renv::install with explicit dependencies = Imports still installs Suggests

[Fuco1]

If I'm trying to install "active project", suggested packages get installed even when I explicitly only request Imports to be installed. The following code seems to be responsible:

  # if this is the DESCRIPTION file for the active project, include
  # Suggests since they're often needed as well. such packages will be
  # considered development dependencies, except for package projects
  type <- "unknown"
  project <-
    project %||%
    renv_dependencies_state(key = "root") %||%
    renv_project_resolve()

  if (renv_path_same(file.path(project, "DESCRIPTION"), path)) {

    # collect profile-specific dependencies as well
    profile <- renv_profile_get()
    field <- if (length(profile))
      sprintf("Config/renv/profiles/%s/dependencies", profile)

    fields <- c(fields, "Suggests", field)
    type <- renv_description_type(desc = dcf)

  }

Basically, now if I want to really only install Imports packages, I have to use some renv internals to generate a list of the dependencies and then filter out the "dev" dependencies (also I have to set Type in description to some bogus value so the type is not "package").

This behaviour is very unintuitive and is not documented anywhere in install. I think when user explicitly passes the dependencies parameter, nothing should happen to it and it should be taken as-is.

[hadley]

Can you please provide a reprex, or at least show exactly how you are running install()?

[Fuco1]

Sorry, I should've been more precise. In a renv project, call renv::install("PATH_TO_PROJECT", dependencies = "Imports"). I'm not sure if path needs to be absolute or you can pass "." for current directory. I always use absolute path.

I don't know if this is normal, but I'm trying to install the project "to itself" as a dependency so that my analysis script can require itself instead of using devtools::load_all(). (the R/ contains all the logic and then I have a top-level file run.R which loads the package with library and does the analysis)

[hadley]

And presumably you have a DESCRIPTION file?

[hadley]

If so, this is a duplicate of #1019

[kevinushey]

I think this issue might be slightly different -- it sounds like the dependencies argument to install() is being ignored in this scenario? The other issue relates to what dependencies are installed by default?

[hadley]

@kevinushey good catch, I'll add a note to that issue.

[Fuco1]

@kevinushey The argument is not ignored, but Suggests is appended to it as you see on this line fields <- c(fields, "Suggests", field).

@hadley Yes, I do. Sorry for not mentioning it. Here's a version with unrelated stuff removed

Package: Redacted
Title: Redacted
Version: 1.0.0
Authors@R:
    person(given = "Matúš",
           family = "Goljer",
           role = c("aut", "cre"),
           email = "matus.goljer@somewhere")
Description: Redacted
License: Redacted
Encoding: UTF-8
LazyData: true
Roxygen: list(markdown = TRUE)
RoxygenNote: 7.2.3
Depends:
    R (>= 4.3.0)
LinkingTo:
    Rcpp,
    testthat
Imports:
    AzureAuth,
    AzureStor,
    Rcpp
Suggests:
    testthat (>= 3.0.0),
    testthatBdd,
    devtools
Config/testthat/edition: 3

The idea is to have the "dev" dependencies in Suggests so when I'm creating a production docker image, I don't want those packages to be included (as you can imagine devtools, testthat, pkgdown etc are quite huuge and pull in a lot of dependencies)