How can I commit changes to GitHub from within a R script?

Solution

The answer lie within Dirk Eddelbuettel's drat package function addrepo. It was also necessary to use git2r's config function to insure that git recognizes R. git2r's functions probably provide a more robust solution for working with git from an R script in the future. In the meantime, here's how I fixed the problem.

• Install git2r. Use git2r::config() to insure git recognizes R.

• From Dirk's code I modified the gitcommit() function to utilize sprintf() and system() to execute a system command:

# Git commit.
gitcommit <- function(msg = "commit from Rstudio", dir = getwd()){
  cmd = sprintf("git commit -m\"%s\"",msg)
  system(cmd)
}

Sprintf's output looks like this:

[1] "git commit -m\"commit from Rstudio\""

Example

#install.packages("git2r")
library(git2r)

# Insure you have navigated to a directory with a git repo.
dir <- "mypath"
setwd(dir)

# Configure git.
git2r::config(user.name = "myusername",user.email = "myemail")

# Check git status.
gitstatus()

# Download a file.
url <- "https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/002/232/bullet_cat.jpg"
destfile <- "bullet_cat.jpg"
download.file(url,destfile)

# Add and commit changes. 
gitadd()
gitcommit()

# Push changes to github.
gitpush()

Well, the pic looks wonky, but I think you get the point.