Add a mechanism to help not add all files in rsconnect deployment

[cderv]

This is a feature request to help users of golem and prevent sending heavy bundles when deploying.

Currently, golem suggests to use rsconnect::deployApp() but it says nothing about which files should be deployed. And the fact is all the files and folder are not necessary for a fully functionning app.

I am thinking about:

• All the development only files and folder that golem creates like dev
• All the files and folder helpful for package development but not for run (tests, data-raw, ...)
• Everything that is in .Rbuildignore should not be needed when deployed.

The only mechanism I know in rsconnect is a file manifest or a appFiles argument. There is no .rsconnectIgnore. This could also be a feature request in rsconnect to have possibility to ignore some files instead of explicitly indicate them. Golem could then build on that.

For now, it would be either be

• Just documentation to suggest that some files and folder are not required to be deploy
• Using a file manifest to explictily state the files and folder that need to be deployed. As golem standardize the project folders, it could be easy For example, in a files_to_deploy.txt

inst/app
R
app.R
DESCRIPTION
NAMESPACE

and rsconnect::deployApp(appFileManifest = "files_to_deploy.txt")

(Note: Example to be tested but should work)

What do you think ?

[slopp]

I think having a .rsconnectIgnore file would be a great addition to the reconnect package

[ColinFay]

Putting this on-hold as there is (to my knowledge) no mechanism to handle that at RSconnect level.

[aldomann]

I wonder if app.R and the files_to_deploy.txt app manifest file could actually be stored in dev instead of the parent package directory?

[ColinFay]

Not on hold anymore, see https://github.com/rstudio/rsconnect/pull/502

[ColinFay]

TODO :

• [ ] add_rscignore_file() that will add the files that do no need to be deployed to Connect:
  • [ ] Check that the {rsconnect} version is >= 0.8.25, skip the file writting if it is not
  • [ ] to ignore: dev/, man/, LICENSE, LICENCE, NEWS, NEWS.md, README.(md|Rmd|HTML), Vignette, tests (maybe others)
• [ ] Run add_rscignore_file() in golem::add_rstudioconnect_file()