NEWS.md

In rticulate/import: An Import Mechanism for R

Version 1.3.2

• This is a minor bugfix release addressing an issue in the way method names were constructed for S3 imports.

Version 1.3.1

• The import package will now by default use the full current set of library paths, i.e. the result of .libPaths(), while in versions up to and including 1.3.0 this defaulted to use only the first entry in the library paths, i.e. .library=.libPaths()[1L].

• The order of loadNamespace() and getNamespaceExports() has been changed in import::from(). While this is intended to be a bug fix, it is possible that it affects usage in situations where specificity about the library path is important.

• The two aforementioned changes had to be implemented jointly, because the bug that is addressed by the second change was masking a bug that then needed to be fixed by the second change. A detailed analysis of this can be found in issue #56 on GitHub.

• A regression introduced in 1.3.0, that prevented importing multiple scripts into the same environment in some situations, has now been fixed.

• Errors that occur while importing modules are now handled more effectively.

• An issue with package documentation, correctly documenting "_PACKAGE" to ensure a -package alias is added.

Version 1.3.0

• import::from/into now support importing .into symbols, regardless of .character_only value, and NSE is never performed on this parameter. In other words, the .into parameter should now always be a regular variable, and can be of type character (indicating a named environment) or environment (indicating an unnamed environment). Curly brackets {} are no longer needed, and are simply ignored if present.

• import::from/here/into now have a new .S3 parameter, setting it to TRUE which allows automatic detection and registration of S3 generics and methods. This is an initial experimental implementation, and is disabled by default.

• import::from/here/into now support importing hidden objects (those with names prefixed by a period). Users should be aware that importing objects with the same names as named function parameters may cause issues (and this could happen as well with any new parameters that may be added to the import package in the future)

• Minor patch to import fixes a bug when importing from a library not defined in the libPaths. The namespace was fixed to be imported earlier in the function definition so that later functions that do not use a lib.loc parameter (such as getNamespaceExports) can successfully reference the namespace.

• Minor patch to import fixes a bug where function get from namespaces other than package:base can be incorrectly substituted in make_import_call. This fix also applies to getExportedValue, even though this function is less likely to be masked.

• Several documentation improvements.

Version 1.2.0

• import is now more strict and won't allow an import from a different environment to replace an existing import of that name and location.
• One can now import directly into an environment (which may not be attached) by wrapping it in braces, e.g. import::from(pkg, symbol, .into = {environment()})
• import::from/here/into now include a new option, .character_only, that suppresses non-standard evaluation and thus allows passing object names or locations in variables (character strings).
• import::from/here/into now include new options, .all and .except, that allow the user to import all functions, or all functions except a few, from a package or module.
• import::from/here/into now include a new option, ".chdir", specifying whether the working directory is changed before sourcing modules to import.
• import::from/here/into now include a new option, ".directory",
• import::here() has been fixed to use environment() explicitly to import into the current environment, rather than importing into "" (the empty string), which no longer works because of upstream changes. Passing "" to ".into" parameter is now only a shorthand for .into = {environment()}.
• Using import::from(), import::into(), or library() inside a module that is being sourced from the import::from/here/into
• The parameter order for import::here() has been changed to be consistent with import::from(). The change is backwards compatible because the moved parameter (.from) was previously behind the ellipsis, requiring the use of named parameters.
• Unit tests have been added and various issues fixed.

Version 1.1.0

• There is now support to import objects from script files, i.e. a kind of "module". Scripts meant to expose objects for import should ideally be side-effect free, but this is not enforced. Any attachments are detached after import, but loaded namespaces remain loaded.

Version 1.0.2

• You can now specify which library to use, and only one library is ever used in a single call: there is no ambiguity about where imports come from.
• There is a distinction between using double- and triple colon syntax; analogously to using :: and ::: operators.
• If the package is attached (e.g. via library) there is a startup message informing the user that the package is not meant to be attached.
• It is only possible to use the functions with the import:: / import::: syntax.

rticulate/import documentation built on Feb. 2, 2024, 10:01 a.m.