. A build date will be added to the package when you perform `R CMD build` on it.
#>   ✖ add a "URL" field to DESCRIPTION. It helps users find information about your package online. If your package does not have a homepage, add an URL to GitHub, or the CRAN package package page.
#>   ✖ add a "BugReports" field to DESCRIPTION, and point it to a bug tracker. Many online code hosting services provide bug trackers for free, https://github.com, https://gitlab.com, etc.
#>   ✖ add a README.md (or README.Rmd) file to the top-level directory. A good README describes what the package does, how to install it, and includes a short example.
#>   ✖ add a NEWS.md file to track user-visible changes between releases. See <https://style.tidyverse.org/news.html> for formatting guidance.
#>   ✖ use the .R file extension for R scripts, not .r or .q. CRAN requires the uppercase .R extension.
#> 
#>     'R/bad_extension.r'
#> 
#>   ✖ omit trailing semicolons from code lines. They are not needed and most R coding standards forbid them
#> 
#>     'R/semicolons.R:4:30'
#>     'R/semicolons.R:5:29'
#>     'R/semicolons.R:9:38'
#> 
#>   ✖ not import packages as a whole, as this can cause name clashes between the imported packages, especially over time as packages change. Instead, import only the specific functions you need.
#>   ✖ fix this R CMD check ERROR: VignetteBuilder package not declared: ‘knitr’ See section ‘The DESCRIPTION file’ in the ‘Writing R Extensions’ manual.
#> ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

# show all available checks
# all_checks()

# run only a specific check
g_url <- gp(pkg_path, checks = "description_url")
g_url

#> ── GP badpackage ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
#> 
#> It is good practice to
#> 
#>   ✖ add a "URL" field to DESCRIPTION. It helps users find information about your package online. If your package does not have a homepage, add an URL to GitHub, or the CRAN package package page.
#> ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

# which checks were carried out?
checks(g_url)

#> [1] "description_url"

# which checks failed?
failed_checks(g)

#>  [1] "no_description_depends"                
#>  [2] "no_description_date"                   
#>  [3] "description_url"                       
#>  [4] "description_bugreports"                
#>  [5] "has_readme"                            
#>  [6] "has_news"                              
#>  [7] "r_file_extension"                      
#>  [8] "lintr_semicolon_linter"                
#>  [9] "no_import_package_as_a_whole"          
#> [10] "rcmdcheck_package_dependencies_present"

# show the first 5 checks carried out and their results
results(g)[1:5,]

#>                    check passed
#> 1                   covr     NA
#> 2              cyclocomp   TRUE
#> 3 no_description_depends  FALSE
#> 4    no_description_date  FALSE
#> 5        description_url  FALSE

Contributing

We welcome any and all contributions to this package. See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

License

MIT © 2022 Ascent Digital Services UK Limited

Contributors

All contributions to this project are gratefully acknowledged using the allcontributors package following the allcontributors specification. Contributions of any kind are welcome!

Code

drmowinckels mpadge gaborcsardi hfrick owenjonesuob ddbortoli KarinaMarks olivroy dougmet maelle fabian-s noamross MichaelChirico fkohrt anasimmons andrewl776 HAlexander23 jsta LiNk-NY nfultz russHyde marberts

Issue Authors

peterhurford stillmatic eribul richelbilderbeek nathaneastwood daroczig mdozmorov vdicolab barryrowlingson HenrikBengtsson kbenoit erleholgersen adfi maurolepore jasonserviss jackwasey dragosmg Bisaloo bfgray3 wlandau florianm wibeasley dpprdan kwstat HenningLorenzen-ext-bayer mccroweyclinton-EPA njtierney abichat damianooldoni JesseAlderliesten wkmor1

Issue Contributors

drisso joelnitta annakrystalli sda030 etiennebacher

goodpractice documentation built on June 5, 2026, 5:06 p.m.