Why use macOS for pkgdown github actions?

[meztez]

Hi

Most pkgdown actions use a macOS runner. (see use_tidy_github_actions)

Since macOS runner minutes are 10x the price of linux runners minutes, I was considering switching our pkgdown action to another OS.

What was the reason to use macOS instead of linux or windows to run pkgdown action?
A. Faster action completion time?
B. Better plot output DPI/resolution by default on macOS?
C. Brew package manager.
D. All of the above.
E. None of the above.

Is it a mistake to switch to a different OS?

Thanks RStudio Community

[jimhester]

macOS was used because CRAN builds package binaries on macOS and the installation and checking was faster than on Windows. The examples were designed to run on public open source projects where there is no cost difference.

Now that RStudio Package Manager serves linux binaries we have actually just switched the pkgdown example to use linux and you can do the same if you wish.