SmartCane/PACKAGE_MANAGEMENT.md

SmartCane Project - Package Management

Quick Start

For New Team Members

1. Open R/RStudio
2. Set working directory to the project root: setwd("path/to/smartcane")
3. Run: source("r_app/package_manager.R")
4. Type y when prompted
5. Wait for completion ✅

For Existing Team Members (After Git Pull)

Same steps as above - the script will check for updates automatically.

What This Script Does

1. Initializes renv - Creates isolated package environment
2. Checks package versions - Compares installed vs required
3. Installs/Updates packages - Only if needed
4. Creates lockfile - renv.lock for exact reproducibility
5. Generates reports - Console output + package_manager.log

Key Features

• ✅ Minimum version requirements (allows patch updates)
• ✅ Critical package locking (tmap v4 for new syntax)
• ✅ Automatic installation of missing packages
• ✅ Console + Log output for debugging
• ✅ Cross-platform compatibility

Required Packages & Versions

Package	Min Version	Purpose
tmap	4.0.0	CRITICAL - New syntax used
tidyverse	2.0.0	Data manipulation
sf	1.0.0	Spatial data
terra	1.7.0	Raster processing
rmarkdown	2.21.0	Report generation

Workflow

Development Workflow

1. 👨‍💻 Developer: Make changes → run package_manager.R → test → commit + push
2. 👥 Teammate: Pull → run package_manager.R → test
3. 🚀 Production: Pull → run package_manager.R → deploy

Files Created

• renv.lock - Exact package versions (commit this!)
• package_manager.log - Installation log (don't commit)
• renv/ folder - Package cache (don't commit)

Troubleshooting

"Package failed to install"

• Check internet connection
• Update R to latest version
• Install system dependencies (varies by OS)

"Version conflicts"

• Delete renv/ folder
• Run script again for clean install

"renv not working"

• Install manually: install.packages("renv")
• Restart R session
• Run script again

Team Guidelines

1. Always run package_manager.R after pulling changes
2. Commit renv.lock to git (not renv/ folder)
3. Don't modify package versions in scripts - use this manager
4. Report issues in the log file to team

Advanced Usage

Restore from lockfile only:

renv::restore()

Add new package requirement:

1. Edit REQUIRED_PACKAGES in package_manager.R
2. Run the script
3. Commit updated renv.lock

Check status without changes:

source("r_app/package_manager.R")
# Then just read the log or run generate_package_report()