install_* requires user to have pdftex if package has a vignette

[garrettgman]

This might be something you guys want to think about. When a person runs install_github (and maybe other install_*'s), devtools retrieves a copy of the package, and then R builds and installs it on the user's machine.

If the package has an Sweave vignette, R build will try to find a program to compile the vignette and then error out if the user doesn't have one.

I'm guessing that a lot of R users won't have latex installed and won't be able to figure out the error message, which may make it harder to use install_github and github.

Garrett

p.s. Also, I could be completely wrong about this :P

[garrettgman]

We should attempt to detect if pdftex is available, and if not, don't try and install vignettes. - Hadley

[hadley]

Check for Sys.which("pdflatex")

[hadley]

And pass --no-manual, --no-vignettes to build and check.

[bbolker]

one quick thought: is specifying quick=TRUE a temporary workaround for this issue?

[wch]

@bbolker no, quick=TRUE presently doesn't affect vignette building. The vignettes are built during the build phase, not the install phase, and quick=TRUE only affects the install phase.