Get (mostly) rid of make

[cbeleites]

hyperSpec currently has a very elaborate Makefile system. This proved to be difficult for contributors.

One goal of the refactoring during Google Summer of Code 2020 is to arrive at a state where Makefiles are not or at least only hardly needed.

Changes/proposals should thus aim at reducing the complexity of the Makefiles.

[cbeleites]

An immediately needed "subissue" of this is to sufficiently reduce the usage of make to allow devtools::build() and devtools::check() to run.

[GegznaV]

Can you write down the main points, why make is used in hyperSpec?

1. To build vignettes? And if it is the only reason, we can temporarily remove vignettes and return them back later.
2. To build data? In this scenario, we can use usethis::use_data() to save data in a correct format to make them distributable with hyperSpec. Later, we can write instructions (documentation) how these datasets could be obtained from the raw data.

What are the other reasons?

[cbeleites]

@GegznaV

1. yes
   • chondro and fileio vignettes will anyways be removed during GSoC since chondro will become its own data package and the file import functions will be split into several packages dedicated each to a single file format.

• plotting (Move vignette *plotting* #136) and hyperSpec (Move vignette *hyperSpec* #135) are "harmless": all they need can comparatively easily be transferred into the packages' vignette/ directory.
• for flu and laser, we need a decision:
  • the raw data files of flu can easily live in the package rawdata (or raw_data) directory. They are actually shipped with the package. The data set technically is in flu.rda, though, which is created from the files in the raw data directory when the vignette is built. As the file import functions are going to be separated into their own packages, this is not possible any more. => Future of vignettes *flu* and *laser*? #138

2. The main idea historically was to make sure vignettes and data kept in sync - even if the vignette was distributed pre-built. So, yes, flu, laser, barbiturates and paracetamol are built from their raw data when the vignettes are built. AFAIK, we cannot have this inside the package.
   So: Convert small data sets to "static" versions #137

3. see also How to handle large data sets #129

[GegznaV]

Due to the changes in #159, we can build a package without make. Is this enough to close this issue or some other changes should be made? (E.g., some more Make files be removed).

[eoduniyi]

Is make still needed on develop branch?

[cbeleites]

No more make 😄

[eoduniyi]

Is make still needed on develop branch?