R package - Why does tidyr install dependencies not defined in the dependency list?

Question

In order to save time, I want to create a docker image with pre-installed R libraries. -> Big Time saving

One part of the Dockerfile looks like this

RUN Rscript -e 'require(devtools); devtools::install_version("dplyr", version="0.5.0", repos = "http://cran.rstudio.com/")'
RUN Rscript -e 'library(dplyr); sessionInfo()'
RUN Rscript -e 'require(devtools); devtools::install_version("ggplot2", version="2.2.1", repos = "http://cran.rstudio.com/")'
RUN Rscript -e 'library(dplyr); sessionInfo()'
RUN Rscript -e 'require(devtools); devtools::install_version("knitr", version="1.15.1", repos = "http://cran.rstudio.com/")'
RUN Rscript -e 'library(dplyr); sessionInfo()'
RUN Rscript -e 'require(devtools); devtools::install_version("tidyr", version="0.6.0", repos = "http://cran.rstudio.com/")

Since this is a production environment, I do not want any surprises. Therefore I want to install the same version of my package every single time, hence the specific versions you can see above.

Now my question: If we look at the DESCRIPTION file of the tidyr package (v0.6.0): https://github.com/tidyverse/tidyr/blob/v0.6.0/DESCRIPTION

It says:

Imports:
    tibble,
    dplyr (>= 0.4),
    stringi,
    lazyeval,
    magrittr,
    Rcpp

In my system, I have dplyr 0.5.0 already preinstalled, so this shouldn't trigger an update.

This is my docker output (please note I added sessionInfo() statements to display dplyr versions installed) and as you can see dplyr 0.5.0 is installed on the system, and then tidyr version 0.6.0 forces the installation of dplyr, tidyselect and plogr.

Step 56/103 : RUN Rscript -e 'library(dplyr); sessionInfo()'
 ---> Running in 587c27a05216

Attaching package: 'dplyr'

The following objects are masked from 'package:stats':

    filter, lag

The following objects are masked from 'package:base':

    intersect, setdiff, setequal, union

Warning message:
As of rlang 0.4.0, dplyr must be at least version 0.8.0.
x dplyr 0.5.0 is too old for rlang 0.4.2.
i Please update dplyr with `install.packages("dplyr")`. 
R version 3.2.5 (2016-04-14)
Platform: x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu (64-bit)
Running under: CentOS Linux 7 (Core)

locale:
[1] C

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  base     

other attached packages:
[1] dplyr_0.5.0

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
 [1] magrittr_1.5     R6_2.4.1         assertthat_0.2.1 cli_2.0.0       
 [5] tools_3.2.5      DBI_1.1.0        pillar_1.4.3     glue_1.3.1      
 [9] tibble_2.1.3     crayon_1.3.4     Rcpp_1.0.3       fansi_0.4.0     
[13] methods_3.2.5    pkgconfig_2.0.3  rlang_0.4.2     
 ---> e55ec5828abb
Removing intermediate container 587c27a05216
Step 57/103 : RUN Rscript -e 'require(devtools); devtools::install_version("tidyr", version="0.6.0", repos = "http://cran.rstudio.com/")'
 ---> Running in 09ada6215edb
Loading required package: devtools
Loading required package: usethis
Downloading package from url: http://cran.rstudio.com//src/contrib/Archive/tidyr/tidyr_0.6.0.tar.gz
dplyr      (0.5.0 -> 0.8.3) [CRAN]
tidyselect (NA    -> 0.2.5) [CRAN]
plogr      (NA    -> 0.2.0) [CRAN]
Installing 3 packages: dplyr, tidyselect, plogr
Installing packages into '/usr/local/r-libs'
(as 'lib' is unspecified)
trying URL 'http://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/dplyr_0.8.3.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 1173098 bytes (1.1 MB)
==================================================
downloaded 1.1 MB

trying URL 'http://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/tidyselect_0.2.5.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 21883 bytes (21 KB)
==================================================
downloaded 21 KB

trying URL 'http://cran.rstudio.com/src/contrib/plogr_0.2.0.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 7795 bytes
==================================================
downloaded 7795 bytes

