ARROW-10733: [R] Improvements to Linux installation troubleshooting

Closes apache#9034 from nealrichardson/linux-troubleshooting

Authored-by: Neal Richardson <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Neal Richardson <[email protected]>

r/R/install-arrow.R

@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@
 #' from a nightly development version, or on Linux to try reinstalling with
 #' all necessary C++ dependencies.
 #'
+#' Note that, unlike packages like `tensorflow`, `blogdown`, and others that
+#' require external dependencies, you do not need to run `install_arrow()`
+#' after a successful `arrow` installation.
+#'
 #' @param nightly logical: Should we install a development version of the
 #' package, or should we install from CRAN (the default).
 #' @param binary On Linux, value to set for the environment variable
@@ -33,10 +37,13 @@
 #' See `vignette("install", package = "arrow")` for further details.
 #' @param use_system logical: Should we use `pkg-config` to look for Arrow
 #' system packages? Default is `FALSE`. If `TRUE`, source installation may be
-#' faster, but there is a risk of version mismatch.
+#' faster, but there is a risk of version mismatch. This sets the
+#' `ARROW_USE_PKG_CONFIG` environment variable.
 #' @param minimal logical: If building from source, should we build without
 #' optional dependencies (compression libraries, for example)? Default is
-#' `FALSE`.
+#' `FALSE`. This sets the `LIBARROW_MINIMAL` environment variable.
+#' @param verbose logical: Print more debugging output when installing? Default
+#' is `FALSE`. This sets the `ARROW_R_DEV` environment variable.
 #' @param repos character vector of base URLs of the repositories to install
 #' from (passed to `install.packages()`)
 #' @param ... Additional arguments passed to `install.packages()`
@@ -49,6 +56,7 @@ install_arrow <- function(nightly = FALSE,
                           binary = Sys.getenv("LIBARROW_BINARY", TRUE),
                           use_system = Sys.getenv("ARROW_USE_PKG_CONFIG", FALSE),
                           minimal = Sys.getenv("LIBARROW_MINIMAL", FALSE),
+                          verbose = Sys.getenv("ARROW_R_DEV", FALSE),
                           repos = getOption("repos"),
                           ...) {
   sysname <- tolower(Sys.info()[["sysname"]])
@@ -65,7 +73,8 @@ install_arrow <- function(nightly = FALSE,
       Sys.setenv(
         LIBARROW_DOWNLOAD = "true",
         LIBARROW_BINARY = binary,
-        LIBARRWOW_MINIMAL = minimal,
+        LIBARROW_MINIMAL = minimal,
+        ARROW_R_DEV = verbose,
         ARROW_USE_PKG_CONFIG = use_system
       )
       if (isTRUE(binary)) {

r/README.md

@@ -39,24 +39,6 @@ installation will also build necessary C++ dependencies. For a faster,
 more complete installation, set the environment variable `NOT_CRAN=true`.
 See `vignette("install", package = "arrow")` for details.
 
-If you install the `arrow` package from source and the C++ library is
-not found, the R package functions will notify you that Arrow is not
-available. Call
-
-```r
-arrow::install_arrow()
-```
-
-to retry installation with dependencies.
-
-Note that `install_arrow()` is available as a standalone script, so you can
-access it for convenience without first installing the package:
-
-```r
-source("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apache/arrow/master/r/R/install-arrow.R")
-install_arrow()
-```
-
 ## Installing a development version
 
 Development versions of the package (binary and source) are built daily and hosted at
@@ -69,7 +51,7 @@ install.packages("arrow", repos = "https://arrow-r-nightly.s3.amazonaws.com")
 Or
 
 ```r
-install_arrow(nightly = TRUE)
+arrow::install_arrow(nightly = TRUE)
 ```
 
 Conda users can install `arrow` nightlies from our nightlies channel using:

r/configure

@@ -193,8 +193,8 @@ else
     echo "$TEST_CMD"
   fi
   echo "------------------------- NOTE ---------------------------"
-  echo "After installation, please run arrow::install_arrow()"
-  echo "for help installing required runtime libraries"
+  echo "See https://arrow.apache.org/docs/r/articles/install.html"
+  echo "for help installing Arrow C++ libraries"
   echo "---------------------------------------------------------"
   PKG_LIBS=""
   PKG_CFLAGS=""

r/data-raw/codegen.R

@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ cpp_functions_definitions <- arrow_exports %>%
     }}
     #else
     extern "C" SEXP _arrow_{name}({sexp_params}){{
-    \tRf_error("Cannot call {name}(). Please use arrow::install_arrow() to install required runtime libraries. ");
+    \tRf_error("Cannot call {name}(). See https://arrow.apache.org/docs/r/articles/install.html for help installing Arrow C++ libraries. ");
     }}
     #endif
 
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ cpp_classes_finalizers <- map2(names(arrow_classes), arrow_classes, function(nam
   }}
   # else
   extern "C" SEXP _arrow_{name}__Reset(SEXP r6) {{
-    Rf_error("Cannot call _arrow_{name}__Reset(). Please use arrow::install_arrow() to install required runtime libraries. ");
+    Rf_error("Cannot call _arrow_{name}__Reset(). See https://arrow.apache.org/docs/r/articles/install.html for help installing Arrow C++ libraries. ");
   }}
   # endif
   ')