Developer Workflow

Quick reference for common development tasks. See CLAUDE.md for complete build system documentation.

🔗Prerequisites

• Rust toolchain (stable)
• R 4.2+ with development headers
• just command runner (optional if using the CLI)
• autoconf (for regenerating configure from configure.ac)

Tip: The miniextendr CLI (miniextendr-cli/) can replace most just recipes. Install with just cli-install or cargo install --path miniextendr-cli --features dev. See the CLI README for full usage.

🔗Quick Start

just configure          # Generate build config (REQUIRED first step)
just rcmdinstall        # Build and install the example R package (`rpkg/`)
just devtools-test      # Run R tests

🔗Common Workflows

🔗Rust-only development (fastest iteration)

just check              # Type-check all crates
just check-features     # Verify feature combinations compile
just test               # Run Rust unit tests
just clippy             # Lint
just fmt                # Format

🔗R package development

just configure          # 1. Generate Makevars, config files
just rcmdinstall        # 2. Compile Rust + install R package
just devtools-test      # 3. Run R tests

🔗After changing proc macros or #[miniextendr] attributes

just configure          # 1. Configure
just rcmdinstall        # 2. Build (compiles new macros)
just devtools-document  # 3. Regenerate R wrappers (runs macros)
just rcmdinstall        # 4. Rebuild with updated wrappers

🔗Adding a new #[miniextendr] function

1. Add #[miniextendr] to your pub function in a .rs file
2. Run the macro-change workflow above

Registration is automatic via #[miniextendr] – no manual module declarations needed.

🔗Running R CMD check

just configure          # 1. Configure
just r-cmd-build        # 2. Build tarball
just r-cmd-check        # 3. Check the tarball

🔗Cross-package tests

just cross-install      # Build and install producer.pkg + consumer.pkg
just cross-test         # Run cross-package trait ABI tests

🔗CRAN release prep

just vendor             # Package workspace crates + vendor external deps
just configure-cran     # Configure with PREPARE_CRAN=true
just r-cmd-build        # Build tarball
just r-cmd-check        # Check tarball (always check the tarball, not source dir)

🔗Troubleshooting

🔗“configure: command not found”

Always invoke configure with bash:

cd rpkg && bash ./configure     # Correct
cd rpkg && ./configure          # May fail on some systems

Or regenerate from configure.ac:

cd rpkg && autoconf && bash ./configure

🔗“Could not find tools necessary to compile a package”

If running in a sandboxed environment, compilation commands need the sandbox disabled.

🔗R tests fail with “could not find function”

The function exists in Rust but isn’t callable from R. Check:

1. Function is pub
2. Function has the #[miniextendr] attribute
3. Run just devtools-document to regenerate NAMESPACE

Quick fix:

just configure && just rcmdinstall && just devtools-document && just rcmdinstall

🔗Stale R wrappers after macro changes

Same fix — run the full 4-step workflow:

just configure && just rcmdinstall && just devtools-document && just rcmdinstall

🔗Permission errors during install

Use a local library path:

R_LIBS=/tmp/R_lib just rcmdinstall

🔗Lint warnings

Run just lint to check source-level attributes for consistency. See MACRO_ERRORS.md for interpreting lint output.

🔗Transient test failures in parallel runs

Running all test suites in parallel can cause races. Re-run failed suites individually:

just test               # If this fails, run specific crate tests
just clippy             # May fail during parallel configure

🔗Build Contexts

🔗Sync Checks

just vendor-sync-check  # Verify vendored crates match workspace
just templates-check    # Verify templates haven't drifted from rpkg
just templates-approve  # Accept current template delta (after intentional changes)