R devel - Nov 2014 - Building R package: “Found 'rand', possibly from 'rand' (C)” NOTE when checking package

I am building a package that makes a simple visualization. A part of
the code is in C++, and utilizes the functions srand() and rand() for
purposes not related to statistics (introducing random noise in the
visualization). The package compiles without problems on my
workstation(s), but when I submitted it to the winbuilder service, I
got the following weird message:

* checking compiled code ... NOTE
File 'tagcloud/libs/i386/tagcloud.dll':
  Found 'rand', possibly from 'rand' (C)
    Object: 'overlap.o'
  Found 'srand', possibly from 'srand' (C)
    Object: 'overlap.o'
File 'tagcloud/libs/x64/tagcloud.dll':
  Found 'rand', possibly from 'rand' (C)
    Object: 'overlap.o'
  Found 'srand', possibly from 'srand' (C)
    Object: 'overlap.o'

Compiled code should not call entry points which might terminate R nor
write to stdout/stderr instead of to the console, nor the C RNG.

To the best of my knowledge, I don't see where in the code I "call
entry points which might terminate R" or "write to
stdout/stderr", but
then, if I remove the calls to rand/srand, this message disappears.

You can review the package here:
http://win-builder.r-project.org/toy6frr57aCU/

Kind regards,

January

-- 
-------- January Weiner --------------------------------------

On 02-11-2014, at 12:20, January Weiner <january.weiner at gmail.com>
wrote:
> I am building a package that makes a simple visualization. A part of
> the code is in C++, and utilizes the functions srand() and rand() for
> purposes not related to statistics (introducing random noise in the
> visualization). The package compiles without problems on my
> workstation(s), but when I submitted it to the winbuilder service, I
> got the following weird message:
> 
> * checking compiled code ... NOTE
> File 'tagcloud/libs/i386/tagcloud.dll':
>  Found 'rand', possibly from 'rand' (C)
>    Object: 'overlap.o'
>  Found 'srand', possibly from 'srand' (C)
>    Object: 'overlap.o'
> File 'tagcloud/libs/x64/tagcloud.dll':
>  Found 'rand', possibly from 'rand' (C)
>    Object: 'overlap.o'
>  Found 'srand', possibly from 'srand' (C)
>    Object: 'overlap.o'
> 
> Compiled code should not call entry points which might terminate R nor
> write to stdout/stderr instead of to the console, nor the C RNG.
> 
> To the best of my knowledge, I don't see where in the code I "call
> entry points which might terminate R" or "write to
stdout/stderr", but
> then, if I remove the calls to rand/srand, this message disappears.
> 
Which version of R on your workstation?
Your code should also not call the C RNG (rand and srand) as the message clearly
states.

Berend
> You can review the package her:e
> http://win-builder.r-project.org/toy6frr57aCU/
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> January
> 
> -- 
> -------- January Weiner --------------------------------------
> 
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