[Rd] [External] Re: API updates for R 4.6.0

[iuke-tier@ey m@iii@g oii uiow@@edu]

On Fri, 17 Apr 2026, Iñaki Ucar wrote:

> On Fri, 17 Apr 2026 at 12:56, <luke-tierney using uiowa.edu> wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, 17 Apr 2026, Iñaki Ucar wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Luke,
>>>
>>> On Thu, 16 Apr 2026 at 21:43, luke-tierney--- via R-devel
>>> <r-devel using r-project.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> The installed C header files for R 4.6.0 should now correspond to the
>>>> C API as defined by the Writing R Extensions manual: All entry points
>>>> and variables declared in the headers are now part of the API.  This
>>>> helps clarify the interface available to package developers, and
>>>> provides the encapsulation needed to allow improvements to internals
>>>> of R without impacting packages. Many thanks to package developers who
>>>> helped in developing new API features to make this possible and who
>>>> worked on moving away from using non-API features.
>>>>
>>>> A small number of packages with significant reverse dependencies have
>>>> not yet completed the transition. CRAN will be hosting transitional
>>>> versions for these until their maintainers submit updates.
>>>
>>> Does this mean that these packages will now fail instead of generating a NOTE?
>>
>> The unmodified versions will now fail to install and that would
>> prevent other packages from installing. That is why transitional
>> versions are needed. About a third of those have already been updated
>> by their maintainers; updates for mot others have been promised soon.
>
> I'm thinking here about updating the R rpm package in Fedora. This
> means that I would need to update R-Rcpp too to the transitional
> version. Which I don't particularly like on the one hand, and it's a
> bit of a pain, because it would need special treatment of the spec, as
> it breaks the automation we have to retrieve the sources.
>
> Is there any compilation flag I could activate in R's config that
> makes it compatible with current package versions without the
> transitional ones? (I.e. that still enables the deprecated API symbols
> until everything is up-to-date)

My recommendation is to hold off on a Fedora update until a compatible
Rcpp is available.

Best,

luke

>
> Best,
> Iñaki
>
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> luke
>>
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Iñaki
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>>
>>>> luke
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> 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/
>>>>
>>>> ______________________________________________
>>>> 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/
>
>
>
>

-- 
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/