Github action syntax unclear

[edmondop]

The documentation for the R Check action suggests to use the error-on:

Run r-lib/actions/check-r-package@v[2](https://github.com/.../5593775315?check_suite_focus=true#step:7:2)
  with:
    error-on: error
    args: c("--no-manual", "--as-cran")
    build_args: "--no-manual"
    check-dir: "check"
    working-directory: .
    upload-snapshots: false
    upload-results: false
  env:
    GITHUB_PAT: ***
    R_KEEP_PKG_SOURCE: yes
    R_LIBS_USER: /home/runner/work/_temp/Library
    TZ: UTC
    _R_CHECK_SYSTEM_CLOCK_: FALSE
    NOT_CRAN: true
    RSPM: https://packagemanager.rstudio.com/all/__linux__/focal/latest
Run ## --------------------------------------------------------------------
Error in match.arg(error_on, c("never", "error", "warning", "note")) : 
  object 'error' not found

I tried a couple of possible setups:

      - uses: r-lib/actions/check-r-package@v2
        with:
          error-on: "error"

I also tried with no quotes. What's happening there? Do I need to escape the string in the yml? Looks like a bug in the parsing on the action side

[gaborcsardi]

Well the documentation says:

It must be an R expression in single quotes.

So the correct form is

      - uses: r-lib/actions/check-r-package@v2
        with:
          error-on: '"error"'

[Ilia-Kosenkov]

I just encountered a similar problem. While I can, sort of, agree to warp into additional quotes arguments that are passed to R function (though it feels like it should be handled by the action itself), I am confused by the difference in syntax and naming of two paths https://github.com/r-lib/actions/blob/8e8f7edba0e5bda9318f9377c0dc9c2f5d0fb786/check-r-package/action.yaml#L14-L19

It will certainly create less... problems and issues if R actions have syntax, consistent with other (e.g., non-R) actions.

[gaborcsardi]

Changing the syntax is breaking change, so we cannot do that now. We can certainly document it better, which is what this issue is about.

[gsrohde]

Well the documentation says:

It must be an R expression in single quotes.

So the correct form is

      - uses: r-lib/actions/check-r-package@v2
        with:
          error-on: '"error"'

As I point out in issue #579, this is a correct form, but there are others. For example,

      - uses: r-lib/actions/check-r-package@v2
        with:
          error-on: "\"error\""

or, considering the fact that in R, "error" and c("error") are equivalent,

      - uses: r-lib/actions/check-r-package@v2
        with:
          error-on: c("error")

(no extra quotes needed).

So to say "it must be an R expression in single quotes" is a bit of an overstatement and not quite true.

[github-actions[bot]]

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