[R-pkg-devel] [External] Re: What is a "retired"package?

[Jeff Newmiller]

As you previously quoted:

> plyr is retired: this means only changes necessary to keep it on CRAN will be made.

That excludes bugfixes related to any specific use cases it is not currently capable of handling. In other words, if it doesn't handle the data you pass along to it from your users, or there turns out to be a security problem (I agree, not likely, but remember these agencies don't shade things by "likely") then the plyr maintainers aren't promising to fix it. Take it "as-is". This is exactly what this "agency" you are being hassled by is concerned about... not the label applied to that status.

On September 21, 2021 8:50:32 AM PDT, "Lenth, Russell V" <russell-lenth using uiowa.edu> wrote:
>... "I am not fixing this hot mess"??? To the contrary, the README contains a clearly expressed intention to maintain plyr to keep in on CRAN.
>
>RL
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jeff Newmiller <jdnewmil using dcn.davis.ca.us> 
>Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2021 10:36 AM
>To: r-package-devel using r-project.org; Lenth, Russell V <russell-lenth using uiowa.edu>; r-package-devel using r-project.org
>Subject: [External] Re: [R-pkg-devel] What is a "retired"package?
>
>There is nothing official about that term. However, the meaning as intended by the package authors seems pretty clear to me, and if some organization decides not to allow software that is not being maintained to be relied upon then that is their decision. I don't think slapping a different label on "I am not fixing this hot mess" is going to change that organization's stance, and expecting the author to play that game is unreasonable.
>
>Welcome to the downside of package interdependencies. I highly recommend that you migrate away from plyr, either by absorbing the key functions you need from it or by relying on different packages.
>

-- 
Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.