Manipulate DESCRIPTION Files
- CRAN checks, method
Method
Checks and health
CRAN runs every current package through
R CMD checkon a set of machines and publishes a result for each one. The health shown on a package page comes from these results alone.- Problems
- Notes alone never count against a package, but a warning, an error or a failure on any platform is a problem. Open CRAN deadlines are a fact of their own, shown as a clock after the mark, so the mark always says what the checks found.
- Checks only
- Health reflects CRAN's check results and nothing else. Even a package with no tests, no coverage or no recent release can have every platform OK.
- Once a day
- Results are collected once a day from files CRAN publishes. Each platform is one machine set-up, named by its R version, operating system, architecture and compiler, such as r-devel-linux-x86_64-fedora-clang.
- Platforms counted
- The 13 in 3 of 13 is the number of platform rows CRAN published for that package on the day of collection. The set of machines changes over time, so the number is not fixed, and a package missing from a platform counts as neither passing nor failing there.
- All OK13 platforms
- CRAN 30-day downloads, method
- 773K−7.6% down on the 30 days before, the worse direction
- Dependent packages, method
Method
Reverse dependencies
Dependent packages are other packages that list this one under
Depends,ImportsorLinkingToin theirDESCRIPTIONfile. Those fields list the packages a package needs to install, so dependents break if this one is archived or broken.- As declared
- The counts follow the declarations as written, not whether a package uses the other one when it runs.
- Suggests apart
- Packages that list this one only under
Suggestsinstall and run without it, and use it for tests, examples or an optional feature. They are counted as Suggested by, never among the dependents, and a package that also lists it under one of the three fields is a dependent and is not counted again. - Zero
- Zero dependents means no current CRAN package declares a need for this one, though some may suggest it. On 28 Oct 2026, 19,572 of the 25,583 current CRAN packages had no dependent package.
- 5325 more suggest it
- Test coverage, method
Method
Test coverage
Test coverage is measured by downloading each CRAN package's current source file, installing its dependencies, building it and running its tests under covr.
- Almost half of CRAN has no tests to run
- Only CRAN packages are measured. Many have no percentage, most often because the package has no tests, and that blank is a recorded outcome, not missing data.
- NOT_CRAN
- Tests run with NOT_CRAN=true, so tests that skip themselves on CRAN run here, and the figure can differ from what CRAN's own checks see.
- Current version only
- Only the current version is measured, and a new version on CRAN is measured again. Older rows are kept but never filled in later. This is one package's run.
- Never 0%
- On a package page three states stay apart: measured, no tests, and not measured. Neither of the last two is ever shown as 0%.
- 98%of lines run by tests
- Advisories, method
Method
Security advisories
Advisories come from the R Consortium advisory database, a community record of security problems in R packages, as OSV publishes it.
- The copy
- The record is read once a day. The data is published under the Apache License 2.0 and is credited on the advisories list.
- Box under the name
- Under the package's name, a box names any advisory that affects the current release, with its fix or that there is none.
- Ranges
- Advisories state ranges, such as from 0.9.12 up to but not including 1.8.8. Each range is checked against every version CRAN has published, using the version rules R itself uses, so a release that came out after the advisory was written is still caught by its range.
- Not the package
- The rating is for the library flaw itself, not for how exposed the R package is, and it is never added up into a figure for the package.
- None known
About
Method, About Method Licence figures come from the Licences
License field of each package's DESCRIPTION file, read the way R itself reads it. No licence file is opened.tools::analyze_license() and R's own licence database, as CRAN's checks read it.| is read, so one string can offer two families.
Tools to read, write, create, and manipulate DESCRIPTION files. It is intended for packages that create or manipulate other packages.
- Maintainer
- Gábor Csárdi
- Licence
- MIT + file LICENSE
- Latest release
- 10 Dec 2023
- First release
- 14 May 2016
More details
- Releases
- 10
- Needs compilation
- No
- Needs R
- >= 3.4
- Config/Needs/website
- tidyverse/tidytemplate
- Config/testthat/edition
- 3
- Language
- en-US
- RoxygenNote
- 7.2.3
Task views (1)
Cite
Package
Run in R for the authors' preferred citation:
citation("desc")Csárdi, G., Posit Software, PBC, Hester, J., Müller, K., & Salmon, M. (2023). desc: Manipulate DESCRIPTION Files (Version 1.4.3) [Computer software]. https://doi.org/10.32614/CRAN.package.desc
About
This package has no citation file, so citation() returns this entry built from DESCRIPTION.
