On Thu, 13 Apr 2006, Peter Ruckdeschel wrote: > Andy Liaw wrote: >> From: Prof Brian Ripley >>> / >> />/ On Thu, 13 Apr 2006, Peter Ruckdeschel wrote: >> />/ >> />/ > Hi R-devels, >> />/ > >> />/ > in "Writing R extensions" as well as in the help >> />/ > to .onAttach(), you mention that one could >> />/ > use this function to issue a start-up message/banner >> />/ > for the package. >> />/ > >> />/ > My little wish for Easter: >> />/ > >> />/ > a 'quietly'-type argument for .onAttach() / .First.lib() which is >> />/ > passed through by functions >> />/ > require() and library() respectively, >> />/ > and by means of which one could optionally >> />/ > suppress this start-up message/banner . >> />/ > >> />/ > Is this hard to do? >> />/ >> />/ I believe so (and think we have been here before). / > sorry, but I did not find anything on it --- > probably I searched for the wrong keywords. >> /> The //documented call //sequence is >> />/ >> />/ .onLoad(libname, pkgname) >> />/ .onAttach(libname, pkgname) >> />/ >> />/ the same as .First.lib. There is no way to add an argument >> />/ here, as many //existing packages do not support it. >> / > Couldn't a reasonable default value (probably FALSE ) catch this?
No. The problem is the other way round: if we arrange to call .onLoad(libname, pkgname, quietly), MASS will throw an error about an unmatched argument in its .onLoad, and similarly for hundreds of packages. It's an API change, one of a magnitude that we would only contemplate for R 3.x.y. >> /> Beyond that, how would / /you pass the >> />/ argument in? Namespaces and packages are often >> />/ loaded/attached implicitly //as a result of loading other packages. >> / > oK this is an issue --- no idea for this. >>> / I did think you could make use of an option to decide whether >> />/ to the print //the message or not, >> / > This is probably the cleanest solution. >> /> but I have always assumed that those who >> />/ did want a //banner probably did not want it suppressed. >> / >> That certainly is the case with randomForest, speaking for myself >> here. The banner I put in contains the version number of the >> package and a reminder to see what's been changed/fixed. I have >> not seen a compelling reason why suppressing such information is >> necessary (as opposed to "desirable"). I believe reporting >> version number upon startup is a Good Thing, as all too often >> people ask questions or report problems about packages without >> mentioning the version of the packages they used. I see this as >> a way of reminding the users. >> > I completely agree as to package version information > and pointers to NEWS / more information on the package. > > My wish is motivated by something else --- call it > > /"scalable start-up message"/ > > In a discussion with Martin Maechler, he proposed to alert/warn > the user in some prominent place about the interpretation of > arithmetics operating on distributions in our package "distr". > > I have been thinking about this "prominent place" for some time > and found that an .onAttach() message might be the right place. > > A user, however, who is already used to this interpretation, will soon > find this (extended) start-up message annoying and will want to > suppress it. > > I could do this with a "hand-made" option but thought this might > be of more general interest. > > Thank you for your attention, > Peter > > ______________________________________________ > R-devel@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel > > -- Brian D. Ripley, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA) Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595 ______________________________________________ R-devel@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
