[R] Skipping .Rd files and using Org-mode instead?

Rolf Turner r.turner at auckland.ac.nz
Sun Jun 1 00:08:19 CEST 2014


On 01/06/14 03:52, Thorsten Jolitz wrote:
>
> Hi List,
>
> it seems that .Rd files are just an intermediary format used for
> exporting to txt, html and latex when creating an R package.
>
> How flexible is the R package mechanism? Would it possible to skip .Rd
> files alltogether, write the docs with another tool (e.g. Emacs
> Org-mode), export them to txt, html and latex, and include these
> exported files in the package?
>
> Or does the R package mechanism simply expect the .Rd files to be there,
> so that there is no way avoiding the .Rd format?

(1) I am not an expert, but my reading of "Writing R Extension Packages" 
indicates to me that, yes, .Rd format is necessary.

(2) Why would you want to fuck things up by dodging around .Rd ("R 
documentation") files?  Amongst other things, these allow for 
consistency cross-checking by the package checking facility.

(3) The .Rd syntax is easy to learn and quite powerful.  Get off your 
duff and learn it.

cheers,

Rolf Turner



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