From ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.de  Wed Mar 28 22:25:16 2012
From: ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.de (Uwe Ligges)
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:25:16 +0200
Subject: [Rd] CRAN policies
In-Reply-To: <CAP01uRmob_VSmgVc80yek3g4D3K0tedmmU1EbmHJ3CCpgRQDgw@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CB9770B4.36D98%jeff.a.ryan@gmail.com>
	<4F731B09.5000203@statistik.tu-dortmund.de>
	<CAP01uRmob_VSmgVc80yek3g4D3K0tedmmU1EbmHJ3CCpgRQDgw@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <4F7373AC.4010409@statistik.tu-dortmund.de>



On 28.03.2012 16:30, Gabor Grothendieck wrote:
> 2012/3/28 Uwe Ligges<ligges at statistik.tu-dortmund.de>:
>>
>>
>> On 27.03.2012 20:33, Jeffrey Ryan wrote:
>>>
>>> Thanks Uwe for the clarification on what goes and what stays.
>>>
>>> Still fuzzy on the notion of "significant" though.  Do you have an example
>>> or two for the list?
>>
>>
>>
>> We have to look at those notes again and again in order to find if something
>> important is noted, hence please always try to avoid all notes unless the
>> effect is really intended!
>>
>>
>> Consider the Note "No visible binding for global variable"
>> We cannot know if your code intends to use such a global variable (which is
>> undesirable in most cases), hence would let is pass if it seems to be
>> sensible.
>>
>> Another Note such as "empty section" or "partial argument match" can quickly
>> be fixed, hence just do it and don't waste our time.
>>
>> Best,
>> Uwe Ligges
>
> What is the point of notes vs warnings if you have to get rid of both
> of them?  Furthermore, if there are notes that you don't have to get
> rid of its not fair that package developers should have to waste their
> time on things that are actually acceptable.  Finally, it makes the
> whole system arbitrary since packages can be rejected based on
> undefined rules.
>
> Either divide notes into significant notes and ordinary notes and
> clearly label them as such in the output of   R CMD check   or else
> make the significant notes warnings so one can know in advance whether
> the package passes R CMD check or not.
>


I tried to make clear that we cannot decide that automatically and it 
needs human inspection and thinking if some Note is significant or not. 
That why we have not made them Warnings where we are sure things have to 
be fixed.

Please always try to avoid all notes unless the effect is really 
intended! How hard can it be? If Notes could be completely ignored, they 
would not be Notes.

Uwe



[Rd] CRAN policies
Uwe Ligges