Merged from a separate conversation
This is an extension of a thread started in the #package-development forum. Thanks to some kind feedback, I was encouraged to make a post in here in #r-admin on an article I had written on internal-package distribution.
The problem being addressed is how to build and maintain a CRAN-like repository for private packages within an "internal" environment, like a company or an institution. You want the convenience and robustness of install.packages(), but you cannot share the package beyond your institution.
tl;dr version: the method I propose uses the drat package with an instance of GitHub Enterprise.
The longer version is addressed by a package I am working on, called ghentr, to help you use some of devtools' GitHub "magic" with your instance of GitHub Enterprise.
If you are still interested in learning more, there's also a presentation you can watch from #rstudio-conf (2018).