[Rd] Consider getNamespaceVersion() returning a numeric_version

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On 17/10/2024 13:42, Tim Taylor wrote:
> I mean the `numeric_version` object not a numeric (double/int). 
> Basically to protect me from myself I'd prefer not to have to remember 
> to wrap `getNamespaceVersion()` with `as.package_version()`.
> 
> I suspect a grep of CRAN may highlight others who are erroneously 
> comparing character objects rather than a comparison between a 
> `numeric_version` object and a character.

Perhaps you could do that rather than speculating?  Similarly, try out 
over CRAN the effect of getNamespaceVersion changing its return type.

It seems to be used in less than 40 CRAN packages, many boilerplate code 
from a single author and most use the version as a printable character 
string.  A few are clearly wrong: E.g.

if(getNamespaceVersion("reticulate") >= "1.36.0")

will be false it that package ever reaches "1.100.0".  This is what 
compareVersion() is for ....

> On 17/10/2024 13:22, Dirk Eddelbuettel wrote:
>> On 17 October 2024 at 12:38, Tim Taylor wrote:
>> | Would R-Core be receptive to having getNamespaceVersion() return a
>> | numeric_version object instead of a named character?
>>
>> Is this good enough? What's your actual issue a 'numeric' would address?
>>
>>     > as.package_version(getNamespaceVersion("base")) < "4.5.0"
>>     [1] TRUE
>>     >
>>     > as.package_version(getNamespaceVersion("Rcpp")) > "1.0.11"
>>     [1] TRUE
>>     > as.package_version(getNamespaceVersion("Rcpp")) > "1.0.14"
>>     [1] FALSE

There are differences, e.g.

 > (z <- getNamespaceVersion("MASS"))
  version
"7.3-61"
 > (zz <- as.package_version(z))
[1] ‘7.3.61’
 > as.character(zz)
[1] "7.3.61"

and some uses need the first.  That makes changing the return value too 
disruptive.

If the issue is only comparison, getNamespaceVersion's return value 
could be given a class and an Ops group method, but the existence of 
compareVersion() makes that less compelling.


-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley using stats.ox.ac.uk
Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics, University of Oxford