R bindings for Redland

Bind the Redland librdf library into the R environment, and expose the librdf API for R. This is accomplished through the use of SWIG to generate wrapper code in R that links to the underlying C code from librdf and provides R functions to call that code. This creates surrogate functions in R for all of the librdf* functions. In addition, there is a higher-level API written as a series of S4 classes in R that provide a simpler mechanism to access common functions from librdf. This API mirrors the python class structure for librdf-bindings.

The main R package is in the redland subdirectory, and is all that is required to build and install the R package. This current directory contains the supporting build infrastructure to build the SWIG bindings and prepare the redland package. Most users will simply follow the build instruction in the redland/README.md file.

Build notes

To build the package and generate new interfaces to librdf using SWIG, follow the instructions below. Again, this is typically not needed by most R users, and is mainly available for regenerating the R interface when new versions of librdf are released.

1. (Optional) Install docker and load the Dockerfile into a container and run it

   docker build -t redland-bindings .
   docker run --rm -it redland-bindings /bin/bash

2. Run autoconf and make to generate the shared libraries and compile the R package code, and startup R

   cd /redland-bindings
   ./autogen.sh --with-R
   make
   cd R/redland

3. Load devtools in R and load the package

   > install.packages("devtools")
   > library(devtools)
   > load_all()

4. Run a redland command

   > library(redland)
   > world <- librdf_new_world()
   > world
   An object of class "_p_librdf_world_s"
   Slot "ref":
   <pointer: 0x38bd290>

5. Run the existing test suite

   > install.packages("testthat")
   > library(testthat)
   > test()