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I often use utility type functions from other packages that are un-exported:
pkg:::fun(). I am wondering if I can use such a function within new functionality/scope in my own R package. What is the correct approach here? Is including the package in my description file enough?
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The @export docstring informs Roxygen to to put the function name in the package NAMESPACE file which means it can be accessed by users after they run library(<packagename>) . It should be used for functions that you want consumers of your package to be able to use directly.
Namespaces are the environment where all the functions of a package live. The parent environments of namespaces are the imports environments, which contain all the functions imported from other packages.
We can build a source package (i.e., a zipped version of the R package) in Rstudio by selecting Build > Build Source Package . This will create a zipped package outside of the package directory, which would be what we would need to build if we wanted to submit our package to CRAN.
Another trick is using getFromNamespace():
fun <- utils::getFromNamespace("fun", "pkg")
The only advantage over ::: is that you don't get any NOTEs and it's allowed on CRAN. Of course, this is not good practice as a hidden change in pkg can break your package.
Note: With roxygen2 you have to add the utils package to the Imports field of your DESCRIPTION file to fulfill CRAN's requirements. Alternatively, you can put it in your NAMESPACE manually.
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Summarising comments from @baptise, and etc...:
::: not allowed on CRAN, so options:
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