[R-package] [docs] replace build_r_site.R with pkgdown::build_site()

[jameslamb]

Per this conversation (#1143 (comment)), this PR removes build_r_site.R and replaces it with a call to pkgdown::build_site(install = FALSE).

Documentation tools like roxygen2::roxygenize(), pkgdown::build_site(), and devtools::document() used to try to rebuild R packages and this work well with ours. But now these tools support installing once and then running their functionality without re-building. So this flow works and only builds the package one time:

Rscript build_r.R

Rscript -e "roxygen2::royxgenize(load = 'installed')"

Rscript -e "pkdown::build_site()"

I tried building this on readthedocs and it looks ok!

• build: https://readthedocs.org/projects/lightgbm/builds/11055947/
• docs: https://lightgbm.readthedocs.io/en/fix-remove-devtools/R/index.html

[StrikerRUS]

Awesome! Only two minor points below for discussion.

[StrikerRUS]

I think doc PR label is for something that is changing any documentation for users. This PR leaves everything visible for users the same. So I believe maintaince label should be used for invisible at user side changes.

[jameslamb]

After pinning new_process in c428cb0, can confirm this is still working:

• rtd build: https://readthedocs.org/projects/lightgbm/builds/11059218/
• https://lightgbm.readthedocs.io/en/fix-remove-devtools/R/index.html

I'll merge this if CI build successfully

[jameslamb]

@StrikerRUS now that this is merged, you can disable the fix/remove-devtools branch on readthedocs and I'll remove it from the repo here. Thanks for the help!

[StrikerRUS]

pkgdown::build_site() creates a docs directory automatically:

Ah, makes perfect sense! Completely missed it.

now that this is merged, you can disable the fix/remove-devtools branch on readthedocs and I'll remove it from the repo here.

OK. Done.

Thank you very much for this great simplification!

[github-actions]

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