[R-pkg-devel] Undeclared packages ... in Rd xrefs

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 01/02/2021 5:03 p.m., Ulrike Grömping wrote:
> Dear package developeRs,
> 
> under the Fedora clang checks, I find the note
> 
> "Undeclared packages ‘FrF2’, ‘DoE.wrapper’, ‘sfsmisc’, ‘DoE.MIParray’,
> ‘planor’ in Rd xrefs"
> 
> for my package DoE.base. I understand that package planor has been
> archived from CRAN; I don't understand what is wrong with the other
> xrefs; only the R-Devel Fedora clang flavor seems to complain, and I did
> not find an explanation in the section on cross references in Writing R
> Extensions. Can someone explain the meaning of this note?

There's a line in the Writing R Extensions manual section 2.5 
Cross-refernces for R-devel that says:

"Packages referred to by these ‘other forms’ should be declared in the 
DESCRIPTION file, in the ‘Depends’, ‘Imports’, ‘Suggests’ or ‘Enhances’ 
fields."

The other forms are the forms of links to other packages.  So presumably 
you don't mention those packages in your DESCRIPTION file.  Generally 
that means they should be listed in Suggests, which doesn't force them 
to be installed, but they will be installed during tests.  You might 
also argue they should be in Enhances, though that seems a worse fit.

Duncan Murdoch