R devel - Feb 2022 - Making CRAN memory access checks more accessible?

On 25/02/2022 11:31 a.m., Micha? Bojanowski wrote:
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> Two days after successfully submitting a package to CRAN I received a
> message about "additional issues" with the package's C++ code
> (clang-UBSAN to be precise) with a two-week deadline to resolve. While
> attempting to somewhat blind-foldedly fix the problem I was wondering
> whether it is sensible and feasible for base R to:
> 
> 1. Implement/expose all these memory-related tests (c.f.
>
https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-exts.html#Checking-memory-access)
> to package developers e.g. via options to R CMD check, much like
> --use-gct or --use-valgrind are already? Or via a script etc.?
Many users won't be able to run them.
> 
> or
> 
> 2. Expand the chapter
>
https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-exts.html#Checking-memory-access
> with unequivocal and straightforward instructions how to setup and run
> these tests locally on different platforms? I believe that the current
> version of the manual is inaccessible to anybody but hardcore C/C++
> developers while there is a broader spectrum of ppl able to write some
> C without the deep understanding of the internals.
I doubt if the instructions in WRE could be simplified and still work.

> 
> While I noticed that a similar problem has triggered some heat on
> Twitter recently I independently decided to write to you all here to
> ask the question above. I believe it might be rather difficult for
> package contributors to adhere to tests which they are unable to
> execute locally (or by a CI service). Alas, in the end it will end-up
> with a developer playing package ping-pong with CRAN maintainers whose
> time is a valuable resource.
I think R-hub offers UBSAN services.  Have you tried those?

Duncan Murdoch

Ha! I was not aware of R-hub having this. Thank you!

On Fri, Feb 25, 2022 at 6:27 PM Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.duncan at
gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 25/02/2022 11:31 a.m., Micha? Bojanowski wrote:
> > Dear colleagues,
> >
> > Two days after successfully submitting a package to CRAN I received a
> > message about "additional issues" with the package's C++
code
> > (clang-UBSAN to be precise) with a two-week deadline to resolve. While
> > attempting to somewhat blind-foldedly fix the problem I was wondering
> > whether it is sensible and feasible for base R to:
> >
> > 1. Implement/expose all these memory-related tests (c.f.
> >
https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-exts.html#Checking-memory-access)
> > to package developers e.g. via options to R CMD check, much like
> > --use-gct or --use-valgrind are already? Or via a script etc.?
>
> Many users won't be able to run them.
> >
> > or
> >
> > 2. Expand the chapter
> >
https://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/r-release/R-exts.html#Checking-memory-access
> > with unequivocal and straightforward instructions how to setup and run
> > these tests locally on different platforms? I believe that the current
> > version of the manual is inaccessible to anybody but hardcore C/C++
> > developers while there is a broader spectrum of ppl able to write some
> > C without the deep understanding of the internals.
>
> I doubt if the instructions in WRE could be simplified and still work.
>
>
> >
> > While I noticed that a similar problem has triggered some heat on
> > Twitter recently I independently decided to write to you all here to
> > ask the question above. I believe it might be rather difficult for
> > package contributors to adhere to tests which they are unable to
> > execute locally (or by a CI service). Alas, in the end it will end-up
> > with a developer playing package ping-pong with CRAN maintainers whose
> > time is a valuable resource.
>
> I think R-hub offers UBSAN services.  Have you tried those?
>
> Duncan Murdoch