Using a custom prepare script

publish/debug-build.qmd

@@ -4,11 +4,17 @@ title: "Debug package builds"
 
 ## Is it possible to customize the package build process with custom options/tools/variables?
 
-No, that is not possible (apart from the next section about third-party system requirements). 
-Think of R-universe more like your own mini-CRAN. 
-The build environment is actually very similar to that of CRAN, if the package can build on CRAN, it will probably work on R-universe.
+Yes, for packages that cannot be build directly from the checkout but need some additional steps, you can add a [script](https://github.com/r-universe-org/build-source/blob/5830b8aa92d5524b3af6d1b617e605d1a2558543/entrypoint.sh#L50-L57) that gets executed before R CMD build at the root of your package:
+
+- either an R script called `bootstrap.R`
+- or a shell script called `.prepare`.
+
+Examples of actions performed by the script:
+
+- Initiate a git submodule;
+- Run roxygen2 (some authors do not commit the Rd files to git);
+- Other prepping.
 
-This is on purpose: we want to make sure that the packages deployed on R-universe are reproducible and will work on the user machine as well, and do not depend on some custom settings or tools.
 
 ## How to request additional third party system requirements?