[Rd] require vs library

[kjetil brinchmann halvorsen]

On 21 Feb 2003 at 18:06, ripley@stats.ox.ac.uk wrote:

The problem which surprised Brian Ripley (the search list being 
changed by a package without the package giving information)
occurs also with recommended packages:

(This is R1.6.2)
> search()
[1] ".GlobalEnv"    "package:ctest" "Autoloads"     "package:base" 

> library(nlme)
Loading required package: nls 
Loading required package: lattice 
> search()

[1] ".GlobalEnv"      "package:mva"     "package:lattice" 
"package:grid"   
[5] "package:nlme"    "package:nls"     "package:ctest"   "Autoloads" 
   [9] "package:base"  

mva and grid has been loaded without any warning. Everybody knows 
lattice requires grid, but why mva?

Restarting R:

> search()
[1] ".GlobalEnv"    "package:ctest" "Autoloads"     "package:base" 
> library(grid)
> search()
[1] ".GlobalEnv"    "package:grid"  "package:ctest" "Autoloads"    
[5] "package:base" 
> library(lattice)
> search()
[1] ".GlobalEnv"      "package:lattice" "package:grid"    
"package:ctest"  
[5] "Autoloads"       "package:base"   
> library(nls)
> search()
[1] ".GlobalEnv"      "package:nls"     "package:lattice" 
"package:grid"   
[5] "package:ctest"   "Autoloads"       "package:base"   
> library(nlme)
> search()
[1] ".GlobalEnv"      "package:mva"     "package:nlme"    
"package:nls"    
[5] "package:lattice" "package:grid"    "package:ctest"   "Autoloads" 
     
[9] "package:base"   

So nlme loads mva without a warning. This did'nt happen before
R1.6.0, I beleave.

On this theme, I have another question. I have a package
which needs another package (SuppDists) for only one 
function. I do require() within that function only. Is that OK, 
or should it be done within .First.lib ?

Kjetil Halvorsen

> There seems to be a widespread assumption that the way for package foo to 
> require package bar is via `require(bar)'.  It isn't!
> 
> That returns a logical which is in the vast majority of cases unchecked.
> So if the package is really required, the code will fail without a warning
> if the package is unavailable.  You may as well call library() and let it
> do the checking.  (In a few cases you can safely assume that the package 
> is present, e.g. nnet can require(MASS) since they are installed 
> together.)
> 
> I find it confusing if require(bar, quietly=TRUE) is used with no message.  
> If you are going to change the search path, please let the end user know
> you have done so.  I've had nasty surprises more than once from this by 
> getting datasets from packages I did not ask to be there.
> 
> Another point: please do not call code with side effects like require, 
> library or options at the top level in foo/R/foo, but do so within 
> .First.lib.  This becomes important if the code is dumped or put in a 
> database.
> 
> -- 
> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley@stats.ox.ac.uk
> Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
> University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
> 1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595
> 
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