[Rd] how to test packages under platforms we don't have?

[Kevin B. Hendricks]

Hi,

One final question ... is there an automated build system anyplace  
for package developers and R -developers to make sure their code  
works on all platforms.  I was able to check with Linux, and MacOSX  
(both Intel and PPC) but I do not own a Windows box and was unable to  
test/debug the build in any way on that platform.

On my last project (OpenOffice.org), they used something called  
"tinderbox" to automate the build on all official platforms and post  
results (and build logs and errors/warnings) to a web site that any  
contributors could check to make sure anything they changed or wrote  
did not disrupt any thing else.

The main OpenOffice.org developers made available "child  
workspaces" (typically subsets of the main development tree or even  
the whole tree) that volunteer developers could commit to that had to  
be validated via the "tinderbox" and a test harness before being  
merged back into the tree.  That allowed the volunteers more freedom  
to make changes without ever hurting the tree.  And it gave the core  
developers complete control of when and if, patches and changes from  
outside volunteers ever make it into the tree.

Is there anything like that for R either internally or externally?

Thanks,

Kevin