Copy files to r-devel repository

Author: jeroen

.github/workflows/test.yml

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+on:
+  push:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "0 2 * * *"
+
+name: Test on Ubuntu 24.04
+
+jobs:
+  R-CMD-check:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04${{matrix.arch=='arm64' && '-arm' || ''}}
+
+    name: Ubuntu 24.04 ${{ matrix.arch }}
+
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        arch: ['x86_64', 'arm64' ]
+
+    steps:
+      - name: checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - name: build
+        run: docker build . --no-cache --progress=plain

Dockerfile

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+# TODO: switch to release container when R-4.6 is out
+FROM ghcr.io/r-devel/ubuntu-devel
+
+RUN echo "R_PLATFORM_PKGTYPE=linux.binary.noble-$(arch)" >> "$HOME/.Renviron"
+
+# Should reflect envvar set above
+RUN R -e "print(.Platform$pkgType)"
+
+# Install tidyverse + deps
+RUN R -e "install.packages('tidyverse', repos = 'https://cran.r-universe.dev')"
+
+# Assert that package can be loaded
+RUN R -e "library(tidyverse)"

README.md

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+# Binary packages for Linux [![badge](https://github.com/r-devel/linux-binary-packages/actions/workflows/test.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/r-devel/linux-binary-packages/actions/workflows/test.yml)
+
+R-4.6 has finally standardized the format for serving binary packages on platforms beyond Windows and MacOS, notably Linux. Here we run some demos and tests to further improve this.
+
+R news item: https://developer.r-project.org/blosxom.cgi/R-devel/NEWS/2026/02/03
+
+## How it works
+
+This is not enabled by default. Users (or distro-maintainers) opt-in via environment variable `R_PLATFORM_PKGTYPE` which specifies the path where R will look for binaries on package repositories. This variable is usually set in any of the `Renviron` files that gets loaded when R starts. 
+
+The format of this variable must be `{os}.binary.{flavor}` for example if we use:
+
+
+```env
+R_PLATFORM_PKGTYPE=linux.binary.noble-x86_64
+```
+
+Then the server binaries need to be hosted on:
+
+```
+https://{server}/bin/linux/noble-x86_64/contrib/{r-version}/PACKAGES
+```
+
+Where `linux` and `noble-x86_64` are taken from `R_PLATFORM_PKGTYPE` and `{r-version}` is the usual `major.minor` R version (without the patch part) e.g. `4.6`.
+
+R will show a warning and fall back on building packages from source as usual for packages or repositories where the requested binaries are not available.
+
+
+## Testing with R-universe
+
+Currently R-universe already hosts such binaries for Ubuntu "noble" 24.04 for both arm64 and x86_64:
+
+ - https://cran.r-universe.dev/bin/linux/noble-x86_64/contrib/4.6/PACKAGES.gz
+ - https://cran.r-universe.dev/bin/linux/noble-arm64/contrib/4.6/PACKAGES.gz
+
+We can use the attached [Dockerfile](Dockerfile) to test that this works as intended by installing the tidyverse and its dependencies. The output logs show that installation is quick and no packages get built from source.
+
+```sh
+docker build . --no-cache --progress=plain
+```
+
+Output from nightly runs of this Dockerfile on GitHub actions is here: https://github.com/r-devel/linux-binary-packages/actions/workflows/test.yml