R Observatory
For a number measured here: a download total, a coverage figure, an archival date.
Balamuta, J. J. (2026). R Observatory: Metrics for desc version 1.4.3 [Data set]. HJJB, LLC. Data release v2026-10-28. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21843040
About
From data release v2026-10-28, which the citation names so these numbers can be found later.
Health
All 13 check platforms pass.
r-devel-linux-x86_64-debian-clangThe unreleased R on Linux, x86_64, debian-clang
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 44 s
r-devel-linux-x86_64-debian-gccThe unreleased R on Linux, x86_64, debian-gcc
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 34 s
r-devel-linux-x86_64-fedora-clangThe unreleased R on Linux, x86_64, fedora-clang
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 27 s
r-devel-linux-x86_64-fedora-gccThe unreleased R on Linux, x86_64, fedora-gcc
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 26 s
r-devel-windows-x86_64The unreleased R on Windows, x86_64
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 65 s
r-oldrel-macos-arm64The previous release of R on macOS, arm64
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
r-oldrel-macos-x86_64The previous release of R on macOS, x86_64
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 40 s
r-oldrel-windows-x86_64The previous release of R on Windows, x86_64
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 72 s
r-patched-linux-x86_64The patched release of R on Linux, x86_64
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 39 s
r-release-linux-x86_64The current release of R on Linux, x86_64
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 38 s
r-release-macos-arm64The current release of R on macOS, arm64
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 14 s
r-release-macos-x86_64The current release of R on macOS, x86_64
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 51 s
r-release-windows-x86_64The current release of R on Windows, x86_64
OK
- Version checked
- 1.4.3
- Time taken
- 70 s
- 13 OK
Over time
No change since 5 Aug 2026
As a list (3)
| Changed | Worst status | OK | Notes | Warnings | Errors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Aug 2026 | OK | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 Aug 2026 | Note | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 Mar 2026 | OK | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Since March 2026
Downloads
Method, Downloads Method Download figures count requests logged by each distribution channel. They are not counts of installs or of users, because each channel publishes its own totals and this site reads them.Downloads
- Total downloads in the last 30 days
- 852,521−4.2% down on the 30 days before, the worse directionIt is the sum of 5 channels: CRAN, r2u, autoCRAN, conda-forge and c2d4u.
CRAN rank
75 of 26,530
CRAN
772,740 downloads in the last 30 days
- Rank
- 75 of 26,530
- Change
- −7.6% down on the 30 days before, the worse direction
It is in the total. Take it out
r2u
32,376 downloads in the last 30 days
- Rank
- 113 of 30,526
- Change
- +93.2% up on the 30 days before, the better direction
It is in the total. Take it out
autoCRAN
150 downloads in the last 30 days
- Rank
- 420 of 29,212
- Change
- −11.2% down on the 30 days before, the worse direction
It is in the total. Take it out
conda-forge
46,442 downloads in the last 30 days
- Rank
- 188 of 3,828
- Change
- +31.7% up on the 30 days before, the better direction
It is in the total. Take it out
c2d4u, no longer updated
813 downloads in the last 30 days
- Rank
- 114 of 7,575
- Change
- −26.4% down on the 30 days before, the worse direction
It is in the total. Take it out
The total is 852,521 downloads in the last 30 days. It is the sum of 5 channels: CRAN, r2u, autoCRAN, conda-forge and c2d4u.
