ggpointless
ggpointless keeps adding the ggplot2 layers nobody else bothered to write.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
checkhelper vs remap
A side-by-side editorial comparison of checkhelper and remap — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-packages
checkhelper vs remap: at a glance
What is checkhelper?
checkhelper grew from a check wrapper into a CRAN pre-submission auditor.
1.0.0 added a whole audit_* family — audit_downloads(), audit_description(), audit_dontrun() and audit_citation() — each parsing package source statically and returning a tibble of hits paired with a suggested fix. The package is now defending that position: 1.0.1 rc1 is a submission candidate answering a CRAN archival notice, after roxygen2 8.x moved DESCRIPTION's RoxygenNote field and broke a find_missing_tags() test fixture.
What is remap?
A regional-model smoother in long-term maintenance, four years past its last real feature.
remap fits separate models to geographic regions and blends their predictions into a continuous surface, using the min_n nearest observations so region boundaries do not show as discontinuities. The methodological work is finished — the last behavioural change landed in 2022, and everything since has been unit handling, compiler warnings, dependency compatibility and citation updates. The July release is one such patch.
checkhelper vs remap: editorial side-by-side
checkhelper
2.5INFRA · APIS
checkhelper grew from a check wrapper into a CRAN pre-submission auditor.
◆ Current state
1.0.0 added a whole audit_* family — audit_downloads(), audit_description(), audit_dontrun() and audit_citation() — each parsing package source statically and returning a tibble of hits paired with a suggested fix. The package is now defending that position: 1.0.1 rc1 is a submission candidate answering a CRAN archival notice, after roxygen2 8.x moved DESCRIPTION's RoxygenNote field and broke a find_missing_tags() test fixture.
◆ Where it's heading
The design commitment is static analysis — AST walks via getParseData(), line-by-line Rd reading, no eval() and no namespace loading — so the tool can report on a package it never runs. That commitment is what made the roxygen2 8.x break survivable: the audit pipeline itself was verified correct under 8.1.0 and only the test scaffolding had to go, now guarded by a dedicated regression test. fix_globals(write = TRUE) is being sanded down in parallel, no longer flattening per-function grouping comments or writing a degenerate empty globalVariables() shell.
◆ Prediction
The immediate move is the 1.0.1 submission itself, clearing the archival notice. Beyond that, each additional CRAN incoming-check rule remains a candidate for another audit_* function; the open question these notes still leave is whether the family ever gets a single combined entry point.
remap
0.0INFRA · APIS
A regional-model smoother in long-term maintenance, four years past its last real feature.
◆ Current state
remap fits separate models to geographic regions and blends their predictions into a continuous surface, using the min_n nearest observations so region boundaries do not show as discontinuities. The methodological work is finished — the last behavioural change landed in 2022, and everything since has been unit handling, compiler warnings, dependency compatibility and citation updates. The July release is one such patch.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a stable academic package tracking its ecosystem rather than growing. The visible pattern is reactive maintenance: sf's 1.0.0 transition, ggplot2's size-to-linewidth rename, a gcc-UBSAN error on zero-point distance calculations, and now a check that distance matrices passed to remap() and predict() are converted to kilometres. Note that the feed's timestamps invert the version order — 0.3.1 is stamped seconds after 0.3.2 despite being the earlier release, so recency in this feed is not a reliable guide to sequence.
◆ Prediction
Nothing in these entries points to new capability. The realistic expectation is more of the same: a patch whenever sf, ggplot2 or a CRAN check surfaces an incompatibility, at roughly the observed cadence of one release every year or two.
Alternatives to checkhelper and remap
Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either checkhelper or remap.
mpactr
mpactr spent two spring releases normalizing case in metadata after users kept tripping on it.
surveytidy
surveytidy taught every dplyr verb to operate on a whole collection of surveys at once.
surveycore
surveycore declared its API stable with every survey design type covered.
PEIMAN2
PEIMAN2 cut its annotation database loose from its release cycle without breaking CRAN.
prospectr
prospectr spent its biggest release in years fixing spectra it had been quietly mangling.
See all checkhelper alternatives → · See all remap alternatives →
Recent activity from checkhelper and remap
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agocheckhelpercheckhelper 1.0.1 rc1 (CRAN submission candidate)
- 1mo agoremapDistance matrices now converted to kilometres automatically
- 3mo agocheckhelperA static audit_* family for CRAN pre-submission checks ⚡
- 1y agoremapCitation updated to the R Journal article
- 1y agoremapUBSAN fix, parallel patch and sf search-path independence
- 2y agocheckhelperTest fixes for roxygen2 changes
- 3y agocheckhelpercheckhelper 0.1.0 - First CRAN Release
- 3y agoremappredict() can return an upper bound on combined standard errors
- 5y agoremapRegions without observations no longer break the prediction surface
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between checkhelper and remap?
Both compete on the same themes — r-packages — within Infra & APIs. checkhelper is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is checkhelper better than remap?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. checkhelper is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to checkhelper?
Top checkhelper alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "checkhelper alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/checkhelper for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to remap?
Top remap alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "remap alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/remap for the full list with editorial commentary on each.