tidytext
Finished, widely taught, and shipping roxygen fixes.
Comparison · Analytics
butcher vs mlr3fselect
A side-by-side editorial comparison of butcher and mlr3fselect — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-stats
butcher vs mlr3fselect: at a glance
What is butcher?
butcher expands from trimming models to trimming whole tidymodels workflows
butcher strips the parts of fitted R model objects that bloat serialized size without being needed for prediction, and it grows one method family at a time. The 0.3.x line piled up coverage for MASS, klaR, mixOmics, ipred, survival and xgboost objects; 0.4.0 changes the target from individual models to resampling and tuning containers, and hands maintenance to Max Kuhn.
What is mlr3fselect?
mlr3fselect turned feature selection into an asynchronous, distributable job
mlr3fselect runs feature selection for mlr3. The defining change in this window is 1.4.0, which introduced FSelectorAsync and the asynchronous instance classes, letting searches run without a synchronous batch loop. Around it sit ensemble feature selection work — fastVoteR ranking, embedded ensemble selection, result combination — and performance work on objective evaluation.
butcher vs mlr3fselect: editorial side-by-side
butcher
0.0ANALYTICS
butcher expands from trimming models to trimming whole tidymodels workflows
◆ Current state
butcher strips the parts of fitted R model objects that bloat serialized size without being needed for prediction, and it grows one method family at a time. The 0.3.x line piled up coverage for MASS, klaR, mixOmics, ipred, survival and xgboost objects; 0.4.0 changes the target from individual models to resampling and tuning containers, and hands maintenance to Max Kuhn.
◆ Where it's heading
Coverage is following where tidymodels users actually accumulate size — rset, rsplit, tune_results and workflow_set objects are the things that get large in a tuning run, not single fits. The maintainer handoff points the package further into the tidymodels orbit rather than the broad model zoo it started as. Releases are otherwise small and fix-driven.
◆ Prediction
Expect further methods for tidymodels container classes and continued upkeep against xgboost and torch-backed engines; the entries show no move toward automatic size reporting or a different API.
mlr3fselect
0.0ANALYTICS
mlr3fselect turned feature selection into an asynchronous, distributable job
◆ Current state
mlr3fselect runs feature selection for mlr3. The defining change in this window is 1.4.0, which introduced FSelectorAsync and the asynchronous instance classes, letting searches run without a synchronous batch loop. Around it sit ensemble feature selection work — fastVoteR ranking, embedded ensemble selection, result combination — and performance work on objective evaluation.
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads run in parallel: scaling the search itself through async execution and the rush backend, and making ensemble selection results easier to analyse via Pareto fronts, knee points and now removal of empty result rows. The rush backward-compatibility shim was dropped in 1.6.0, so the async path is now the assumed one.
◆ Prediction
Expect the ensemble result API to keep gaining analysis helpers, with async execution treated as the default rather than an option.
Alternatives to butcher and mlr3fselect
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 butcher or mlr3fselect.
textrecipes
Text features finally stay sparse all the way to the model.
probably
The package that made calibration a step instead of an afterthought.
workflowsets
workflowsets keeps widening what counts as a model worth comparing.
workflows
The tidymodels pipeline grew a third stage, and it happens after the model runs.
vetiver
Posit's MLOps package went quiet for two years, then came back to keep up with recipes.
See all butcher alternatives → · See all mlr3fselect alternatives →
Recent activity from butcher and mlr3fselect
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2mo agomlr3fselectEmpty-selection rows removable from ensemble results
- 8mo agobutcherMethods for rset, tune_results and workflow_set; new maintainer
- 8mo agomlr3fselectFaster objective evaluation and always_included roles
- 11mo agobutcherkknn methods no longer remove the call
- 1y agomlr3fselectAsynchronous feature selection arrives with FSelectorAsync ⚡
- 1y agobutcherComponent existence check fixed; nestedmodels methods removed
- 1y agomlr3fselectEmbedded ensemble selection and result combination
- 1y agomlr3fselectInternal tuning callback added
- 1y agomlr3fselectmlr3 0.21.0 compatibility and archive slimming
- 2y agobutcherbutcher 0.3.4
- 2y agobutcherMethods for nestedmodels and mgcv::gam; clearer butchering messages
- 3y agobutcherEight new model families gain butcher methods
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between butcher and mlr3fselect?
Both compete on the same themes — r-stats — within Analytics. butcher and mlr3fselect 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 butcher better than mlr3fselect?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. butcher and mlr3fselect 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 butcher?
Top butcher alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "butcher alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/butcher for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to mlr3fselect?
Top mlr3fselect alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "mlr3fselect alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mlr3fselect for the full list with editorial commentary on each.