Changelog

Source: NEWS.md

rextendr 0.4.2

CRAN release: 2025-08-26

• Sets the extendr-api version to the latest stable version instead of "*" when creating a new package. This is fetched from https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/extendr-api and will fall back to "*" if not available https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/pull/467
• Adds xz to SystemRequirements to ensure extendr based packages build on Posit Package Manager https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/pull/467
• Sets the release profile to use lto=true and codegen-units=1 to ensure compatible builds with WebR as well as reduce the overall compiled package size https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/pull/465.
• Fixes compatibility with WebR by adding CARGO_PROFILE_DEV_PANIC="abort" CARGO_PROFILE_RELEASE_PANIC="abort" when targeting wasm32-unknown-emsacripten target https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/pull/461

rextendr 0.4.1

CRAN release: 2025-06-19

• Fix tests executed on CRAN (#449)

• Added use_vscode() and its alias use_positron() to create .vscode/settings.json, enhancing the rextendr experience in VSCode/Positron. Additionally, use_extendr() now automatically calls use_vscode() when VSCode or Positron is detected as the IDE (#441).

rextendr 0.4.0

CRAN release: 2025-05-02

• Adds WebR support out of the box for all extendr packages.
  • Note that not all Rust crates are wasm compatible. This change only enables the package to build in the wasm32-unknown-emscripten target. It does not guarantee all dependencies will compile.
• Addresses new CRAN check in R 4.5+ adding warning for _abort usage
• use_extendr_badge() has been added to add an extendr-specific badge to a README.Rmd via usethis::use_badge() https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/pull/417
• Removes Makevars.ucrt as R versions < 4.1 are not supported by extendr https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/pull/414
• purrr has been replaced with R/standalone-purrr.R removing purrr from Imports https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/pull/408
• document() will no longer try to save all open files using rstudioapi https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/issues/404 https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/issues/407
• use_cran_default() has been removed as the default package template is CRAN compatible https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/pull/394
• use_extendr() now creates tools/msrv.R, configure and configure.win. These have been moved out of use_cran_defaults() https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/pull/393
• Makevars now prints linked static libraries at compile time by adding --print=native-static-libs to RUSTFLAGS https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/pull/393
• use_extendr() sets the DESCRIPTION’s SystemRequirements field according to CRAN policy to Cargo (Rust's package manager), rustc (#329)
• Introduces new functions use_cran_defaults() and vendor_pkgs() to ease the publication of extendr-powered packages on CRAN. See the new article CRAN compliant extendr packages on how to use these (#320).
• rust_sitrep() now better communicates the status of the Rust toolchain and available targets. It also guides the user through necessary installation steps to fix Rust setup (#318).
• use_extendr() and document() now set the SystemRequirements field of the DESCRIPTION file to Cargo (rustc package manager) if the field is empty (#298).
• use_extendr() gets a new ability to overwrite existing rextendr templates (#292).
• use_extendr() sets publish = false in the [package] section of the Cargo.toml (#297).
• use_extendr() correctly handles calls with path not equal to "." (current folder), or when there is no active usethis project (#323).
• Fixes an issue in pre-defined set of known features: added either (#338)
• create_extendr_package() allows user to create project directory using RStudio’s Project Command. (#321)
• Support RTOOLS44 (#347)
• Removed use_try_from as an option in rust_function, and added use_rng (#354)
• Added use_crate() function to make adding dependencies to Cargo.toml easier within R, similar to usethis::use_package() (#361)
• Fixed an issue in rust_source() family of functions that prevented usage of r# escape sequences in Rust function names (#374)
• use_cran_defaults() now checks the SystemRequirements field in the DESCRIPTION file for cargo and rustc. It will display installation instructions if either is missing or provide the minimum required version if the installed version is outdated.
• Added use_msrv() to aid in specifying the minimum supported rust version (MSRV) for an R package
• Added read_cargo_metadata() to retrieve Cargo metadata for packages and workspaces. (#389)
• rustup_sitrep() now checks if a default toolchain has been set. https://github.com/extendr/rextendr/pull/416
• Minimum R version is set to 4.1 (#435)
• tibble is no longer a dependency (#435)

rextendr 0.3.0

CRAN release: 2023-05-30

• Ilia Kosenkov is now the official maintainer.

• Josiah Parry is now a contributor.

• Support Rtools43 (#231).

• rextendr has migrated to the use of cli for raising errors and warnings.

• Developer note: new helper function local_quiet_cli() introduced in R/utils.R to simplify silencing cli output.

New features

• A new function rust_sitrep() that prints out a short report on the currently installed Rust toolchain (#274).

• A new function write_license_note() to generate LICENSE.note file from Cargo.toml (#271).

• extendr_fn_options parameter of rust_source() controls what type of options are emitted to #[extendr()] attribute (#252).

• use_dev_extendr flag makes rust_source() family of functions compile code using development version of extendr. Development configuration is stored as an option named rextendr.extendr_dev_deps (#251).

• features parameter of rust_source() now correctly enables features in extendr-api and references required crates. features not available in release version of extendr raises a warning (#249).

• A <pkg_name>-win.def file containing DLL exports is created by rextendr::use_extendr(). It is used during linking phase on Windows and solves the problem of compiling very large projects, such as polars (#212)

• Support extendr macro with options (#128).

• rust_source() got features argument to specify Cargo features to activate (#140).

• rextendr::document() now sets the envvars that devtools::document() sets, e.g. NOT_CRAN (#135).

rextendr 0.2.0

CRAN release: 2021-06-15

First official release.