Over time
Dependencies
- Needs
- 3
- Dependent packages
- 53
- Suggested by
- 25
Dependent packages (50 of 53)
| Package | Title | Downloads in 30 days |
|---|---|---|
| pkgbuild | Find Tools Needed to Build R Packages | 812,250 |
| pkgload | Simulate Package Installation and Attach | 790,400 |
| testthat | Unit Testing for R | 705,742 |
| devtools | Tools to Make Developing R Packages Easier | 303,016 |
| roxygen2 | In-Line Documentation for R | 278,755 |
| usethis | Automate Package and Project Setup | 220,769 |
| rstantools | Tools for Developing R Packages Interfacing with 'Stan' | 205,164 |
| pkgdown | Make Static HTML Documentation for a Package | 202,899 |
| rcmdcheck | Run 'R CMD check' from 'R' and Capture Results | 128,477 |
| downlit | Syntax Highlighting and Automatic Linking | 125,812 |
| torch | Tensors and Neural Networks with 'GPU' Acceleration | 43,771 |
| cyclocomp | Cyclomatic Complexity of R Code | 29,995 |
| DBItest | Testing DBI Backends | 8,299 |
| cffr | Generate Citation File Format ('CFF') Metadata | 5,667 |
| pkgdepends | Package Dependency Resolution and Downloads | 4,844 |
| altdoc | Package Documentation Websites with 'Quarto', 'Docsify', 'Docute', or 'MkDocs' | 3,835 |
| attachment | Deal with Dependencies | 3,481 |
| rhub | Tools for R Package Developers | 3,168 |
| dockerfiler | Easy Dockerfile Creation from R | 2,367 |
| details | Create Details HTML Tag for Markdown and Package Documentation | 1,652 |
| goodpractice | Advice on R Package Building | 1,487 |
| badger | Badge for R Package | 1,462 |
| rextendr | Build 'Rust' Powered 'R' Packages | 1,270 |
| dynutils | Common Functionality for the 'dynverse' Packages | 958 |
| grateful | Facilitate Citation of R Packages | 920 |
| roxyglobals | 'Roxygen2' Global Variable Declarations | 794 |
| available | Check if the Title of a Package is Available, Appropriate and Interesting | 697 |
| codemetar | Generate 'CodeMeta' Metadata for R Packages | 673 |
| risk.assessr | Assessing Package Risk Metrics | 627 |
| cranlike | Tools for 'CRAN'-Like Repositories | 576 |
| packager | Create, Build and Maintain Packages | 562 |
| DataPackageR | Construct Reproducible Analytic Data Sets as R Packages | 534 |
| codemeta | A Smaller 'codemetar' Package | 516 |
| document | Run 'roxygen2' on (Chunks of) Single Code Files | 511 |
| texor | Converting 'LaTeX' 'R Journal' Articles into 'RJ-web-articles' | 483 |
| fusen | Build a Package from Rmarkdown Files | 464 |
| citation | Software Citation Tools | 402 |
| rworkflows | Test, Document, Containerise, and Deploy R Packages | 374 |
| PaRe | A Way to Perform Code Review or QA on Other Packages | 369 |
| polished | Authentication and Hosting for 'shiny' Apps | 365 |
| fledge | Smoother Change Tracking and Versioning for R Packages | 353 |
| checkhelper | Deal with Check Outputs | 323 |
| roxygen2md | 'Roxygen' to 'Markdown' | 320 |
| jetpack | A Friendly Package Manager | 316 |
| SIAtools | 'ShinyItemAnalysis' Modules Development Toolkit | 308 |
| courieR | Migrate Installed R Packages Between R Versions | 304 |
| autoimport | Automatic Generation of @importFrom Tags | 290 |
| releaser | Help with Preparing a New Version of an R Package | 282 |
| cloudfs | Streamlined Interface to Interact with Cloud Storage Platforms | 274 |
| personalr | Automated Personal Package Setup | 223 |
Code
Method, Code Method Code metrics come from reading the released source of each package version. The package is never installed, loaded or run.Code metrics
README, vignettes, a NEWS file and the shares read from its help pages. Files kept only in the repository, such as a pkgdown configuration or CI files, are read by the repository scan instead.
- Functions
- 191
- Public exports
- 59
- Lines of R code
- 3,945
- Median complexity
- 1
Functions (191)
Size and composition
Lines by kind (9,330)
| Kind | Lines | Share |
|---|---|---|
| R code | 3,945 | 42% |
| Tests | 2,992 | 32% |
| Documentation | 2,393 | 26% |
Lines by language
| Language | Lines | Share |
|---|---|---|
| R | 6,326 | 68% |
| Rd | 2,393 | 26% |
| Other | 579 | 6% |
| Markdown | 32 | 0.3% |
Languages are counted from file extensions.
