[R-pkg-devel] Public URLs for help for versions of base packages

[David Hugh-Jones]

OK, so I took Jeff's hint and did this myself!

https://github.com/hughjonesd/r-help

Sample page for ?plot from the first version of R (at least, the first
version that is on svn):

https://hughjonesd.github.io/r-help/0.60/base/plot.html

Not everything is guaranteed to work, so please report bugs if you find any.

Cheers,
David


On Fri, 30 Jun 2023 at 13:23, David Hugh-Jones <davidhughjones using gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> There are plenty of places to find current docs. I think it’s fine to have
> versioned ones also. I agree it would be a good idea to clearly signal
> “hey, this is an old version” - indeed I’ve been bitten by that in python
> before. I’m working on this now… will see what I can do.
>
> Does anyone happen to know if it’s possible to create 00index files
> without installing the relevant package? (Loading R 0.60 is challenging…)
>
> D
>
>
>
> On Fri, 30 Jun 2023 at 13:02, Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.duncan using gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On 30/06/2023 7:57 a.m., David Hugh-Jones wrote:
>> > Static web pages get indexed by google.
>>
>> Isn't that an argument against having static pages?  If I do a Google
>> search for "R lm" I think it's better to find the current docs rather
>> than dozens of obsolete versions.  It's rare that someone wants to see
>> changes across versions, so doing that should take extra work.
>>
>> Duncan Murdoch
>>
>> >
>> > David
>> >
>> >
>> > On Fri, 30 Jun 2023 at 09:55, Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.duncan using gmail.com
>> > <mailto:murdoch.duncan using gmail.com>> wrote:
>> >
>> >     Why store them?  Download the source on demand, and convert it.
>> Seems
>> >     pretty simple.
>> >
>> >     Duncan Murdoch
>> >
>> >     On 30/06/2023 1:19 a.m., David Hugh-Jones wrote:
>> >      > This is for the rcheology package. I run a Shiny web app which
>> >     lets you
>> >      > examine changes to functions across R versions:
>> >      >
>> >      > https://hughjonesd.shinyapps.io/rcheology/
>> >     <https://hughjonesd.shinyapps.io/rcheology/>
>> >      >
>> >      > Manually storing and converting the Rd might be possible, but it
>> >     would be
>> >      > burdensome in terms of data (and my time). And if the Rd spec has
>> >     changed
>> >      > across versions, that’s another problem.
>> >      >
>> >      > More generally, shouldn’t there be publicly available versioned
>> >      > documentation? Python has had this for a long time.
>> >      >
>> >      > David
>> >      >
>> >      >
>> >      > On Fri, 30 Jun 2023 at 01:01, Jeff Newmiller
>> >     <jdnewmil using dcn.davis.ca.us <mailto:jdnewmil using dcn.davis.ca.us>>
>> >      > wrote:
>> >      >
>> >      >> Sure. On your computer. Install the old version of R and let it
>> >     serve the
>> >      >> relevant docs.
>> >      >>
>> >      >> Dunno of anyone doing this historical dive online for you
>> >     though. Why
>> >      >> would you want preformatted docs if you didn't have those old
>> >     versions
>> >      >> installed?
>> >      >>
>> >      >> On June 29, 2023 4:23:55 PM PDT, David Hugh-Jones <
>> >      >> davidhughjones using gmail.com <mailto:davidhughjones using gmail.com>>
>> wrote:
>> >      >>> That’s useful to know. But is there anywhere with preformatted
>> >     HTML pages?
>> >      >>>
>> >      >>> Cheers, D
>> >      >>>
>> >      >>> On Thu, 29 Jun 2023 at 21:46, Ivan Krylov
>> >     <krylov.r00t using gmail.com <mailto:krylov.r00t using gmail.com>> wrote:
>> >      >>>
>> >      >>>> On Thu, 29 Jun 2023 20:22:47 +0100
>> >      >>>> David Hugh-Jones <davidhughjones using gmail.com
>> >     <mailto:davidhughjones using gmail.com>> wrote:
>> >      >>>>
>> >      >>>>> I'm looking for a source of online help for R base
>> >      >>>>> packages, which covers all versions (for some reasonable
>> value of
>> >      >>>>> "all"). So e.g. the equivalent of `?lm` for R 4.1.0.
>> >      >>>>
>> >      >>>> These live in the R source tree, under src/library:
>> >      >>>> https://svn.r-project.org/R/trunk/src/library/
>> >     <https://svn.r-project.org/R/trunk/src/library/>
>> >      >>>>
>> >      >>>> For the actual releases of R, you may have to go looking at
>> the
>> >      >>>> branches inside that repository, e.g., the following command:
>> >      >>>>
>> >      >>>> svn log \
>> >      >>>>
>> >      >>>>
>> >      >>
>> >
>> https://svn.r-project.org/R/branches/R-4-1-branch/src/library/stats/man/lm.Rd
>> <
>> https://svn.r-project.org/R/branches/R-4-1-branch/src/library/stats/man/lm.Rd
>> >
>> >      >>>>
>> >      >>>> ...should tell you the history of ?lm until the latest
>> >     R-4.1-patched.
>> >      >>>>
>> >      >>>> Do the Git mirrors track these release branches? The branching
>> >     model of
>> >      >>>> Subversion [*] is different from the Git model, so perhaps
>> not.
>> >      >>>>
>> >      >>>> --
>> >      >>>> Best regards,
>> >      >>>> Ivan
>> >      >>>>
>> >      >>>> [*]
>> >     https://svnbook.red-bean.com/nightly/en/svn.branchmerge.using.html
>> >     <https://svnbook.red-bean.com/nightly/en/svn.branchmerge.using.html
>> >
>> >      >>>>
>> >      >>
>> >      >> --
>> >      >> Sent from my phone. Please excuse my brevity.
>> >      >>
>> >      >> ______________________________________________
>> >      >> R-package-devel using r-project.org
>> >     <mailto:R-package-devel using r-project.org> mailing list
>> >      >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-package-devel
>> >     <https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-package-devel>
>> >      >>
>> >
>>
>> --
> Sent from Gmail Mobile
>

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