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Problem loading package with version, S4 classes and NAMESPACE

Roger Bivand 
I've run into a problem that I hope has an obvious solution. The sp 
package uses S4 classes and has a NAMESPACE, and when installed without 
package versions, runs OK, passes R CMD check, and so on.

A user reported that he installed it  --with-package-versions, and that 
from then on it would fail at first use of a class defined in the package.

I've reconstructed the problem in a skeletal package:

http://reclus.nhh.no/R/etc/S4nswv_0.1-1.tar.gz

which when installed without versions works:

$ R CMD INSTALL S4nswv
$ R
...
R version 2.2.1, 2005-12-20, i686-pc-linux-gnu 

attached base packages:
[1] "methods"   "stats"     "graphics"  "grDevices" "utils"     "datasets" 
[7] "base"     

other attached packages:
 S4nswv 
"0.1-1"
x           y         res
 [1,] 0.01589694 0.935594239 -0.91969730
 [2,] 0.56974225 0.120906481  0.44883577
...

but fails after INSTALL --with-package-versions S4nswv
R version 2.2.1, 2005-12-20, i686-pc-linux-gnu 

attached base packages:
[1] "methods"   "stats"     "graphics"  "grDevices" "utils"     
"datasets" 
[7] "base"     

other attached packages:
S4nswv_0.1-1 
     "0.1-1"
Error in as.environment(pkg) : no item called "package:S4nswv" on the 
search list
Error in initialize(value, ...) : S language method selection got an error 
when called from internal dispatch for function 'initialize'
2: initialize(value, ...)
1: new("xyloc", x = runif(20), y = runif(20))

This suggests that "package:S4nswv" and its versioned equivalent are not 
being associated, and I'd be grateful for pointers about how to do this. 

Removing the NAMESPACE, and uncommenting .First.lib() in R/zzz.R removes 
the problem, that is the skeletal package works --with-package-versions, 
but this isn't an option.

At present, the methods package is invoked in DESCRIPTION in the Depends:  
field, by "import(methods)" in NAMESPACE, and by

.onLoad <- function(lib, pkg) require(methods)

in zzz.R, which feels like overkill, but removing them one-by-one doesn't 
seem to affect the problem.

(I don't think this is the same problem as Seth's)

Roger

Thread (2 messages)

Roger Bivand Problem loading package with version, S4 classes and NAMESPACE Jan 20 Roger Bivand Problem loading package with version, S4 classes and NAMESPACE Jan 20