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[R] CRAN packaging checklist for version 24.0.0 #49685

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[R] CRAN packaging checklist for version 24.0.0#49685
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Component: RType: enhancement

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@thisisnic
thisisnic
opened on Apr 7, 2026

Describe the enhancement requested

Packaging Checklist for CRAN Release

For a high-level overview of the Arrow release process see the Apache Arrow Release Management Guide.

Before the Arrow Release Candidate Is Created

  • Create a GitHub issue entitled [R] CRAN packaging checklist for version X.Y.Z and copy this checklist to the issue.
  • Review deprecated functions to advance their deprecation status.
  • Evaluate the status of any failing nightly tests and nightly packaging builds. These checks replicate most of the checks that CRAN runs, so we need them all to be passing or to understand that the failures may (though won't necessarily) result in a rejection from CRAN.
  • Check current CRAN check results.
  • Ensure the contents of the README are accurate and up to date.
  • Run urlchecker::url_check() on the R directory at the release candidate.
    commit. Ignore any errors with badges as they will be removed in the CRAN release branch.
  • Polish NEWS but do not update version numbers (this is done automatically later). You can find commits by, for example, git log --oneline <sha of last release>..HEAD | grep "\[R\]".
  • For major releases, prepare content for social media highlighting new features.

Wait for the release candidate to be created.

After the Arrow Release Candidate Has Been Created

  • Create a CRAN-release branch from the release candidate commit, name the new branch maint-X.Y.Z-r and push to upstream.

Prepare and Check Package That Will Be Released to CRAN

  • git fetch upstream && git checkout maint-X.Y.Z-r && git clean -f -d.
  • Run make build. This copies Arrow C++ into tools/cpp, prunes some unnecessary components, and runs R CMD build to generate the source tarball. Because this will install the package, you will need to ensure that the version of Arrow C++ available to the configure script is the same as the version that is vendored into the R package (e.g., you may need to unset ARROW_HOME).
  • devtools::check_built("arrow_X.Y.Z.tar.gz") locally.

Wait for Arrow Release Vote

  • Release vote passed

Generate R Package to Submit to CRAN

  • If the release candidate commit updated, rebase the CRAN release branch on that commit.
  • Pick any commits that were made to main since the release commit that were needed to fix CRAN-related submission issues identified in the above steps.
  • Remove badges from README.md.
  • Run urlchecker::url_check() on the R directory.
  • Create a PR entitled WIP: [R] Verify CRAN release-X.Y.Z-rcX. Add a comment @github-actions crossbow submit --group r to run all R crossbow jobs against the CRAN-specific release branch.
  • Run Rscript tools/update-checksums.R <libarrow version> to download the checksums for the pre-compiled binaries from the ASF artifactory into the tools directory.
  • Commit the checksums: git add -f tools/checksums/ && git commit -m "[CRAN] Add checksums"
  • Regenerate arrow_X.Y.Z.tar.gz (i.e., make build). This will clean old artifacts, regenerate documentation, sync C++ files, and build the package.

Check Binary Arrow C++ Distributions Specific to the R Package

  • Upload the .tar.gz to win-builder (r-devel only) and confirm with Jon (who will automatically receive an email about the results) that the check is clean.
  • Upload the .tar.gz to macOS Builder and confirm that the check is clean.
  • Check install.packages("arrow_X.Y.Z.tar.gz") on Ubuntu and ensure that the hosted binaries are used.
  • devtools::check_built("arrow_X.Y.Z.tar.gz") locally one more time (for luck).

Submit Package to CRAN

This step must be done by the current package maintainer.

  • Upload arrow_X.Y.Z.tar.gz to the CRAN submit page.
  • Confirm the submission email.

Wait for CRAN to Accept the Submission

  • CRAN has accepted the submission.
  • Tag the tip of the CRAN-specific release branch with r-universe-release; e.g. git tag -f r-universe-release maint-X.Y.Z-r && git push upstream r-universe-release --force
  • Add a new line to the matrix in the backwards compatability job.
  • (patch releases only) Update the package version in ci/scripts/PKGBUILD, r/DESCRIPTION, and r/NEWS.md.
  • (CRAN-only releases) Rebuild news page with pkgdown::build_news() and submit a PR to the asf-site branch of the docs site with the contents of arrow/r/docs/news/index.html replacing the current contents of arrow-site/docs/r/news/index.html.
  • (CRAN-only releases) Bump the version number in r/pkgdown/assets/versions.json, and update this on the the asf-site branch of the docs site too..
  • Review the packaging checklist template and update as needed.
  • Wait for CRAN-hosted binaries on the CRAN package page to reflect the new version.
  • Post already-prepared content to social media.
    • Use Bryce's script for contributor calculation.
  • Check C++ updates for this release and create issues for any items which need bindings in R

