Optmatch not on CRAN (was: Unable to install optmatch as RItools is no longer available)

[riazgillani]

Hello - I am receiving the following error when I try to install the optmatch package: “dependency ‘RItools’ is not available”

I notice that RItools has been removed from the CRAN repository: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/RItools/index.html

Will RItools be made available again? Is there a workaround to enable the use of optmatch in the mean time?

Thanks, Riaz

[RoseString]

This worked for me

library(devtools)
install_github("markmfredrickson/RItools")
install_github("markmfredrickson/optmatch") 

[josherrickson]

Thanks @RoseString. Installing the developer version is indeed the best workaround. We've submitted updates for both packages and hope they'll be back in shortly. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[riazgillani]

Thank you both!

[LliliansCalvo]

Hi I am trying to install the developer version but I am receiving this error:

install_github("markmfredrickson/optmatch")

ld: warning: directory not found for option '-L/usr/local/gfortran/lib/gcc/x86_64-apple-darwin18/8.2.0' ld: warning: directory not found for option '-L/usr/local/gfortran/lib' ld: warning: directory not found for option '-L/usr/local/gfortran/lib/gcc/x86_64-apple-darwin18/8.2.0' ld: warning: directory not found for option '-L/usr/local/gfortran/lib' ld: library not found for -lgfortran clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation) make: *** [optmatch.so] Error 1 ERROR: compilation failed for package ‘optmatch’

• removing ‘/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.1/Resources/library/optmatch’ Warning message: In i.p(...) : installation of package ‘/var/folders/pt/kwl248052rn8vqs0vfr11x0w0000gp/T//Rtmp5gbhTc/file43d33cb7be/optmatch_0.9-17.tar.gz’ had non-zero exit status

[josherrickson]

Hi @LliliansCalvo , you'll need to install gfortran to use the developer version. You can install it with a package manager (I know homebrew has it, I'd assume macports does as well but I'm not sure) or you can install it manually from e.g. https://cran.r-project.org/bin/macosx/tools/

However, the RItools package has been made re-available on CRAN so I hopefully that optmatch will reappear shortly as well, so you may be better of waiting for that.

[ngreifer]

Do you get the sense that optmatch will be back on CRAN in the next few days? We in the "packages depend on optmatch" community are getting a bit nervous because allowing a dependence on a package not on CRAN can be a real headache. I'm happy to help however I can to get optmatch back on CRAN.

Noah

[josherrickson]

We expected it to appear when its dependencies were restored (which happened last night). We've reached out to CRAN to clarify our next steps. Hopefully it can be restored by tomorrow.

[ngreifer]

Okay, great! Thanks! They may have you resubmit with an increased version number.

[josherrickson]

Yeah I'm kinda expecting that, but figured we'd double check to avoid passing them extra unnecessary work.

[ngreifer]

Sorry to bug, but any news on this?

[josherrickson]

We ended up submitting a version number bump'd version on Tuesday but haven't heard from that or the email to CRAN yet unfortunately.

[ngreifer]

Thank you!

[markmfredrickson]

I got word today that the CRAN team has decided not to host a package with a non-open source license (the R code in for optmatch is all open source, the RELAX Fortran code that solves the network flow problem is a "free for academic use" license). We are looking into our options, but optmatch is going to remain off CRAN for at least the present.

[markmfredrickson]

Changed the title in case anyone comes here looking for why optmatch is missing.

As a temporary work around, you can use the Microsoft CRAN snapshots to install the most recent version of optmatch:

> install.packages("optmatch", repos = "https://cran.microsoft.com/snapshot/2022-02-15/")

[ngreifer]

This is unfortunate! Thank you for keeping us updated. Would you consider making a drat repository for optmatch so CRAN packages that weakly depend on optmatch (like MatchIt) can still use its functionality?

[benthestatistician]

Thanks for raising the possibility of a drat repository, @ngreifer. We're considering it.

[benthestatistician]

Can anyone point me to official CRAN policies about packages that are dependent on packages hosted elsewhere, potentially with non-FOSS licenses? Failing that, CRAN policies about package dependencies on software external to R, potentially with non-FOSS licence?

As I understand it, @ngreifer 's suggestion that we host optmatch in a drat repo would create such a dependency for MatchIt. Another scenario we're considering is to factor enough out of optmatch for what remains of it to have a FOSS license, with a drat repo for the rest.

[markmfredrickson]

From the CRAN policies page:

Packages on which a CRAN package depends should be available from a mainstream repository: if any mentioned in ‘Suggests’ or ‘Enhances’ fields are not from such a repository, where to obtain them at a repository should be specified in an ‘Additional_repositories’ field of the DESCRIPTION file (as a comma-separated list of repository URLs) or for other means of access, described in the ‘Description’ field. A package listed in ‘Suggests’ or ‘Enhances’ should be used conditionally in examples or tests if it cannot straightforwardly be installed on the major R platforms. (‘Writing R Extensions’ recommends that they are always used conditionally.)

This suggests that non-CRAN packages are explicitly allowed, perhaps with the use of Additional_repositories suitably populated.

[josherrickson]

We're back on CRAN. Sorry for the delay. This version has removed the code which was under the non-standard license. End users should see no difference but please let us know otherwise.