As from R 2.0.0, R CMD check has not flagged .C etc calls without a
PACKAGE argument in packages with a namespace. Unfortunately that was
based on too optimistic assumptions.
1) The mechanism to find the DLL from the namespace only works if the DLL
is declared via a useDynLib declaration in NAMESPACE (and only if there is
one such declaration). This is checked in R-devel.
2) In 2.1.1, the mechanism only finds the DLL correctly for functions
defined at the top level in a namespace, and not for example for functions
defined inside functions or as S4 methods. There is an enhanced
mechanism in R-devel.
3) Prior to 2.1.1, a bug meant that the mechanism often found the
incorrect namespace, and there was not mechanism at all prior to 2.0.0 (I
believe).
For compatibility with 2.1.x and earlier a PACKAGE= argument is needed in
many more calls than are flagged by R-devel's 'check'. To check
this,
use
> library(tools)
> checkFF("my_package", verbose=TRUE)
for example:
> checkFF("mgcv", verbose=TRUE)
.C("construct_cr", ...): OK
.C("predict_tprs", ...): OK
.C("MinimumSeparation", ...): OK
.C("update_beta", ...): MISSING but in a function in a namespace
.C("update_beta", ...): MISSING but in a function in a namespace
.C("magic", ...): OK
.C("mgcv", ...): OK
.C("RMonoCon", ...): OK
.C("RPCLS", ...): OK
.C("construct_cr", ...): OK
.C("construct_tprs", ...): OK
.C("RuniqueCombs", ...): OK
where the qualified MISSING reports need attention.
Botton line: always use a PACKAGE= argument unless you are only intending
your package to be used with (pre-)2.2.0 or later.
--
Brian D. Ripley, ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
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
