reactorlabs/rir

Dynamically reload RIR from R

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#264 opened on Nov 13, 2018

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enhancementgood first issue

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Description

RIR is implemented as a shared library (e.g. librir.so) that GNU R loads, along with rir.R which defines the R functions for the RIR API. (See the rir/tools/R load script.)

Imagine the following work flow:

  • I start GNU R with RIR loaded, and hack on some code.
  • I realize that I need to make a change to RIR, so I edit the C++ files and recompile.
  • But to use those changes, I have to close the current R session and restart, losing my work.

It would be nice if I could force a reload of librir.so (or whatever the extension is on macOS), or have something that does it automatically, or have something trigger a RIR build and reload.

Our current approach of using environment variables might not work, maybe take a look at how our test infrastructure loads with dyn.load(librir.so) and sys.source('rir/R/rir.R').

Or maybe we should use the "save current workspace" feature more frequently.

Contributor guide

Research direction
Investigate how to dynamically reload shared libraries in R using dyn.unload and dyn.load, and automate the rebuild and reload cycle.
Tech stack
rcpp
Domain
backend
Issue type
Feature
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
Half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
RC++
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
50