- Files
- 142
- R functions
- 191
- Object systems
- S3: 40 methods, R6: 1 classes
Complexity
- Median
- 1
- Mean
- 2.13
- Highest
- 16
- Median lines per function
- 8
About complexity
Cyclomatic complexity counts the independent paths through a function: 1 is a straight line, higher is harder to test. R functions only.
Call graph figures
- R functions
- 191
- Calls
- 240
- Unconnected
- 29
- Groups
- 5
Growth (10 releases)
Release changes
Tests
Coverage was measured, but at least one test failed during the run.
- Lines run by tests
- 97.6%
- Expressions run by tests
- 96.6%
- Test cases
- 155
- Exports named in tests
- 59.3%
Coverage by file (19)
Coverage run
- Lines counted
- 1,310
- Lines the tests ran
- 1,278
- Tests passed
- No
- Measured with
- covr 3.6.5 on R 4.6.1
Test suite
- Has tests
- Yes
- Test frameworks
- testthat
- Test cases
- 155
- Snapshot tests
- 5
- Lines of tests
- 2,992
- Test lines per line of code
- 0.76
Documentation
- Exports documented
- 100%
- Arguments documented
- 99.1%
- Return value documented
- 26.8%
- Help pages with examples
- 3.4%
- Examples run in checks
- 100%
Other documentation
- README
- Yes, 1,041 words
- Release notes file
- Yes
- Help pages
- 58
- Lines of documentation
- 2,393
People
Method, People Method People on the site are the names packages give them in their Author and maintainer identity
DESCRIPTION files: authors from the author list, and the maintainer from the Maintainer field. Spellings of one name become one person only where the rules below allow it, and when in doubt the rules keep people apart.
Maintainer since 1.0.0 (2016), author
Posit Software, PBC, an organisation
Copyright holder
Author
Author
Contributor
Funded by Posit Software, PBC
Earlier names (1)
- RStudio
Repository
Method, figures by host Method Repository signals are the figures read from the source repository a package links to: stars, forks, issues, commits, releases and the time issues take to close. They are read from GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg and Bitbucket.Repository signals
URL and BugReports fields of its DESCRIPTION file. Read-only mirrors, the cran and bioc accounts on GitHub and git.bioconductor.org, are left out.
- Stars
- 126no change on 30 days ago
- Forks
- 40
- Open issues
- 16
- Last commit
- 24 Sep 2026
Activity
- Commits
- 423
- Open pull requests
- 2
- Tagged releases
- 5
- Latest tagged release
- v1.4.3, 10 Dec 2023
- In development
- Default branch at 1.4.3.9000, ahead of CRAN 1.4.3 (checked 2026-10-25)
- Issues closed in
- 94 days (median)
- Pull requests closed in
- 1 day (median)
- Pull requests merged
- 79%
- Created
- 7 Sep 2015
- Licence file reads as
- –
Development practices (11)
| Kind | Found |
|---|---|
| Continuous integration | GitHub Actions, R CMD check workflow The R CMD check workflow runs on Linux, macOS and Windows, and on R-devel |
| Governance and community | Code of conduct |
| Docs source | README.Rmd, pkgdown GitHub Pages site last deployed 2026-09-24 The repository has a site deploy workflow pkgdown site last built 2023-12-10 |
| Coverage | Coverage reporting (Codecov) |
| Lint, format, editor | Air, VS Code, RStudio project |
Method, repository practices Method Beta Each week a scan of the public source repository a package links to looks for the tools a maintainer has set up, and the Repository section lists the findings. Repositories on GitHub and GitLab are scanned.Repository practices
R CMD build reads .Rbuildignore and leaves out files used only in development, such as .github/, .lintr, renv/, a Dockerfile and cran-comments.md, so the released source file holds almost none of them. The repository is the one place these files stay visible.
History
Method, History Method Archived is built from CRAN's archive records, its list of check deadlines and Bioconductor's package records. Every figure is counted to 28 Oct 2026, the day the data was read.Packages leaving