[R-pkg-devel] R package test breakage catch 22

[Jonathon Love]

hi,

i currently face the following situation:

my package, package A, depends on package B. i have unit tests in 
package A which expect results, which are in part as a result of 
calculations from package B.

package B has made some changes, which leads to slightly different 
results being calculated, and now package A tests fail.

now it turns out that the CRAN submission process has picked up that the 
new B, causes tests to fail on A, and so B can't be accepted by CRAN.

now i can update my tests so they expect the *new* values, but obviously 
these will fail and won't be accepted by CRAN, because the new B isn't 
on CRAN yet.

i can't update A because of old B, and B can't be updated because of old A.

how does one solve this catch-22?

with thanks

jonathon