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metapip in package development

Source: vignettes/package_development.Rmd
package_development.Rmd
 # devtools::load_all(".")
library(metapip)

metapip: Managing PIP Ecosystem Packages for Development

The metapip package is designed to make it easy to manage all the packages in the PIP ecosystem. This is especially useful for package development, as the PIP packages depend on each other—most notably, like pipfun, which provides shared utilities. Coordinating branches and versions across these packages is essential for a smooth development workflow.

Default and Custom Branches

To use the most recent version of a package, it’s important to know which branch is considered the default for each package. By default, the branch is available with get_default_branch(),

get_default_branch()
#> [1] "DEV_v2"

and you can modify it with set_default_branch(). For example:

However, not all packages’ most recent versions are available in the same branch. Packages that do not use the default branch are tracked as “custom branches.” You can see these with get_custom_branch():

get_custom_branch()
#> 
#> ── metapip custom branches: ──
#> 
#> ◌ pipapi  : DEV 
#> ◌ pipfaker: main
#> ◌ wbpip   : DEV 
#> ◌ pipster : DEV

Inspecting and Modifying Branch Assignments

To see all PIP ecosystem packages and their currently assigned branches, use get_current_branches(). To get the branch for a specific package, use get_package_current_branch(package). For example:

get_current_branches()
#> ── metapip current branches (default in red): ──
#> 
#> ◌ pipapi  : DEV   
#> ◌ pipload : DEV_v2
#> ◌ wbpip   : DEV   
#> ◌ pipfun  : DEV_v2
#> ◌ pipdata : DEV_v2
#> ◌ pipster : DEV   
#> ◌ pipaux  : DEV_v2
#> ◌ pipfaker: main
get_package_current_branch("pipdata")
#>  pipdata 
#> "DEV_v2"

If you need to change the working branch for any package, use set_custom_branch(). For example, to set the pipdata package to use the main branch and pipapi to use DEV_v3:

set_custom_branch(pipdata = 'main', pipapi = 'DEV_v3')
#> ── metapip custom branches: ──
#> 
#> ◌ pipapi  : DEV_v3
#> ◌ pipfaker: main  
#> ◌ wbpip   : DEV   
#> ◌ pipster : DEV   
#> ◌ pipdata : main

Listing Core Packages

To get a list of all core PIP packages, use:

get_core_pagkages()
#> [1] "pipapi"   "pipload"  "wbpip"    "pipfun"   "pipdata"  "pipster"  "pipaux"  
#> [8] "pipfaker"

Package Development Workflow

When developing a PIP package, it is important to ensure you are using the most recent versions of all other PIP ecosystem packages, each on their appropriate default branch. Typically, you can achieve this by running metapip::update_pip_packages(), which updates all core PIP packages except the one you are currently developing.

If you want to both update and attach (i.e., load with library()) the PIP packages, use metapip::init_metapip(). Both functions automatically detect your current working directory and exclude the package you are developing from updates and attachment.

This behavior is managed by the get_core_pagkages() function. By default, it returns all core PIP packages. However, when called with exclude = NA, it checks if your working directory is a PIP package and excludes it from the list.

For example, if you are working on the pipapi package, get_core_pagkages(exclude = NA) will return all core packages except pipapi. This ensures you do not accidentally update or reload the package you are actively developing. The following explains the logic behind the process. Do NOT use this in your code.

# the same as get_core_pagkages() because the working directory 
# is not a PIP package
get_core_pagkages(exclude = NA)
#> [1] "pipapi"   "pipload"  "wbpip"    "pipfun"   "pipdata"  "pipster"  "pipaux"  
#> [8] "pipfaker"

withr::with_dir(
  # Change working directory to fake pipapi
  fs::path_temp() |> 
  fs::path("pipapi") |> 
  fs::dir_create(),
  
  # Since the working directory is a PIP package, 
  # it will be excluded 
  get_core_pagkages(NA))
#> [1] "pipload"  "wbpip"    "pipfun"   "pipdata"  "pipster"  "pipaux"   "pipfaker"