Component(s)

R

Activity

  1. thisisnic
    added
    Type: enhancement
    on Apr 7, 2026
  2. github-actions
    added
    Component: R
    on Apr 7, 2026

  3. thisisnic commented on Apr 7, 2026

    @thisisnic
    thisisnic
    on Apr 7, 2026
    MemberAuthor

    Let's cherry-pick bb4e492 over too

  4. thisisnic commented on Apr 19, 2026

    @thisisnic
    thisisnic
    on Apr 19, 2026
    MemberAuthor

    And #49794 for the news update

  5. amoeba commented on Apr 25, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 25, 2026
    Member

    Done:

    • Cherry picked bb4e492
    • Cherry-picked news update

    TODOs (will edit as I go):

  6. amoeba commented on Apr 26, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 26, 2026
    Member

    Hey @jonkeane, I've submitted to winbuilder and macbuilder and, on macbuilder, we get an error that looks out of our control: https://gist.github.com/amoeba/d5e7b3b8662ea9d466a3d34fa763dbdb. It looks like macbuilder has an older r-devel and a newer cpp11.

    The tarball below checks and installs cleanly on my Mac and is otherwise ready to submit:

    https://files.brycemecum.com/arrow_24.0.0.tar.gz

    If winbuilder comes back clean, do you want to submit or should we hold off until we can pass on macbuilder?

  7. amoeba commented on Apr 26, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 26, 2026
    Member

    winbuilder is failing with,

    ══ Failed tests ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  ── Error ('test-dataset-dplyr.R:76:3'): filter() on timestamp columns ──────────
  Error in `compute.arrow_dplyr_query(x)`: Invalid: Cannot locate or parse timezone 'UTC': Timezone database not found at "C:\Users\CRAN\Downloads\tzdata"
  Backtrace:
       ▆
    1. ├─arrow:::expect_equal(...) at test-dataset-dplyr.R:76:3
    2. │ └─base::inherits(object, "ArrowObject") at ./helper-expectation.R:30:3
    3. ├─dplyr::collect(...)
    4. └─arrow:::collect.arrow_dplyr_query(...)
    5.   └─arrow:::compute.arrow_dplyr_query(x)
    6.     └─base::tryCatch(...)
    7.       └─base (local) tryCatchList(expr, classes, parentenv, handlers)
    8.         └─base (local) tryCatchOne(expr, names, parentenv, handlers[[1L]])
    9.           └─value[[3L]](cond)
   10.             └─arrow:::augment_io_error_msg(e, call, schema = schema())
   11.               └─rlang::abort(msg, call = call)
  ── Error ('test-dataset-dplyr.R:124:3'): filter() on date32 columns ────────────
  Error in `compute.arrow_dplyr_query(x)`: Invalid: Cannot locate or parse timezone 'UTC': Timezone database not found at "C:\Users\CRAN\Downloads\tzdata"
  Backtrace:
       ▆
    1. ├─arrow:::expect_equal(...) at test-dataset-dplyr.R:124:3
    2. │ └─base::inherits(object, "ArrowObject") at ./helper-expectation.R:30:3
    3. ├─base::nrow(collect(filter(open_dataset(tmp), date > lubridate::ymd_hms("2020-02-02 00:00:00"))))
    4. ├─dplyr::collect(filter(open_dataset(tmp), date > lubridate::ymd_hms("2020-02-02 00:00:00")))
    5. └─arrow:::collect.arrow_dplyr_query(...)
    6.   └─arrow:::compute.arrow_dplyr_query(x)
    7.     └─base::tryCatch(...)
    8.       └─base (local) tryCatchList(expr, classes, parentenv, handlers)
    9.         └─base (local) tryCatchOne(expr, names, parentenv, handlers[[1L]])
   10.           └─value[[3L]](cond)
   11.             └─arrow:::augment_io_error_msg(e, call, schema = schema())
   12.               └─rlang::abort(msg, call = call)
  ── Error ('test-dplyr-query.R:650:3'): Scalars in expressions match the type of the field, if possible ──
  Error: NotImplemented: Function 'greater' has no kernel matching input types (timestamp[us, tz=UTC], string)
  Backtrace:
       ▆
    1. ├─testthat::expect_output(...) at test-dplyr-query.R:650:3
    2. │ └─testthat:::quasi_capture(...)
    3. │   ├─testthat (local) .capture(...)
    4. │   │ └─testthat::capture_output_lines(code, print, width = width)
    5. │   │   └─testthat:::eval_with_output(code, print = print, width = width)
    6. │   │     ├─withr::with_output_sink(path, withVisible(code))
    7. │   │     │ └─base::force(code)
    8. │   │     └─base::withVisible(code)
    9. │   └─rlang::eval_bare(quo_get_expr(.quo), quo_get_env(.quo))
   10. └─arrow::show_exec_plan(filter(tab, times > "2018-10-07 19:04:05"))
   11.   ├─arrow::as_record_batch_reader(as_adq(x))
   12.   └─arrow:::as_record_batch_reader.arrow_dplyr_query(as_adq(x))
   13.     └─plan$Build(x)
   14.       └─node$Filter(.data$filtered_rows)
   15.         ├─self$preserve_extras(ExecNode_Filter(self, expr))
   16.         └─arrow:::ExecNode_Filter(self, expr)
  
