This action checks the CRAN status of a R package and optionally creates an issue or make the action fail. Combined with CRON (see how to set periodic runs on GH Actions), a R package developer can verify regularly if the package needs attention.

Create a file named cran-status-check.yml on a repo in the usual path for GH actions (.github/workflows) with the following content:

name: check-cran-status

on:
  push:
    branches: [main, master]
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 6 * * 1,4' # Runs at 06:00 on Monday and Thursday, check https://crontab.guru/
jobs:
  check:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions: write-all # This line is important for creating issues, should be on jobs or global
    env:
      GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
        
      - name: Check
        uses: dieghernan/cran-status-check@v2

• path: Default value '.' (root of the repo). Path to the R package root, if the package is not at the top level of the repository.

    - name: Check
      uses: dieghernan/cran-status-check@v2
      with:
        path: "Rpackage"

• package: Default value ''. Name of the package to check. If provided, it would have priority over the package on the repo defined on path. It is useful for creating workflows than can check several packages

    - name: Check dplyr
      uses: dieghernan/cran-status-check@v2
      with:
        package: "dplyr"
  
    - name: Check ggplot2
      uses: dieghernan/cran-status-check@v2
      with:
        package: "ggplot2"    

• statuses: Default value 'WARN,ERROR'. CRAN status to check. This is a comma-separated string of statuses. Allowed statuses are 'NOTE', 'WARN', and 'ERROR'.

    - name: Check dplyr
      uses: dieghernan/cran-status-check@v2
      with:
        package: "dplyr"
  
    - name: Check ggplot2
      uses: dieghernan/cran-status-check@v2
      with:
        package: "ggplot2"    

• fail-on-error: Default value 'false'. Logical, should the action errors if CRAN checks are not OK? This is useful for ensuring that subsequent steps would be performed even if any of the packages to check throws an error.

    - name: Check a package not in CRAN
      uses: dieghernan/cran-status-check@v2
      with:
        package: "iamnotincran"
        fail-on-error: "false"
  
    - name: Check igoR even if the previous step has failed but stop here
      uses: dieghernan/cran-status-check@v2
      with:
        package: "igoR"
        statuses: "NOTE,WARN,ERROR"
        fail-on-error: "true"

• create-issue: Default value true Logical, create an issue on CRAN failed checks using create-issue-from-file action.

• issue-assignees: Default value ''. Whom should the issue be assigned to if errors are encountered in the CRAN status checks? This is a comma-separated string of GitHub usernames. If undefined or empty, no assignments are made. Check also create-issue-from-file action.

  -  name: Check igoR and create issue 
     uses: dieghernan/cran-status-check@v2
     with: 
       package: "igoR" 
       statuses: "NOTE,WARN,ERROR" 
       fail-on-error: "true"
       create-issue: "true" 
       issue-assignees: "dieghernan,johndoe"

• The action would produce a report with a summary of the check

• If create-issue: "true" (the default value) and the action found an error, it would create an issue on the repo and (if provided) it would assign it to the users specified on issue-assignees.

• if fail-on-error: "true" (not activated by default) the action would fail, and GitHub would send a notification to the repo owner following the standard process of GH Actions.

This workflow is derived from cran-status.yml by pharmaverse/admiralci contributors:

Copyright 2021 F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG and GlaxoSmithKline LLC

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.