Problem understanding behaviour of versionCheck for loadNamespace (and when versions for Imports packages are checked)
On 26/11/2014, 8:29 PM, Geoff Lee wrote:
Hi Duncan The difference is that in your call to loadNamespace, the versionCheck list has 3 components (name, op and version), whereas the documentation only mentions 2 (op and version). loadNamespace 'works' for me provided I add a third component to the list (even a nonsense one). What I haven't yet had the fortitude to do is track down through the code to see what the arguments are (ie how many elements there are in the versionCheck list) to any calls to loadNamespace that are generated internally when the Imports to package2 are being loaded (either because they are explicitly mentioned in the NAMESPACE file, or because they are invoked by a "importedpackage1::fun_from_imported_package1" line of code). I'll put a bug report together later today, and include my toy packages etc.
As mentioned in a different message, the internal code creates a list with members "name", "op", "version". As you've noticed, the "name" part is never used in the loadNamespace code. I'm going to change the code so that the documentation is correct. But you said somewhere or other that you had an example where the implicit load failed to do the check. I don't see why it would. So that's what you should put in your bug report. Duncan Murdoch
Once again thanks for looking at this for me Geoff -----Original Message----- From: Duncan Murdoch [mailto:murdoch.duncan at gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, 27 November 2014 12:09 PM To: Geoff Lee; r-devel at r-project.org Subject: Re: [Rd] Problem understanding behaviour of versionCheck for loadNamespace (and when versions for Imports packages are checked) On 26/11/2014, 7:38 PM, Geoff Lee wrote:
Many thanks Duncan for the quick response.
A little too quick, it seems...
A bug is a relief in a way. I've been digging my way deeper into this (and learning more as I go) for several days now - but it is a diversion from (a diversion from) my main goal :-( Is there somewhere specific I should report or log the bug or will that happen from this mailing-list automatically? (I have seen the Bug Tracking link on the r-project page and followed that, but don't yet have a Bugzilla account, nor know the precise mechanics and protocols for notifying a bug)
If you can put together a simple set of steps to illustrate a bug, then
reporting on bugs.r-project.org is the way to get it recorded.
Reporting it on this list is really hit and miss. But I think from your
previous description, something else is going on. When I try to load a
namespace with a bad version number, I get an error:
loadNamespace("rgl", versionCheck=list(name="rgl", op=">",
version=package_version('3.0')))
Error in loadNamespace("rgl", versionCheck = list(name = "rgl", op = ">", :
namespace 'rgl' 0.95.1163 is being loaded, but > 3.0 is required
Duncan Murdoch
Geoff
PS Building package2 - via devtools::build('package2', binary = TRUE)
does check and insist that I have an appropriate version of the 'to be
imported'
package1 installed in my .libPath(). It was only when I simulated a user who has and older version of the Imported package1 (by overwriting the later version of package 1 with an earlier version), then trying to load or attach package2 that the (failure of the version checking) at loadNamespace time for package1 became apparent (well apparentish after quite a bit of digging) -----Original Message----- From: Duncan Murdoch [mailto:murdoch.duncan at gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, 27 November 2014 10:57 AM To: Geoff Lee; r-devel at r-project.org Subject: Re: [Rd] Problem understanding behaviour of versionCheck for loadNamespace (and when versions for Imports packages are checked) Summary: I think you've found a bug. On 26/11/2014, 5:39 PM, Geoff Lee wrote:
Hi I'm still exploring the R programming universe, so if this is being asked in the wrong place, or in the wrong way (e.g. too verbose or lacking in crucial detail or in the wrong format) please let me know I am trying to understand when the version constraints for packages which appear in the Imports field of a DESCRIPTION file are checked.
I would have assumed they are checked when you try to install the package. If you ask for version 3.0, and only have 0.3, the install should fail. But as you've found, the documents say something else...
Along the way I've hit a snag understanding what loadNamespace with the versionCheck argument set does. The core of my query is 'am I doing something wrong, or have I stumbled across a bug?'. Probably the former, but after several days I still can't figure it out, so any guidance, hints or outright help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance Geoff What I've tried so far. "Writing R extensions" section 1.1.3 says "The 'Imports' field lists packages whose namespaces are imported from (as specified in the NAMESPACE file) but which do not need to be
attached.
