[Rd] Advice debugging M1Mac check errors

[Simon Urbanek]

> On 7/02/2024, at 5:06 AM, Prof Brian Ripley via R-devel <r-devel using r-project.org> wrote:
> 
> On 04/02/2024 19:41, Holger Hoefling wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I wanted to ask if people have good advice on how to debug M1Mac package
>> check errors when you don´t have a Mac? Is a cloud machine the best option
>> or is there something else?
> 
> I presumed this was about a CRAN package, possibly hdf5r which has a R-devel-only warning from the Apple clang compiler.  And that is not a 'check error' and not something to 'debug'.
> 
> The original poster had errors for his package flsa until yesterday on fedora-clang and M1mac, which were compilation errors with recent LLVM and Apple compilers.  Again, not really something to 'debug' -- the compiler messages were clear and the CRAN notification contained advice on where in our manual to look this up.
> 
> The mac-builder service offers checks for R 4.3.0, the 'development' option being (last time I tried) the same as the 'release' option. (When I asked, Simon said that 'development' checks were only available in the run up to a x.y.0 when he starts package building and checks for R-devel.)
> 


Just to clarify, the above is outdated information - ever since the R-devel packages binaries are on CRAN the "development" option in the mac-builder is available.

Cheers,
Simon



> 
> We were left to guess, but I doubt this has to do with the lack of 'extended precision' nor long doubles longer than doubles on arm64 macOS.  And issues with that are rather rare (much rarer than numerical issues for non-reference x86_64 BLAS/LAPACKs).  Of the 20,300 CRAN packages just 18 have M1mac-specific errors, none obviously from numerical inaccuracy.  A quick look back suggests we get about 20 a year with M1mac numerical issues, about half of which were mirrored on the x86_64 'noLD' checks.
> 
> -- 
> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley using stats.ox.ac.uk
> Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics, University of Oxford
> 
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