install-file.Rmd

# The INSTALL file {#sysdep}

An INSTALL file does not have to be included with the package. An INSTALL file
is utilized for specifying external system requirements needed. It should be
used in combination with the `SystemRequirements` field of the [Description
file](#description-sysdep). This file should provide instructions for installing
the external software on the 3 major OS that we support: Linux, Windows, and
Mac. This will not only help your users get the external software on their
machines, but it will also help us install it on the build machines if it's not
already there.

Specifying this requirement does not guarantee that _Bioconductor_ will agree to
install the external system requirement. It is encouraged to discuss any
additional system requirements on the bioc-devel@r-project.org before
development.

System requirements should never be exclusive to a particular
version. Maintainers are expected to have their package work with whatever the
current version of external software is available.

See also [third party code](#third-party-code)