[R] are R packages safe?

[Marc Schwartz]

> On Dec 8, 2016, at 11:47 AM, Dimitri Liakhovitski <dimitri.liakhovitski at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Guys,
> 
> suddenly, I am being asked for a proof that R packages that are not
> '"base" are safe. I've never been asked this question before.
> 
> Is there some documentation on CRAN that discusses how it's ensured
> that all "official" R packages have been "vetted" and are safe?
> 
> Thanks a lot!
> 
> -- 
> Dimitri Liakhovitski


Dimitri,

You are going to need to define "safe".

Also, note that the notion of "official R packages" is not defined, other than for those that bear the copyright of The R Foundation (Base + Recommended), as per:

  https://www.r-project.org/certification.html <https://www.r-project.org/certification.html>

That packages are available on CRAN does not infer, implicitly or explicitly, that the packages are endorsed/certified/validated by any party.

You can review the CRAN Policy here:

  https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/policies.html <https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/policies.html>.

which provides a standardized framework for CRAN submissions.

Does "safe" mean that they are virus/malware free?

Does "safe" mean that they are extensively tested/validated, bug free and yield documented evidence of consistent and correct results, possibly having also been tested for "edge cases"?

Regards,

Marc Schwartz



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