spatstat changes

[AndrewLJackson]

Dear package maintainer:

                       -- Changes to spatstat package --

You are listed as the maintainer of a CRAN package which depends on the package 'spatstat'. (See attached list of packages and maintainers)

We want to inform you that 'spatstat' is being divided into a series of sub-packages. This is mandated by CRAN to reduce the load on their servers.

Currently, when you install 'spatstat', the following packages are installed: spatstat.utils (low level utilities) spatstat.data (datasets) spatstat (the main body of code)

In the new structure, when you install 'spatstat', the following packages will be installed: spatstat.utils (low level utilities) spatstat.data (datasets) spatstat.sparse (sparse 3D arrays and linear algebra) spatstat.core (the main body of code, except for linear networks) spatstat.linnet (code for linear networks)
spatstat (an umbrella package containing only vignettes and documents)

The code will remain effectively unchanged; it will just be redistributed into different packages. For R users, typing library(spatstat) will still work as it does now.

If you wish, you can already try out the new structure. The sub-packages are available: spatstat.utils on CRAN spatstat.data on CRAN spatstat.sparse on CRAN spatstat.core at github.com/spatstat/spatstat.core (soon to be submitted to CRAN) spatstat.linnet at github.com/baddstats/spatstat.linnet (soon submitted to CRAN)

There will be a transition period of about 3 months, during which time the old 'spatstat' will continue to exist on CRAN alongside the new sub-packages. During this period, your package will still be able to use the functionality of the old spatstat without any changes. (However, the old version of 'spatstat' will be frozen, and will not be updated with any bug fixes.)

At the end of the transition period, all the R code in the current 'spatstat' will be removed from it, leaving only documentation. By this time, you will need to have adjusted your package:

   . in your NAMESPACE file, the entry 'import(spatstat)' should be replaced by 'import(spatstat.core)' and possibly also 'import(spatstat.linnet)' and even other sub-packages, depending on what functions your package uses. The entry 'importFrom(spatstat, ppp)' would need to be replaced by 'importFrom(spatstat.core, ppp)' and so on.

 . in your R code, in expressions like 'spatstat::ppp', 'require(spatstat)', requireNamespace('spatstat'), you need to replace 'spatstat' by 'spatstat.core' and/or 'spatstat.linnet' as appropriate.

 . if your package documentation includes links to spatstat documentation in the form \code{\link[spatstat]{functionname}}, then you will need to change the [spatstat] to the name of the appropriate sub-package such as [spatstat.core]. 

The R package checker is useful here: it is good at detecting any missing or incorrect cross-references.

We are sorry for the inconvenience that this will cause.

Your package may also benefit from this change. For example, if your package does not require any of the code for linear networks, then you could specify that your package depends/imports/suggests 'spatstat.core' instead of 'spatstat'. This will be more efficient in memory usage and execution.

We would be happy to assist you with advice for this transition

best wishes Adrian Baddeley, Rolf Turner, Ege Rubak spatstat authors

[AndrewLJackson]

the remaining two functions to be transitioned willl appear in

spatstat.core::owin spatstat.core::union

spatstat.core is not yet on cran.

[AndrewLJackson]

implemented