[Rd] [External] Non-API updates

[J C Nash]

On 2024-06-25 12:25, Josiah Parry wrote:
> "Stop using them" is pithy advice but far easier said than done!
> 
> With respect to NOTES and WARN on CRAN, these do not result in any
> package maintainer notifications. The only notification that the developers
> receive is the threatening one that states that the packages will be
> removed
> from CRAN with a very short timeline.
> 
> Is there a link you can provide regarding the "Moving into C compliance?" It
> cannot be found at https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-exts.html.
> 
> Given that there hasn't been a stable release with these changes, how are
> we
> to know these changes have been stabilized and begin working towards
> remedying them? These WARNs come from R-devel which is, as its name
> suggests,
> a development version which is vacillating daily.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Jun 25, 2024 at 12:10 PM <luke-tierney using uiowa.edu> wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, 25 Jun 2024, Josiah Parry wrote:
>>
>>> Hey folks,
>>>
>>> I'm sure many of you all woke to the same message I did: "Please correct
>>> before 2024-07-09 to safely retain your package on CRAN" caused by
>> Non-API
>>> changes to CRAN.
>>>
>>> This is quite unexpected as Luke Tierney's June 6th email writes
>> (emphasis
>>> mine):
>>>
>>> "An *experimental* *effort* is underway to add annotations to the WRE..."
>>>
>>> "*Once things have gelled a bit more *I hope to turn this into a blog
>>> post that will include some examples of moving non-API entry point
>>> uses into compliance."
>>>
>>> Since then there has not been any indication of stabilization of the
>>> Non-API changes nor has there been a blog post outlining how to migrate.
>> As
>>> things have been coming and going from the Non-API changes for quite some
>>> time now, we (the royal we, here) have been waiting for an official
>>> announcement from CRAN on the stabilizing changes.
>>
>> I posted an update to this list a few days ago. If you missed it you
>> can find it in the archive.
>>
>>> *Can we extend this very short notice to handle the Non-API changes
>> before
>>> removal from CRAN? *
>>
>> Timing decisions are up to CRAN.
>>
>>> In the case of the 3 packages I have to fix within 2 weeks, these are all
>>> using Rust. These changes require upstream changes to the extendr
>> library.
>>> There are other packages that are also affected here. Making these
>> changes
>>> is a delicate act and requires care and focus. All of the extendr
>>> developers work full time and cannot make addressing these changes their
>>> only priority for the next 2 weeks.
>>
>> Using non-API entry points is a choice that comes with risks. The ones
>> leading to WARNINGs for your packages (PRSEEN and SYMVALUE)have been
>> receiving NOTEs in check results for several weeks. Using
>> tools:::checkPkgAPI you can see that your packages are referencing a
>> lot of non-API entry points. Some of these may be added to the API,
>> but most will not. This may be a good time to look into that.
>>
>> To minimize disruption we have been adding entry points to the API as
>> long as it is safe to do so, in some cases against our better
>> judgment. But ones that are unsafe to use will not be
>> added. Eventually their declarations will be removed from public
>> header files and they will be hidden when that is possible. Packages
>> that have chosen to use these non-API entry points will have to adapt
>> if they want to pass R CMD check. For now, we will try to first have
>> use of these entry points result in NOTEs, and then WARNINGs. Once
>> their declarations are removed and they are hidden, packages using
>> them will fail to install.
>>
>>> Additionally, a blog post with "examples of moving non-API entry point
>> uses
>>> into compliance" would be very helpful in this endeavor.
>>
>> WRE now contains a section 'Moving into C API compliance'; that seems
>> a better option for the moment given that things are still very much
>> in flux. We will try to add to this section as needed. For the
>> specific entry points generating WARNINGs for your packages the advice
>> is simple: stop using them.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> luke
>>
>>>
>>>        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> R-devel using r-project.org mailing list
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Luke Tierney
>> Ralph E. Wareham Professor of Mathematical Sciences
>> University of Iowa                  Phone:             319-335-3386
>> Department of Statistics and        Fax:               319-335-3017
>>      Actuarial Science
>> 241 Schaeffer Hall                  email:   luke-tierney using uiowa.edu
>> Iowa City, IA 52242                 WWW:  http://www.stat.uiowa.edu/
>>
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-devel using r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel