R package: use a custom file/directories structure in pkg/R and pkg/src folders

Question

I'm writing a R package which begins to grow in size, and so would really appreciate to use a custom structure in folders pkg/R/ and (especially) in pkg/src/.

For example, let's say I have two families of algorithms of some type A, and some functions of type B, and a main entry point. Ideally R/ or src/ folders would be organized as follow:

• typeA/
  • algorithms1/
    • algo11.ext
    • ...
  • algorithms2/
    • algo21.ext
    • ...
• typeB/
  • function1.ext
  • ...
• main.ext

with "ext" in {R,cpp,c,f,...}, and potentially two files having the same name.

Is it possible ? If yes, how can I do that ?

Thanks in advance !

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[2012-12-31] EDIT: an idea would be to write a few scripts - maybe inside another R package - to (un)flatten a structured package for tests or diffusion. But there is probably a better solution, so I will wait a bit.

Answer 1

As the 'Writing R extensions' manual indicates here, a Makevars file under pkg/src allows to have nested subfolders for C/C++/Fortran code. (See e.g. RSiena package).

However, I didn't find anything concerning a custom structure in pkg/R. So I wrote a little package (usable, although needing improvements) which accomplish the following tasks:

• Load/Unload a package having (potentially) nested folders under pkg/R
• Launch R and/or C unit tests on it [basic framework, to be replaced (e.g. RUnit and check)]
• Export the package to be CRAN-compatible (flatten R code, generate Makevars file)

I will link it here if it reaches a publishable state. (For the moment I could send it by email).