[jira] [Commented] (ARROW-12981) [R] Install source package from CRAN alone

["Jonathan Keane (Jira)" <ji...@apache.org>]

    [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/ARROW-12981?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=17358674#comment-17358674 ] 

Jonathan Keane commented on ARROW-12981:
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And to add to Neal's comment: the workflow around the third-party dependencies during install, how to install them or find the local source, how to message that they aren't available and what that means, etc. 

We already [do some of that for a handful of the dependencies we always use the system versions of|https://github.com/apache/arrow/blob/master/r/tools/nixlibs.R#L416-L434]. But I don't think we want to (or should) duplicate that setup for all of the third-party dependencies we have.

I would be curious: does your air-gapped server already have many of the [third party dependencies|https://github.com/apache/arrow/blob/master/docs/source/developers/cpp/building.rst#build-dependency-management] that Arrow generally/by default looks for system versions of and then/builds if they are not available? Or are those things that you would also need to have installed / get the source of during the build process?

> [R] Install source package from CRAN alone
> ------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: ARROW-12981
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/ARROW-12981
>             Project: Apache Arrow
>          Issue Type: Wish
>          Components: Packaging, R
>    Affects Versions: 4.0.1
>         Environment: Linux
>            Reporter: Karl Dunkle Werner
>            Priority: Major
>
> Hello,
> I would like to install {{Arrow}} on Linux using only CRAN, without downloading additional files from Github, Apache, or Ursa Labs. I understand this is a big ask, and might not be a priority for you all. Feel free to close if you feel that this is out of scope.
> Why is a CRAN-only installation useful?
>  # It's common for organizations to set up firewalls that prevent arbitrary downloads, but allow access to their own internal CRAN mirror.
>  ** Sometimes these firewalls also allow requests to Github, but often not.
>  # On a broader level, my favorite thing about R is CRAN, the CRAN maintainers, and their [policy|https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/policies.html#Source-packages] that "Source packages may not contain any form of binary executable code." By distributing most of the Arrow code separately (either as source C++ or a compiled library), automated code archives and other source-based tools become much less useful.
> Of course, {{arrow}} isn't the only R package to depend on external libraries or distribute code separately. If a CRAN-only approach isn't viable, it would still be useful to have an all-offline method. I'm also having trouble getting an offline install to work, even with a local copy of the Arrow repo. (See the bottom of the script below.)
>  
> What does does installing offline look like now?
>  Here's a bash script that approximates installing behind a firewall.
> {code:sh}
> git clone --depth 1 git@github.com:apache/arrow.git test_arrow
> cd test_arrow
> wget 'https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/arrow_4.0.1.tar.gz'
> # Set up a temporary R library (optional)
> mkdir test_r_lib
> export R_LIBS_USER=test_r_lib
> export ARROW_R_DEV=true
> export LIBARROW_MINIMAL=false
> export LIBARROW_DOWNLOAD=false
> export LIBARROW_BINARY=false
> export LIBARROW_BUILD=true
> # These are all of the direct dependencies, including Suggests
> # This isn't required if the packages are already installed
> Rscript -e "install.packages(c('assertthat', 'bit64', 'purrr', 'R6', 'rlang', 'tidyselect', 'vctrs', 'cpp11', 'decor', 'distro', 'dplyr', 'hms', 'knitr', 'lubridate', 'pkgload', 'reticulate', 'rmarkdown', 'stringr', 'testthat', 'tibble', 'withr'))"
> # Disable your internet connection here.
> # Now try to install the R package we downloaded with wget.
> # This is an approximation of being behind a firewall.
> Rscript -e 'install.packages("arrow_4.0.1.tar.gz", repos=NULL)'
> # It successfully installs the R component, but not the C++ library, 
> # even with LIBARROW_BUILD=true
> Rscript -e "arrow::arrow_available()"
> # [1] FALSE
> # As mentioned in the installation vignette, 
> # we can R CMD INSTALL in the git repo.
> R CMD INSTALL r
> # This will try to build the C++ library, but fails when mimalloc and 
> # jemalloc can't be downloaded from Github.
> # (Seems not to be affected by LIBARROW_DOWNLOAD=false).
> # When C++ compilation fails, the R component still installs.
> {code}



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