Create GitHub-hosted CRAN mirror for our packages

[apulsipher]

We need to create a GitHub repository that acts like a CRAN mirror, automatically building our R packages' binaries for different OS's. This would make it easier to distribute development versions of our software, avoiding the need for users to potentially install things like Rtools (for building packages on Windows).

[gvegayon]

Hey @EpiForeSITE/all! I just learned that the r-universe project generates automatic binary builds of R packages across GitHub. Check this out:

• https://epiforesite.r-universe.dev/builds
• https://uofuepibio.r-universe.dev/builds

The nice thing about it is that we can add r-universe as a repo and allow people to install compiled versions of our R packages without the need of downloading R tools and whatnot. To the respective owners of each R package repo, ensure that (a) your repo has all the needed requirements for it to show up in the website, and (b) that you add the instructions how to download the package from r-universe (in addition to devtools or remotes).

update

We can set up our own version of this: https://docs.r-universe.dev/publish/set-up.html