As a user I would prefer:
A (classed) error if I ask for something impossible.
A (classed) warning if 'include.only' is handled as 'include' (because I might
rely on the .only part for some reason and have forgotten that I have already
attached the namespace).
- Ursprüngliche Mail -
> Von: "Kurt Hornik"
> An: "Laurent Gatto"
> CC: "Kurt Hornik" , "Trevor Davis"
> , r-devel@r-project.org, "roland
> fuss"
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 3. Juni 2025 19:23:01
> Betreff: Re: [Rd] FR: improve "use" function
>> Laurent Gatto writes:
>
> Thanks.
>
> In general, I guess we all agree that if 'include.only' or 'exclude' ask
> for something (currently) impossible then a suitably classed condition
> object should be thrown. Could be both a warning or an error ...
>
> And perhaps we should take 'include.only' as 'include', i.e., be fine
> when we give 'include.only' as a subset of what is already included.
>
> Personally, I am not a big fan of suggesting to use detach() in the
> condition message.
>
> Best
> -k
>
>> On Tuesday, May 27th, 2025 at 9:13 AM, Kurt Hornik
>> wrote:
>>> > > > > > Trevor Davis writes:
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>>
>>> This is really about what
>>>
>>> library("foo", include.only = "fun2")
>>>
>>> should do if package 'foo' was already attached and the include.only
>>> contradicts a previous specification.
>>>
>>> In principle, one could look into allowing the underlying
>>> attachNamespace() to add more exports into the package environment (the
>>> 'only' in 'include.only' might suggest differently, but we would have to
>>> live with that). However, using detach/attach is not the right way of
>>> doing this, as it possibly modifies the search path and may trigger
>>> hooks that should not be triggered. Doing it right would probably need
>>> an .Internal and hence be a lot of work ...
>>>
>>> What definitely needs attention is the fact that currently the above is
>>> silently ignored. So at least for now we should teach attachNamespace()
>>> to throw a suitably classed error if called with include.only that
>>> contradicts a previous specification.
>>>
>>> Contributions welcome :-)
>
>> Some work has been done on that front during last week's r-dev-day
>> with Ella Kaye and Philippe Grosjean [1]. After some more thinking, I
>> think we haven't been stringent enough, and would suggest that the
>> user should be alerted as soon as what they want to attach doesn't
>> match exactly what is already on the search path. Something along the
>> lines of (the warning/message can of course be amended).
>
>> These two situations are OK, given that exactly the same set is asked
>> for repeated, either with a limited set of functions:
>
>>> library("Matrix", include.only = "isDiagonal")
>>> library("Matrix", include.only = "isDiagonal") ## ok
>
>> or, in a new session, with the whole package:
>
>>> library("Matrix", include.only = "isDiagonal")
>>> library("Matrix", include.only = "isDiagonal") ## ok
>
>> Below, (again, in a new session) the user could be mislead that either
>> only qr would be attached (and isDiagonal not anymore), or all
>> Matrix's exported symbols:
>
>>> library("Matrix", include.only = "isDiagonal")
>>> library("Matrix", include.only = "qr") ## warn
>> Warning message:
>> In library("Matrix", include.only = "qr") :
>> The package 'Matrix' is already loaded with a different set of functions.
>> Please
>> detach() it first.
>>> library("Matrix") ## warn
>> Warning message:
>> In library("Matrix") :
>> The package 'Matrix' is already loaded with a different set of functions.
>> Please
>> detach() it first.
>
>> In the following cases, a subset is asked after all symbols are
>> attached, which also triggers a warning/message:
>
>>> library("Matrix")
>>> library("Matrix", exclude = "isDiagonal") ## warn
>> Warning message:
>> In library("Matrix", exclude = "isDiagonal") :
>> The package 'Matrix' is already loaded with a different set of functions.
>> Please
>> detach() it first.
>>> library("Matrix", include.only = "isDiagonal") ## warn
>> Warning message:
>> In library("Matrix", include.only = "isDiagonal") :
>> The package 'Matrix' is already loaded with a different set of functions.
>> Please
>> detach() it first.
>
>> If this is a good way forward, I would be happy to carry on that work.
>
>> Laurent
>
>
> > [1] https://github.com/r-devel/r-dev-day/issues/48
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