On the Developers' Attitude Towards CRAN Checks

Abstract

R is a package-based, multi-paradigm programming language for scientific software. It provides an easy way to install third-party code, datasets, tests, documentation and examples through CRAN (Comprehensive R Archive Network). Prior works indicated developers tend to code workarounds to bypass CRAN's automated checks (performed when submitting a package) instead of fixing the code-doing so reduces packages' quality. It may become a threat to those analyses written in R that rely on miss-checked code. This preliminary study card-sorted source code comments and analysed StackOverflow (SO) conversations discussing CRAN checks to understand developers' attitudes. We determined that about a quarter of SO posts aim to bypass a check with a workaround; the most affected are code-related problems, package dependencies, installation and feasibility. We analyse these checks and outline future steps to improve similar automated analyses.