...
shortened for brevity ... Packages declared in the 'Depends' field should not also be in the 'Imports' field. Version requirements can be specified and are checked when the namespace is loaded (since R >=
3.0.0).
"
It is slightly ambiguous, but seems to mean that the version dependencies for both Depends packages and Imports packages are checked when the package (namespace?) is loaded. The release notes for R3.0.0 are more direct. They say "loadNamespace() allows a version specification to be given, and this is used to check version specifications given in the Imports field when a namespace is loaded" But some toy (locally built and loaded) examples seem to show that while the Depends versions are checked, the Imports version constraints are not (on Windows 64, running R3.1.2, see full session_info
later).
My tests (package2 imports package1) use implicit loading (via the package1::fun1() idiom) so I have worked back to try get a minimal example of what's causing me problems. I have tried
According to what you have written, that should have failed. So it looks like a bug.
loadNamespace('package2', versionCheck = list (op = ">=", version =
package_version('3.0')))
This should fail (package2 has version 0.3, not 3.0) but instead it
seems to load package2, version 0.3 OK.
Reading the code of loadNamespace, there is some code which says
if (length(z <- versionCheck) == 3L && !do.call(z$op,
list(as.numeric_version(version), z$version)))
stop(gettextf("namespace %s %s is being loaded, but %s %s is
required",
sQuote(package), version, z$op, z$version),
domain = NA)
I think it is the length(z <- versionCheck) == 3L part of the if test
that is allowing the incorrect version be loaded.
That does seem like a typo. Duncan Murdoch
The documentation for loadNamespace says that "versionCheck" is "NULL or a version specification (a list with components op and
version))."
If I add a third (nonsense) component to the versionCheck argument list, then loadNamespace does what I expect. Is there supposed to be a third component in the list, and if so what should it be? Or is this a
bug?
I've got this far and am now stumped, hence my query.
Some output from my tests.
d> devtools::session_info()
Session
info-----------------------------------------------------------------
-
--
setting value
version R version 3.1.2 (2014-10-31)
system x86_64, mingw32
ui RStudio (0.98.953)
language (EN)
collate English_Australia.1252
tz Australia/Sydney
Packages-------------------------------------------------------------
-
------
----
package * version date source
devtools 1.6.1 2014-10-07 CRAN (R 3.1.2)
rstudioapi 0.1 2014-03-27 CRAN (R 3.1.1)
d> # I think this should fail but it does not
d> loadNamespace('package2', versionCheck = list(op='>=', version =
package_version('3.0')))
<environment: namespace:package2>
d> devtools::session_info()
Session
info-----------------------------------------------------------------
-
--
setting value
version R version 3.1.2 (2014-10-31)
system x86_64, mingw32
ui RStudio (0.98.953)
language (EN)
collate English_Australia.1252
tz Australia/Sydney
Packages-------------------------------------------------------------
-
------
----
package * version date source
devtools 1.6.1 2014-10-07 CRAN (R 3.1.2)
package2 0.3 2014-11-24 local
rstudioapi 0.1 2014-03-27 CRAN (R 3.1.1)
d> #Try again with a third (nonsense) entry in the versionCheck list
d> unloadNamespace('package2')
d> loadNamespace('package2', versionCheck = list(op='>=', version =
package_version('3.0'), please = 'check it'))
Error in loadNamespace("package2", versionCheck = list(op = ">=",
version = package_version("3.0"), :
namespace 'package2' 0.3 is being loaded, but >= 3.0 is required
d> devtools::session_info()
Session
info-----------------------------------------------------------------
-
--
setting value
version R version 3.1.2 (2014-10-31)
system x86_64, mingw32
ui RStudio (0.98.953)
language (EN)
collate English_Australia.1252
tz Australia/Sydney
Packages-------------------------------------------------------------
-
------
----
package * version date source
devtools 1.6.1 2014-10-07 CRAN (R 3.1.2)
rstudioapi 0.1 2014-03-27 CRAN (R 3.1.1)
d> loadNamespace('package2', versionCheck = list(op='>=', version =
package_version('0.3'), please = 'check it'))
<environment: namespace:package2>
d>
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