Installing non-public packages from Gitlab using devtools::install_git

Question

My institution recently installed GitLab for us. I've figured out how to install R packages from the GitLab server using devtools::install_git and it works as long as the project is public.

#* When modeltable project has Public status devtools::install_git('https://mini-me2.lerner.ccf.org/nutterb/modeltable.git') 

However, if I have a package that is listed as either "Internal" or "Private," I can't install the package without some form of authentication. As of yet, I haven't figured out how to pass authentication via the URL. Does anyone have experience with downloading packages from GitLab?

#* After changing the 'modeltable' project to Private status devtools::install_git('https://mini-me2.lerner.ccf.org/nutterb/modeltable.git') Preparing installation of modeltable using the Git-URL: https://mini-me2.lerner.ccf.org/nutterb/modeltable.git '/usr/bin/git'clone --depth 1 --no-hardlinks https://mini-me2.lerner.ccf.org/nutterb/modeltable.git /tmp/Rtmp5aj1cU/file24493dc03a32 Error: There seems to be a problem retrieving this Git-URL. 

Answer 1

I'd highly recommend going the SSH route, and the below works for that. I found making the leap to SSH was easy, especially with R and RStudio. I'm using Windows in the below example. Edits from code I use in practice are in all caps.

creds = git2r::cred_ssh_key("C:\\Users\\MYSELF\\.ssh\\id_rsa.pub",                             "C:\\Users\\MYSELF\\.ssh\\id_rsa") devtools::install_git("[email protected]:GITLABGROUP/PACKAGE.git",                       credentials = creds) 

Two quick additional comments:

• git2r is imported with devtools, you shouldn't need to install it separately.
• Also I don't think this should need mentioning, but passwords in plaintext in your script is a very bad idea.