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Bad URLs in DESCRIPTION files

4 messages · Lluís Revilla, Colin Gillespie, Kurt Hornik

Original
Colin Gillespie
# 
Hi All,

Just want to flag a few packages:

MatrixLDA: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/MatrixLDA/index.html
The URL is technically valid - ajmolstad at github.io/ - but returns a
404. Almost certainly a typo.

redistmetrics: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/redistmetrics/index.html
Not a valid URL: https::/github.com/alarm-redist/redistmetrics/

yarrr: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/yarrr/
It looks like a lapsed domain, and Cypro folks have grabbed it.

Thanks

Colin

Ps I only found the last package because the name caught my attention
Lluís Revilla
# 
Hi Colin,

I'm surprised this wasn't captured by the url checker on CRAN.
Are you suggesting a new check on package descriptions for the urls present?
In that case I guess it could be part of the standard R CMD check.

Llu?s
On Thu, 3 Apr 2025 at 17:17, Colin Gillespie <csgillespie at gmail.com> wrote:

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

        

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Colin Gillespie
    

    

      
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As was I

            

      
      
      
    

        
Yes - but more fixing edge cases than a new check

            

      
      
      
    

        
Yep. Kurt's message suggests that these were edge cases that missed the check.

Thanks

            

      
      
      
    

        

      
      
    

  
  


  


      

    

    

      
      

        


  

        

      Kurt Hornik
    

    

      
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Actually, the check code finds all these problems, but it is only run
upon submission.  Running 

x <- tools::CRAN_package_db()
y <- parallel::mclapply(x$URL,
                        tools:::.bad_DESCRIPTION_URL_field_parts,
                        mc.cores = 6L)
names(y) <- x$Package
y <- Filter(length, y)
y

currently finds problems in 50 CRAN packages.

Best
-k