* installing *source* package 'tidyselect' ...
** package 'tidyselect' successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked
** libs
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c RcppExports.cpp -o RcppExports.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c combine_variables.cpp -o combine_variables.o
g++ -shared -L/usr/local/lib64 -o tidyselect.so RcppExports.o combine_variables.o
installing to /usr/local/r-libs/tidyselect/libs
** R
** byte-compile and prepare package for lazy loading
** help
*** installing help indices
** building package indices
** testing if installed package can be loaded
* DONE (tidyselect)
* installing *source* package 'plogr' ...
** package 'plogr' successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked
** R
** inst
** preparing package for lazy loading
** help
*** installing help indices
** building package indices
** testing if installed package can be loaded
* DONE (plogr)
* installing *source* package 'dplyr' ...
** package 'dplyr' successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked
** libs
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c RcppExports.cpp -o RcppExports.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c address.cpp -o address.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c api.cpp -o api.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c arrange.cpp -o arrange.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c between.cpp -o between.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c bind.cpp -o bind.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c distinct.cpp -o distinct.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c encoding.cpp -o encoding.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c filter.cpp -o filter.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c group_indices.cpp -o group_indices.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c hybrid.cpp -o hybrid.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c init.cpp -o init.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c join.cpp -o join.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c join_exports.cpp -o join_exports.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c mutate.cpp -o mutate.o
gcc -std=gnu99 -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3  -c rlang-export.c -o rlang-export.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c rlang.cpp -o rlang.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c select.cpp -o select.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c set.cpp -o set.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c summarise.cpp -o summarise.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c test.cpp -o test.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c utils-bindings.cpp -o utils-bindings.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c utils.cpp -o utils.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG -I../inst/include -DRCPP_DEFAULT_INCLUDE_CALL=false -DCOMPILING_DPLYR -DRCPP_USING_UTF8_ERROR_STRING -DRCPP_USE_UNWIND_PROTECT -DBOOST_NO_AUTO_PTR  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/BH/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/plogr/include" -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c window.cpp -o window.o
g++ -shared -L/usr/local/lib64 -o dplyr.so RcppExports.o address.o api.o arrange.o between.o bind.o distinct.o encoding.o filter.o group_indices.o hybrid.o init.o join.o join_exports.o mutate.o rlang-export.o rlang.o select.o set.o summarise.o test.o utils-bindings.o utils.o window.o
installing to /usr/local/r-libs/dplyr/libs
** R
** data
*** moving datasets to lazyload DB
** inst
** preparing package for lazy loading
** help
*** installing help indices
*** copying figures
** building package indices
** installing vignettes
** testing if installed package can be loaded
* DONE (dplyr)

The downloaded source packages are in
    '/tmp/Rtmp3DsAO3/downloaded_packages'
Installing package into '/usr/local/r-libs'
(as 'lib' is unspecified)
* installing *source* package 'tidyr' ...
** package 'tidyr' successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked
** libs
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c RcppExports.cpp -o RcppExports.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c fill.cpp -o fill.o
g++ -I/my-software/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c melt.cpp -o melt.o
g++ -I/my-software/usr/local/bin/lib64/R/include -DNDEBUG  -I/usr/local/include -I"/usr/local/r-libs/Rcpp/include"   -fpic  -O3 -std=gnu++0x  -c simplifyPieces.cpp -o simplifyPieces.o
g++ -shared -L/usr/local/lib64 -o tidyr.so RcppExports.o fill.o melt.o simplifyPieces.o
installing to /usr/local/r-libs/tidyr/libs
** R
** data
*** moving datasets to lazyload DB
** demo
** inst
** preparing package for lazy loading
** help
*** installing help indices
** building package indices
** installing vignettes
** testing if installed package can be loaded
* DONE (tidyr)
 ---> 6e55e42fb917
Removing intermediate container 09ada6215edb
Step 58/103 : RUN Rscript -e 'library(dplyr); sessionInfo()'
 ---> Running in c917b6912a89

Attaching package: 'dplyr'

The following objects are masked from 'package:stats':

    filter, lag

The following objects are masked from 'package:base':

    intersect, setdiff, setequal, union

R version 3.2.5 (2016-04-14)
Platform: x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu (64-bit)
Running under: CentOS Linux 7 (Core)

locale:
[1] C

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  base     

other attached packages:
[1] dplyr_0.8.3

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
 [1] tidyselect_0.2.5 magrittr_1.5     assertthat_0.2.1 R6_2.4.1        
 [5] pillar_1.4.3     glue_1.3.1       tibble_2.1.3     crayon_1.3.4    
 [9] Rcpp_1.0.3       methods_3.2.5    pkgconfig_2.0.3  rlang_0.4.2     
[13] purrr_0.3.3     
 ---> b4f3949d3bf8
Removing intermediate container c917b6912a89

The important bit is:

Downloading package from url: http://cran.rstudio.com//src/contrib/Archive/tidyr/tidyr_0.6.0.tar.gz
dplyr      (0.5.0 -> 0.8.3) [CRAN]

Where does R find these dependancies as they are not in the DESCRIPTION file (and dplyr v0.4.0 >= is already satisfied)?

