[Gretl-devel] Re: towards packages with R in the background

Am 30.10.2019 um 22:32 schrieb Allin Cottrell: > New in git: > > * The function package DTD now includes an optional element named > "R-depends" to record R dependency information. > > * This is now handled in the process of "compiling" a gfn file via use > of a .spec file. And it's documented in the current iteration of the > Function Package doc. > > * When a package with an R dependency is loaded, a message is printed > alerting the user to this fact, with specifics on OK versions. > > At present the R information cannot be set via the packaging GUI, but > that can be added. Thanks Allin, I think the latter limitation is perfectly OK. > (something we do not yet attempt). Example: > > R-depends = R 3.5.3 glmnet 2.0-18 > > This means that the package requires R and R's glmnet, and is known to > work OK with R version 3.5.3 plus glmnet 2.0-18. The possibility is left > open that it might work with earlier or later versions of both -- the > key point is that it's tested OK with this combination. But if it's not meant in a >= sense, then the question arises how to give several versions which are known to work. I can see the point that it "usually" will work with newer versions, and so that information is perhaps not super important. But if you want to convey the meaning that it is actually tested, perhaps the package author did really test on multiple versions? (Putting several space-separated versions in parentheses of some kind also seems feasible to parse.)