From: Prof Brian Ripley > > On Thu, 13 Apr 2006, Peter Ruckdeschel wrote: > > > Hi R-devels, > > > > in "Writing R extensions" as well as in the help > > to .onAttach(), you mention that one could > > use this function to issue a start-up message/banner > > for the package. > > > > My little wish for Easter: > > > > a 'quietly'-type argument for .onAttach() / .First.lib() which is > > passed through by functions > > require() and library() respectively, > > and by means of which one could optionally > > suppress this start-up message/banner . > > > > Is this hard to do? > > I believe so (and think we have been here before). The > documented call > sequence is > > .onLoad(libname, pkgname) > .onAttach(libname, pkgname) > > the same as .First.lib. There is no way to add an argument > here, as many > existing packages do not support it. Beyond that, how would > you pass the > argument in? Namespaces and packages are often > loaded/attached implicitly > as a result of loading other packages. > > I did think you could make use of an option to decide whether > to the print > the message or not, but I have always assumed that those who > did want a > banner probably did not want it suppressed.
That certainly is the case with randomForest, speaking for myself here. The banner I put in contains the version number of the package and a reminder to see what's been changed/fixed. I have not seen a compelling reason why suppressing such information is necessary (as opposed to "desirable"). I believe reporting version number upon startup is a Good Thing, as all too often people ask questions or report problems about packages without mentioning the version of the packages they used. I see this as a way of reminding the users. Andy > -- > Brian D. Ripley, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 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 > > ______________________________________________ > R-devel@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel > > ______________________________________________ R-devel@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel
