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Add pkg_detail RPC for packages pane detail editor #1291

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Merged
bricestacey merged 7 commits into from
Jun 29, 2026
Merged

Add pkg_detail RPC for packages pane detail editor #1291

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d1fa7d9
Add pkg_detail RPC for packages pane detail editor
bricestacey Jun 22, 2026
05a39e4
Apply air formatting to pkg_detail RPC
bricestacey Jun 23, 2026
aea6989
Show only the primary license in pkg_detail
bricestacey Jun 25, 2026
62a9176
Wrap sub() call to satisfy air formatting
bricestacey Jun 25, 2026
3e986e4
Merge commit 'aed4d74b' into HEAD
bricestacey Jun 25, 2026
161f556
Remove dependency count from pkg_detail
bricestacey Jun 26, 2026
9584e5f
Read pkg_detail straight from packageDescription
bricestacey Jun 29, 2026
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98 changes: 98 additions & 0 deletions crates/ark/src/modules/positron/packages_pane.R
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -115,6 +115,104 @@
as.list(version)
}

# Return detail fields for a single installed package by name.
#' @export
.ps.rpc.pkg_detail <- function(name) {
installed <- rownames(utils::installed.packages())
if (!nzchar(name) || !(name %in% installed)) {
return(NULL)
}

@jennybc jennybc Jun 26, 2026

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It will be more efficient to just go directly to utils::packageDescription(), which will return NA if the package is not installed. This avoids reading and parsing DESCRIPTION of all installed packages for this existence check. installed.packages() docs say:

It will be slow when thousands of packages are installed, so do not use it to find out if a named package is installed (use find.package or system.file) nor to find out if a package is usable (call requireNamespace or require and check the return value) nor to find details of a small number of packages (use packageDescription).

fields <- c(
"Title",
"Author",
"Maintainer",
"License",
"Depends",
"Imports",
"LinkingTo",
"Repository",
"Date/Publication"
)
d <- utils::packageDescription(name, fields = fields)

# Collapse DCF whitespace; return NULL for missing (NA) fields.
clean <- function(x) {
if (is.null(x) || is.na(x)) {
return(NULL)
}
trimws(gsub("\\s+", " ", x, perl = TRUE))
}

# Parse a comma-separated dependency field into bare package names
# (strip version constraints like "(>= 1.0)").
parse_deps <- function(x) {
if (is.null(x) || is.na(x)) {
return(character(0))
}
parts <- trimws(strsplit(x, ",")[[1]])
names <- trimws(sub("\\(.*\\)", "", parts))
names[nzchar(names)]
}

# Reduce an R License field to its primary license: the first alternative
# (before "|"), without the "+ file LICENSE" clause.
primary_license <- function(x) {
if (is.null(x)) {
return(NULL)
}
first <- trimws(strsplit(x, "\\|")[[1]][1])
first <- trimws(sub(
"\\s*\\+\\s*file\\s+.*$",
"",
first,
ignore.case = TRUE
))
if (!nzchar(first)) {
return(NULL)
}
first
}

base_pkgs <- rownames(utils::installed.packages(priority = "base"))

@jennybc jennybc Jun 26, 2026

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Given the downsides to calling installed.packages() when it can be avoided, I would just hardwire these. They don't change. I have a history of doing same:

https://github.com/r-lib/usethis/blob/bd15dceaf98338b6758becc38193fdaff2d9776a/R/tidyverse.R#L363-L403

If you really want to compute it, I'd suggest:

tools:::.get_standard_package_names()$base

deps <- unique(c(
parse_deps(d$Depends),
parse_deps(d$Imports),
parse_deps(d$LinkingTo)
))
deps <- setdiff(deps, c("R", base_pkgs))

out <- list(name = name, dependencyCount = length(deps))

# Prefer Maintainer for author display; fall back to Author.
author <- clean(d$Maintainer)

@jennybc jennybc Jun 26, 2026

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FWIW a CRAN package absolutely must have a Maintainer. But I suppose this pane could populate from a non-CRAN source? Just thought I'd mention.

if (is.null(author)) {
author <- clean(d$Author)
}
title <- clean(d$Title)
license <- primary_license(clean(d$License))
repo <- clean(d$Repository)
published <- clean(d[["Date/Publication"]])

if (!is.null(title)) {
out$title <- title
}
if (!is.null(author)) {
out$author <- author
}
if (!is.null(license)) {
out$license <- license
}
if (!is.null(repo)) {
out$sourceRepository <- repo
}
if (!is.null(published)) {
out$publishedDate <- published

@jennybc jennybc Jun 26, 2026

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If you definitely want to drop the NULLs (I guess that's favorable on the other side?), something along these lines might be more readable:

out <- list(
    name = name,
    title = title,
    author = author,
    license = license,
    sourceRepository = repo,
    publishedDate = published
)
Filter(Negate(is.null), out)

}

out
}


# Return the list of outdated packages with their latest available versions.
#
# `utils::old.packages()` queries the user's configured repositories, so
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