[R][Release] CRAN packaging checklist for version 21.0.0

[amoeba]

Describe the bug, including details regarding any error messages, version, and platform.

Packaging Checklist for CRAN Release

For a high-level overview of the Arrow release process see the Apache Arrow Release Management Guide.

Before the Arrow Release Candidate Is Created

• Create a GitHub issue entitled [R] CRAN packaging checklist for version X.Y.Z and copy this checklist to the issue.
• Review deprecated functions to advance their deprecation status.
• Evaluate the status of any failing nightly tests and nightly packaging builds. These checks replicate most of the checks that CRAN runs, so we need them all to be passing or to understand that the failures may (though won't necessarily) result in a rejection from CRAN.
• Check current CRAN check results.
• Ensure the contents of the README are accurate and up to date.
• Run urlchecker::url_check() on the R directory at the release candidate.
  commit. Ignore any errors with badges as they will be removed in the CRAN release branch.
• Polish NEWS but do not update version numbers (this is done automatically later). You can find commits by, for example, git log --oneline <sha of last release>..HEAD | grep "\[R\]".
• For major releases, prepare content for social media highlighting new features.

Wait for the release candidate to be created.

After the Arrow Release Candidate Has Been Created

• Create a CRAN-release branch from the release candidate commit, name the new branch maint-X.Y.Z-r and push to upstream.

Prepare and Check Package That Will Be Released to CRAN

• git fetch upstream && git checkout maint-X.Y.Z-r && git clean -f -d.
• Run make build. This copies Arrow C++ into tools/cpp, prunes some unnecessary components, and runs R CMD build to generate the source tarball. Because this will install the package, you will need to ensure that the version of Arrow C++ available to the configure script is the same as the version that is vendored into the R package (e.g., you may need to unset ARROW_HOME).
• devtools::check_built("arrow_X.Y.Z.tar.gz") locally.

Wait for Arrow Release Vote

• Release vote passed

Generate R Package to Submit to CRAN

• If the release candidate commit updated, rebase the CRAN release branch on that commit.
• Pick any commits that were made to main since the release commit that were needed to fix CRAN-related submission issues identified in the above steps.
• Remove badges from README.md.
• Run urlchecker::url_check() on the R directory.
• Create a PR entitled WIP: [R] Verify CRAN release-X.Y.Z-rcX. Add a comment @github-actions crossbow submit --group r to run all R crossbow jobs against the CRAN-specific release branch.
• Run Rscript tools/update-checksums.R <libarrow version> to download the checksums for the pre-compiled binaries from the ASF artifactory into the tools directory.
• Regenerate arrow_X.Y.Z.tar.gz (i.e., make build).

Check Binary Arrow C++ Distributions Specific to the R Package

Important

Enable GCS before submitting to MacBuilder. We'd like to try keeping that on going forward.

• Upload the .tar.gz to win-builder (r-devel only) and confirm with Jon (who will automatically receive an email about the results) that the check is clean.
• Upload the .tar.gz to macOS Builder and confirm that the check is clean.
• Check install.packages("arrow_X.Y.Z.tar.gz") on Ubuntu and ensure that the hosted binaries are used.
• devtools::check_built("arrow_X.Y.Z.tar.gz") locally one more time (for luck).

Submit Package to CRAN

This step must be done by the current package maintainer.

• Upload arrow_X.Y.Z.tar.gz to the CRAN submit page.
• Confirm the submission email.

Wait for CRAN to Accept the Submission

• CRAN has accepted the submission.
• Tag the tip of the CRAN-specific release branch with r-universe-release.
• Add a new line to the matrix in the backwards compatability job.
• (patch releases only) Update the package version in ci/scripts/PKGBUILD, r/DESCRIPTION, and r/NEWS.md.
• (CRAN-only releases) Rebuild news page with pkgdown::build_news() and submit a PR to the asf-site branch of the docs site with the contents of arrow/r/docs/news/index.html replacing the current contents of arrow-site/docs/r/news/index.html.
• (CRAN-only releases) Bump the version number in r/pkgdown/assets/versions.json, and update this on the the asf-site branch of the docs site too..
• Review the packaging checklist template and update as needed.
• Wait for CRAN-hosted binaries on the CRAN package page to reflect the new version.
• Post already-prepared content to social media.
  • Use Bryce's script for contributor calculation.

Component(s)

R

[thisisnic]

Review deprecated functions to advance their deprecation status.

What does this step actually involve doing?

[thisisnic]

NEWS PR: #47121

[thisisnic]

Drafted social media content - please add comments in reply to this comment or thumbs up/down: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yKkI2ifziPufXAJqIuS1MZ5xIDq7MJCiEU-7-0zdlJI/edit?usp=sharing

[amoeba]

Review deprecated functions to advance their deprecation status.

What does this step actually involve doing?

I don't think we've had to do anything here for a while. I think examples are like f0ff8d0.

[thisisnic]

Just to check, I saw you self-assigned this issue @amoeba - I was going to run through some of the release tasks but happy to leave it to you if you'd prefer? Just let me know!

[amoeba]

Hey @thisisnic any and all help welcome. Feel free to assign yourself and ping me if I can help.

[thisisnic]

Perfect, cheers.