Unable to `install_gitlab` repos within subgroups

[timtrice]

If we want to use install_gitlab we supply a repo parameter which is in username/repo[/subdir][@ref] format. This string is split by parse_repo_spec so we have a username variable (e.g., "r-lib") and repo variable (e.g., "remotes").

If my repo is within a GitLab group, then I can simply replace the username portion of the repo parameter with the name of the group.

However, if I have a subgroup holding the repo, I'm stuck. There is no params variable for subgroups.

#' Works
devtools::install_gitlab("timtrice/falsy")

#' Works
devtools::install_gitlab("timtrice_tests/falsy")

#' Fails
devtools::install_gitlab("timtrice_tests/tests/falsy")

 Error in utils::download.file(url, path, method = download_method(), quiet = quiet,  : 
  cannot open URL 'https://gitlab.com/timtrice_tests/tests/raw/master/falsy/DESCRIPTION?private_token=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP' 

There is no way to get the subgroup past the parse_repo_spec function. So, further functions that stick the URL back together do it incorrectly. The URL in the error above should be,

https://gitlab.com/timtrice_tests/tests/raw/master/falsy/DESCRIPTION?private_token=ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP

For example, in remote_package_name, the src is built (using build_url) as that in the error message. But, if I change src to the last example above, while debugging, it is successful.

Another option is, instead of using the group/subgroup/repo combination, perhaps we can pass the Project ID? This doesn't seem to work in remote_pacage_name but it does in gitlab_commit.

[jimhester]

I was not aware of this subgroup concept, looking at this example I am not really sure how it could be supported while also retaining support for subdirectories

[rozwad]

Please see #308 – quick and dirty workaround.

[ldecicco-USGS]

Any chance we can re-start the conversation on installing from sub groups? We're considering moving our github/USGS-R packages to a sub group. Here's an example:

The subgroup:
https://code.usgs.gov/water/stats

The repo:
https://code.usgs.gov/water/stats/MGBT

For the record, this works:

 remotes::install_git("https://code.usgs.gov/water/stats/MGBT.git")
 remotes::install_url("https://code.usgs.gov/water/stats/MGBT/-/archive/master/MGBT.zip")

So...maybe we just need to get people to use that...