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CRAN package release feedback: You write information messages to the console that cannot be easily suppressed

I got the feedback from CRAN about package release.

And what is suppressed means?

Feedback:

You write information messages to the console that cannot be easily suppressed. Instead of print()/cat() rather use message()/warning() or if(verbose)cat(..) (or maybe stop()) if you really have to write text to the console. (except for print, summary, interactive functions)

Solution

  • We cannot see you code as you have not provided a reproducible example---so there is some guessing on my end involved---but it likely means you have one of

    print()
cat()

    in your code, just as the text says. And instead of cat("Hello to my package\n") you can also say packageStartupMessage("Hello to my package\n") for which the corresponding function suppressPackageStartupMessages() can be used to suppress.

    For example:

    > packageStartupMessage("Welcome to my package")  
Welcome to my package      
> suppressPackageStartupMessages(packageStartupMessage("Welcome ..."))    
>

    The second one is suppressed, the first one isn't. You need to find what prints to the console in your package (or any library it uses) and change it.

    Similarly, message() can be suppressed, and warning() can be controled via warning levels.

    The r-package-devel list is an excellent place for these questions, and the list archives will have examples of this too.