Question

I am including a binary executable with a package that I am creating. I have specified its path in the /inst/ package subfolder using a file named BinaryFiles located in the root of the package installation.

Is it necessary to note elsewhere that it will only run under Windows (both 32 and 64 bit architectures) e.g. in the DESCRIPTION file? (In addition to the documentation where this will be stated repeatedly!)

e.g. as:

SystemRequirements: Windows

or something to that effect?

Answer 1

There is a optional entry in DESCRIPTION specifying the operating system that is meant for this. So please see Section 1.1.1 of ‘Writing R Extensions’ for full details — but in short, you want to use

OS_type=windows

here.