Rebuilding all 100+ r-cran-* packages for R 2.10.0

[Dirk Eddelbuettel]

R 2.10.0, due out October 26, will switch to an internal html converter from
the latex-alike Rd format coupled with an internal webserver.  See below for
the section on 'Significant user-visible changes' in the NEWS file from
2.10.0 -- taken from the Oct 13 beta currently in unstable.

This means we "should" rebuild all packages or else they will upon load
trigger a nagging message 'package foo was built under R version x.y.z and
may not function properly' as well as possible malfunctions of the help
system.  As we're only talking 100+ packages, this should work.

I would appreciate some pointers as to how I can milk out fancypants new mega
databases to extracts all packages (matching r-cran-*; there are only one or
two exceptions to that rules) and their maintainers ... and ideally even
monitor most recent re-builds.  Anybody feel like sharing some hints with me
off-line?

Also, and the security minded folks may want to consider the second bullet
point:  do we need to worry about this or not as it is just the loopback
interface?  Seems fine to me but I figured I'd better ask :)

Please CC me on replies.

Cheers, Dirk





        **************************************************
        * *
        *       2.10 SERIES NEWS *
        * *
        **************************************************


                CHANGES IN R VERSION 2.10.0


SIGNIFICANT USER-VISIBLE CHANGES

    o Package help is now converted from Rd by the R-based converters
        that were first introduced in 2.9.0.  This means

        - Packages that were installed by R-devel after 2009-08-09
          should not be used with earlier versions of R, and most
          aspects of package help (including the runnable examples)
          will be missing if they are so used.

        - Text, HTML and latex help and examples for packages
          installed under the new system are converted on-demand from
          stored parsed Rd files.  (Conversions stored in packages
          installed under R < 2.10.0 are used if no parsed Rd files
          are found.  It is recommended that such packages be
          re-installed.)


    o HTML help is now generated dynamically using an HTTP server
        running in the R process and listening on the loopback
        interface.

        - Those worried about security implications of such a server
          can disable it by setting the environment variable
          R_DISABLE_HTTPD to a non-empty value.  This disables
          help.start() and HTML help (so text help is shown instead).

        - The Java/Javascript search engine has been replaced by an
          HTML interface to help.search().  help.start() no longer has
          an argument 'searchEngine' as it is no longer needed.

        - The HTML help can now locate cross-references of the form
          \link[pkg]{foo} and \link[pkg:foo]{bar} where 'foo' is an
          alias in the package, rather than the documented (basename
          of a) filename (since the documentation has been much
          ignored).




--
Three out of two people have difficulties with fractions.


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-science-request@...
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@...

[Cyril Brulebois-4]

Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd@...> (16/10/2009):
> This means we "should" rebuild all packages or else they will upon
> load trigger a nagging message 'package foo was built under R
> version x.y.z and may not function properly' as well as possible
> malfunctions of the help system.  As we're only talking 100+
> packages, this should work.

You want to contact -release@ as well (possibly early). And something
like 100+ packages is something they might want to know about.

> Also, and the security minded folks may want to consider the second
> bullet point: do we need to worry about this or not as it is just
> the loopback interface?  Seems fine to me but I figured I'd better
> ask :)

You want to ask -security@ (or the security team directly, you choose)
too, I guess.

> Please CC me on replies.

Done.

Mraw,
KiBi.

[Dirk Eddelbuettel]

On 17 October 2009 at 01:29, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
| Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd@...> (16/10/2009):
| > This means we "should" rebuild all packages or else they will upon
| > load trigger a nagging message 'package foo was built under R
| > version x.y.z and may not function properly' as well as possible
| > malfunctions of the help system.  As we're only talking 100+
| > packages, this should work.
|
| You want to contact -release@ as well (possibly early). And something
| like 100+ packages is something they might want to know about.

I guess so. It's borderline as it doesn't malfunction, yet upstream
recommends rebuilds. Will contact release.
 
| > Also, and the security minded folks may want to consider the second
| > bullet point: do we need to worry about this or not as it is just
| > the loopback interface?  Seems fine to me but I figured I'd better
| > ask :)
|
| You want to ask -security@ (or the security team directly, you choose)
| too, I guess.

Ack. Will send to them as well.

| > Please CC me on replies.

Appreciate it.

Dirk

--
Three out of two people have difficulties with fractions.


--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-science-request@...
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@...