tern.rbmi
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
Comparison · Analytics
cairo vs enpls
A side-by-side editorial comparison of cairo and enpls — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
cairo vs enpls: at a glance
What is cairo?
Cairo finally catches R's graphics engine, all the way to GE API 16.
Cairo is the R device that renders plots through the cairo library, and until 1.7-0 it lagged R's own graphics engine by several API generations. That release closes the gap to GE API 16 (R 4.5.0), adding fill patterns, masks and groups. The releases before it were maintenance: a segfault shim for grid, a bashism removal in configure, and Windows font and build fixes.
What is enpls?
enpls has not changed its statistics since 2016 — only its website, twice.
enpls implements ensemble partial least squares regression, with variants for feature selection, outlier detection and model applicability. Across the six most recent releases there is not one change to the modeling code. They cover a documentation website, a website URL change, a font stack, code indentation, a CI service, and most recently a GitHub Actions migration with an R CMD check note fix.
cairo vs enpls: editorial side-by-side
cairo
0.0ANALYTICS
Cairo finally catches R's graphics engine, all the way to GE API 16.
◆ Current state
Cairo is the R device that renders plots through the cairo library, and until 1.7-0 it lagged R's own graphics engine by several API generations. That release closes the gap to GE API 16 (R 4.5.0), adding fill patterns, masks and groups. The releases before it were maintenance: a segfault shim for grid, a bashism removal in configure, and Windows font and build fixes.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc is catch-up, executed one API generation at a time. Glyph rendering arrived in 1.6-3, GE 15 stubs in 1.6-5 existed only to stop grid from segfaulting, and 1.7-0 delivers the real GE 13/14/16 feature set rather than placeholders. Alongside that, dropping the CAIROGD_VER C API and the mkdist step means the package now builds with plain R CMD build, which reads as deliberate reduction of maintenance overhead.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next releases to be corrective rather than additive: the entries show every API adoption here has been followed by a fix release, and patterns, masks and groups are a much larger surface than glyphs were.
enpls
0.0ANALYTICS
enpls has not changed its statistics since 2016 — only its website, twice.
◆ Current state
enpls implements ensemble partial least squares regression, with variants for feature selection, outlier detection and model applicability. Across the six most recent releases there is not one change to the modeling code. They cover a documentation website, a website URL change, a font stack, code indentation, a CI service, and most recently a GitHub Actions migration with an R CMD check note fix.
◆ Where it's heading
The statistical work finished around version 5.6, which added cross-validation fold control and fixed component selection when the maximum was left unspecified. Everything since has kept the package installable and its docs online. The 2025 release arriving the same day as sibling package grex, with the same two fixes, confirms the pattern: these are maintainer sweeps across a portfolio, not attention to enpls specifically.
◆ Prediction
The next release will almost certainly be another CRAN or tooling fix. Six consecutive infrastructure-only releases across nine years give no basis for expecting new methods.
Alternatives to cairo and enpls
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 cairo or enpls.
tern.mmrm
An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.
ggmagnify
A single-purpose ggplot2 inset tool, refining the same three arguments.
symengine
An R symbolic-maths binding whose changelog is really the C++ core's release notes.
gtfstools
gtfstools stopped guarding its own object model and started accepting everyone else's.
quantities
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
Recent activity from cairo and enpls
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 9mo agocairoCairo adds fill patterns, masks and groups (GE API 16) ⚡
- 11mo agocairoCairo 1.6-4: configure cleanup, locatorBell dropped on X11
- 11mo agocairoCairo 1.6-5 stubs GE 15 to stop grid segfaulting
- 1y agoenplsenpls 6.1.1 moves pkgdown to GitHub Actions
- 2y agocairoCairo 1.6-2
- 2y agocairoCairo 1.6-3 adds glyph rendering for grid.glyph()
- 7y agoenplsenpls 6.1 adopts tidyverse code style
- 8y agoenplsenpls 6.0 changes the documentation URL
- 8y agoenplsenpls 5.9 drops Google Fonts from vignettes
- 9y agoenplsenpls 5.8 updates gallery images, enables HTTPS
- 9y agoenplsenpls 5.7 adds a pkgdown site and Windows CI
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cairo and enpls?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. cairo and enpls 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 cairo better than enpls?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. cairo and enpls 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 cairo?
Top cairo alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "cairo alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/cairo-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to enpls?
Top enpls alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "enpls alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/enpls for the full list with editorial commentary on each.