[Rd] References to contributed packages (was Re: Mosaicplot coloring)

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006, Liaw, Andy wrote:

> Perhaps you do not understand why the documentations in base R do/can not
> refer to contributed packages (as Achim stated).  There are several, but the
> more obvious one is that contributed packages are not guanranteed to be
> there:  Each package is required to have a maintainer, who is responsible
> for making necessary updates to keep the package up-to-date with R versions.
> A package not actively maintained is subject to removal from CRAN.  Can you
> reasonably expect base R to cite contributed packages in such a setup?

As a general principle this is indeed so, but we do have some exceptions 
(look in the R Data Import/Export Manual for several), especially to the 
recommended packages.  Where there is enhanced methodology in a package 
and as a result there are no plans to enhance the main R version and the 
package is stable and has maintainers with a track record of being 
responsive, we do consider adding a cross-reference (and indeed a 
cross-ref from mosaicplot to vcd has been floated before).  And possibly 
under other circumstances too ....

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at 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