When you load `dplyr` it clearly gives a warning: `As of rlang 0.4.0, dplyr must be at least version 0.8.0.` — Rohit, Dec 20 '19 at 11:55
You can save even more time if you start off with Debian or Ubuntu and just do `RUN apt-get install r-cran-tidyr`. You could also start with our `r-base` image written for, well, just this purpose. https://hub.docker.com/_/r-base It is the same as https://hub.docker.com/r/rocker/r-base — Dirk Eddelbuettel, Dec 20 '19 at 13:59
@Rohit the warning is fine, we are not using rlang, so we can ignore the warning. the warning doesnt trigger the forced upgrade — MrFronk, Dec 20 '19 at 16:50
@MrFronk `dplyr` uses `rlang` so you're using it too. It's a part of your namespace. But, as the warning says, `dplyr 0.5.0 is too old for rlang 0.4.2.` . Hence, `rlang` is part of your dependency tree which forces `dplyr` to update. It's probably a feature, not a bug. — Rohit, Dec 20 '19 at 19:59

ckaserer · Answer 1 · 2019-12-20T12:03:26.680

2

Part of your output tells you the answer

As of rlang 0.4.0, dplyr must be at least version 0.8.0.

If you want to use rlang 0.4.0 you need to have at least dplyr 0.8.0.

Sidenote

Please use fewer docker layers, especially if this image will be utilized in production. Or squash the layers at the end.

There is a flag to squash when building your image. It is documented here

https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/image_build/

The gist of it

docker image build --squash -t myimage:mytag .

For compatibility across various infrastructure setups, I would recommend not to exceed 42 image layers. Here the origin of the statement regarding 42 layers:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/39383801/12153397

edited Dec 20 '19 at 12:03

answered Dec 20 '19 at 11:54

ckaserer

4,827
3
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1

Thank you for looking into this. we aren't using rlang, so i didn't care too much about that warning, but to use that example, the DESCRIPTION file of rlang 0.4.0 (which is installed) doesn't speak of a dplyr version of 0.8.0: https://github.com/r-lib/rlang/blob/v0.4.0/DESCRIPTION so where does R find this information from ? – MrFronk Dec 20 '19 at 12:09
I saw the 'limiting layers' comment before, but given that I want to see which steps fail and why, I do want to separate them out into separate layers. I will use the squash at the end though, thanks for that suggestion. – MrFronk Dec 20 '19 at 12:12

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 02 '20 at 17:07

Thanks for the previous comment, but I still prefer my old title:

'R package DESCRIPTION file not respected by R ?' (at least the first part).

I managed to resolve the issue, which wasn't related to the warning message of rlang or dplyr, but the line below actually automatically upgrades, which seems default behaviour according to Hadley (see https://github.com/r-lib/devtools/issues/863#issuecomment-137241474)

RUN Rscript -e 'require(devtools); devtools::install_version("tidyr", version="1.0.0", repos = "http://cran.rstudio.com/"'

adjusting this line above to add

upgrade = 'never'

(and updating to v1.0.0) actually resolved the issue, as it is now no longer updating packages which are already satisfied. (see new line below)

RUN Rscript -e 'require(devtools); devtools::install_version("tidyr", version="1.0.0", repos = "http://cran.rstudio.com/", upgrade = "never")'

I understand this isn't really an 'answer' since it's expected behaviour according to the commenter in the link, but still wanted to post it here for people running into the same problem in the future.

My main issue is that from a philosophy perspective, I would understand that install.packages() would install the latest version of an R package. But if devtools::install_version() is used, it's likely because you want to install a specific version of software. In that scenario, does it not make sense to NOT upgrade the dependancies ? This links back to the original title, which is that if the dependancies are satisfied according to the DEPENDANCIES file, should R really force an upgrade by default?

R package - Why does tidyr install dependencies not defined in the dependency list?

2 Answers2

Sidenote