[Rd] R 4.4.0 has version of Matrix 1.7-0, but it's not available on CRAN

[Tim Taylor]

On Fri, 26 Apr 2024, at 11:32 AM, Martin Maechler wrote:
>>>>>> Gábor Csárdi 
>>>>>>     on Fri, 26 Apr 2024 11:55:36 +0200 writes:
>
>     > I don't know if this is a bug, but it is certainly weird. AFAICT R
>     > 4.4.0 has Matrix 1.7-0.
>
> Yes, it *is* available from CRAN:  You can see it when looking into the
>
> 4.4.0/           , specifically the
> 4.4.0/Recommended/ sub directory.
>
> Recommended packages should be built as part of R
> unless *you* really want to *not* get them by choosing at
> configure time, not to get them via extra flag
>   --without-recommended-packages.
>
> So, well, you got what you wanted.
>
>     > However, currently CRAN has
>
>     > Package: Matrix
>     > Version: 1.6-5
>     > Priority: recommended
>     > Depends: R (>= 3.5.0), methods
>     > ...
> .
> Yes, because it has to provide Matrix to R versions before 4.4.0
> and Matrix 1.7-0 has  'Depends: R (>= 4.4.0)'
>
>     > (plus another version for R >= 4.5.0 only).
>
>     > Which has some weird consequences, e.g. if I have an R 4.4.0
>     > installation without the recommended packages, 
>
> (why would you explicitly choose *not* to have the
>  recommended packages when they *are* recommended .. :-b )
>   ...

Hi Martin.

I appreciate the efforts you are going to balance these Matrix updates across CRAN versions. Related, but a little tangential, to the installation situation, I'd still expect the canonical CRAN link (https://cran.r-project.org/package=Matrix) to provide links to the *current* version.  Currently links to a source tarball and the reference manual is for 1.6.5 (I'm guessing vignettes are also from 1.6.5.).

Best

Tim