tidytlg
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
Comparison · Analytics
bundle vs riem
A side-by-side editorial comparison of bundle and riem — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
bundle vs riem: at a glance
What is bundle?
Four releases in three years, each one teaching the serializer about a model type it couldn't carry
bundle solves a narrow, real problem: many R model objects hold pointers to external state — compiled boosters, Java handles, torch tensors — that do not survive being saved and reloaded in another session. It wraps them so they do. The package has shipped four releases since 2022, and the shape of each is the same: extend coverage to another model class, or repair coverage that an upstream release broke.
What is riem?
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
riem pulls observations from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's weather-station network. Its release history is two threads: successive rewrites of the HTTP and test-mocking stack, and a gradual tightening of function arguments that culminated in 1.0.0 removing convenient-but-dangerous defaults. Contributions come partly from IEM's own maintainer.
bundle vs riem: editorial side-by-side
bundle
0.0ANALYTICS
Four releases in three years, each one teaching the serializer about a model type it couldn't carry
◆ Current state
bundle solves a narrow, real problem: many R model objects hold pointers to external state — compiled boosters, Java handles, torch tensors — that do not survive being saved and reloaded in another session. It wraps them so they do. The package has shipped four releases since 2022, and the shape of each is the same: extend coverage to another model class, or repair coverage that an upstream release broke.
◆ Where it's heading
Coverage is the product, so the release cadence is set by the ecosystem rather than by a roadmap. dbarts arrived in 0.1.2, along with extra work to preserve xgboost's nfeatures and feature_names through a round trip; 0.1.3 exists because xgboost changed its model format again. The 0.1.1 fix — recipes steps nested inside workflows — points at the same underlying issue one level up, where the object needing bundling is buried inside a tidymodels pipeline rather than passed directly.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to follow the same trigger: either a new parsnip engine that carries external pointers, or another upstream format change in one of the engines already covered. xgboost has now forced two of the four releases.
riem
0.0ANALYTICS
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
◆ Current state
riem pulls observations from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's weather-station network. Its release history is two threads: successive rewrites of the HTTP and test-mocking stack, and a gradual tightening of function arguments that culminated in 1.0.0 removing convenient-but-dangerous defaults. Contributions come partly from IEM's own maintainer.
◆ Where it's heading
The HTTP thread has moved through httr to httr2, and mocking from vcr to httptest2 — following the broader rOpenSci HTTP-stack reorganisation rather than any need of its own. The API thread runs the other way: 1.0.0 removed defaults for date_start and station and flipped latlon to FALSE, trading convenience for callers being explicit about what they request. New arguments in the same release widened what a query can ask for.
◆ Prediction
With the API stabilised at 1.0.0 and the HTTP stack settled on httr2, the next release is more likely to expose additional IEM query parameters than to change plumbing again.
Alternatives to bundle and riem
Other Analytics 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 bundle or riem.
Tplyr
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
rlistings
Clinical listings that keep inheriting their hardest problem — pagination — from the layer below.
hoardr
A cache-directory helper that has shipped nothing but CRAN-triggered patches for seven years.
gigs
gigs redesigned its whole conversion API for rOpenSci, then spent three releases getting the docs to build.
datasetjson
datasetjson rebuilt its object model to track the CDISC Dataset-JSON 1.1 schema.
Recent activity from bundle and riem
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 8mo agobundlexgboost bundling updated for newer model versions
- 1y agoriem1.0.0 removes defaults and adds query arguments
- 1y agobundledbarts BART models become bundleable
- 1y agoriemDrops the last vcr usage in favour of httptest2
- 2y agoriemTimezone and timestamp-parsing fixes
- 2y agobundleRecipes steps inside workflows now bundle correctly
- 3y agobundleFirst CRAN release
- 4y agoriemMoves to httr2 and httptest2
- 4y agoriemSwitches to newer IEM metadata web services
- 9y agoriemReduces dependencies to tibble alone
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between bundle and riem?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. bundle and riem are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is bundle better than riem?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. bundle and riem are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to bundle?
Top bundle alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "bundle alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/bundle for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to riem?
Top riem alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "riem alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/riem for the full list with editorial commentary on each.