  [ FAIL 3 | WARN 0 | SKIP 85 | PASS 6460 ]

  8. amoeba commented on Apr 26, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 26, 2026
    Member

    I think it's a real issue, I filed #49866. I'll try to find a workaround soon to unblock the CRAN submission.

  9. amoeba commented on Apr 27, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 27, 2026
    Member

    I cherry-picked #49867 onto maint-24.0.0-r as 612da719aaeaa0c2b11ce4f859db6f71188c0f25 and re-submitted winbuilder and macbuilder (link).

    Edit: Macbuilder still has the cpp11 issue. :(

  10. jonkeane commented on Apr 27, 2026

    @jonkeane
    jonkeane
    on Apr 27, 2026
    Member

    It looks like macbuilder has an older r-devel and a newer cpp11.

    Yeah, this does indeed look like a macbuilder issues. What's extra strange to me is that the header claims 4.6.0 and release, though there's only been a development version of the macbuilder for a while now (and like you note: that dev version is rather old at this point on dev version time-horizons!

    r-release-macosx-arm64|4.6.0|macosx|macOS 26.2 (25C56)|Mac mini|Apple M1||en_US.UTF-8|macOS 14.4|clang-1700.6.3.2|GNU Fortran (GCC) 14.2.0

    And then:

    * using R Under development (unstable) (2026-03-22 r89674)

  11. amoeba commented on Apr 27, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 27, 2026
    Member

    It sounds like Simon updated to the R 4.6 branch which I assume is more/totally up to date with 4.6. New Macbuilder link: https://mac.r-project.org/macbuilder/results/1777334066-04fb543c7df70397/

  12. amoeba commented on Apr 28, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 28, 2026
    Member

    That run failed with a 502 error fetching xsimd (https://github.com/xtensor-stack/xsimd/archive/14.0.0.tar.gz).

    I did another run: https://mac.r-project.org/macbuilder/results/1777335143-a6d53e977e1bb893/

  13. amoeba commented on Apr 28, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 28, 2026
    Member

    Second run is also 502'ing on github.com. I'll try again in a few hours.

  14. amoeba commented on Apr 28, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 28, 2026
    Member

    As another test, I installed 4.6.0-sonoma locally and the submission tarball checks cleanly there.

  15. amoeba commented on Apr 28, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 28, 2026
    Member

    New macbuilder run: https://mac.r-project.org/macbuilder/results/1777348266-db2b99b9235fa505/

  16. amoeba commented on Apr 28, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 28, 2026
    Member

    The 502s went away and Macbuilder is clean. So both Macbuilder and Winbuilder pass.

    Submission tarball is ready: https://files.brycemecum.com/arrow_24.0.0.tar.gz cc @jonkeane

  17. amoeba commented on Apr 29, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 29, 2026
    Member

    We're accepted! https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/arrow/index.html. Binaries are WIP. I'll work on post-acceptance tasks later today so we have material for socials.

  18. jonkeane commented on Apr 29, 2026

    @jonkeane
    jonkeane
    on Apr 29, 2026
    Member

    We're accepted!

    I came to say the same I also updated the checkmarks

  19. amoeba commented on Apr 30, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 30, 2026
    Member

    Will update as I go:

  20. amoeba commented on Apr 30, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on Apr 30, 2026
    Member

    Post-release tasks mostly done, we're just waiting on a few PRs (above) and CRAN binaries.

  21. thisisnic
    added a commit that references this issue on Apr 30, 2026

    MINOR: [R][Release] Update arrow R backwards compatibility job (#49903)

    336af36
  22. amoeba
    added a commit that references this issue on Apr 30, 2026

    [Website][R] Update docs/r/news/index.html (#781)

    a9a5d71

  23. amoeba commented on May 4, 2026

    @amoeba
    amoeba
    on May 4, 2026
    Member

    Everything on the checklist is done, I'm closing this. Thanks everyone.

  24. amoeba
    closed this as completedon May 4, 2026
  25. Mottl
    added a commit that references this issue on May 26, 2026

    MINOR: [R][Release] Update arrow R backwards compatibility job (apach…

    29d2643
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