rollupTree
The recursive-computation engine under massProps grows the accessors its consumer needed
Comparison · Infra & APIs
Cobbler vs remap
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Cobbler and remap — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Cobbler vs remap: at a glance
What is Cobbler?
A backport branch kept alive for downstreams, with the main line nowhere in sight.
Every release in Cobbler's visible history describes itself the same way: backports from main to make Cobbler more stable for the community. The 3.3.x line has absorbed real work under that framing — collection indices, lazy loading, new XML-RPC endpoints — but none of it originates here. The most recent item is a 3.2.3 build carrying the CVE-2024-47533 fix to an older branch, with its Fixed and Added sections left as literal TBD placeholders.
What is remap?
A regional-model smoother in long-term maintenance, four years past its last real feature.
remap fits separate models to geographic regions and blends their predictions into a continuous surface, using the min_n nearest observations so region boundaries do not show as discontinuities. The methodological work is finished — the last behavioural change landed in 2022, and everything since has been unit handling, compiler warnings, dependency compatibility and citation updates. The July release is one such patch.
Cobbler vs remap: editorial side-by-side
Cobbler
0.0INFRA · APIS
A backport branch kept alive for downstreams, with the main line nowhere in sight.
◆ Current state
Every release in Cobbler's visible history describes itself the same way: backports from main to make Cobbler more stable for the community. The 3.3.x line has absorbed real work under that framing — collection indices, lazy loading, new XML-RPC endpoints — but none of it originates here. The most recent item is a 3.2.3 build carrying the CVE-2024-47533 fix to an older branch, with its Fixed and Added sections left as literal TBD placeholders.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a stabilization branch serving downstream packagers rather than a product advancing on its own. The work that does land splits cleanly into three buckets: distribution coverage (Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, AlmaLinux, RHEL9, openSUSE and SLE signatures), API surface for integrators, and security backports. 3.3.3 flagged dump_vars as the replacement for get_blended_data as of 3.4.0 — a version that has not appeared in any release since.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued single-purpose backports to 3.3.x and older branches as CVEs surface; the entries give no indication of when or whether the 3.4.0 work these releases keep deferring to will ship.
remap
0.0INFRA · APIS
A regional-model smoother in long-term maintenance, four years past its last real feature.
◆ Current state
remap fits separate models to geographic regions and blends their predictions into a continuous surface, using the min_n nearest observations so region boundaries do not show as discontinuities. The methodological work is finished — the last behavioural change landed in 2022, and everything since has been unit handling, compiler warnings, dependency compatibility and citation updates. The July release is one such patch.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a stable academic package tracking its ecosystem rather than growing. The visible pattern is reactive maintenance: sf's 1.0.0 transition, ggplot2's size-to-linewidth rename, a gcc-UBSAN error on zero-point distance calculations, and now a check that distance matrices passed to remap() and predict() are converted to kilometres. Note that the feed's timestamps invert the version order — 0.3.1 is stamped seconds after 0.3.2 despite being the earlier release, so recency in this feed is not a reliable guide to sequence.
◆ Prediction
Nothing in these entries points to new capability. The realistic expectation is more of the same: a patch whenever sf, ggplot2 or a CRAN check surfaces an incompatibility, at roughly the observed cadence of one release every year or two.
Alternatives to Cobbler and remap
Other Infra & APIs 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 Cobbler or remap.
massProps
A mass-properties rollup spends a year on documentation and follows its sibling's API
writeAlizer
Six months of releases and not one of them touched the scoring models
samplr
A cognitive-science sampling package ships once, then goes quiet for eighteen months
stochvol
A Bayesian volatility sampler in its maintenance decade, paying for its own speed
midr
A black-box interpreter reaches CRAN, then learns multi-class and survival responses
See all Cobbler alternatives → · See all remap alternatives →
Recent activity from Cobbler and remap
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agoremapDistance matrices now converted to kilometres automatically
- 1mo agoCobblerCobbler 3.2.3 backports the CVE-2024-47533 admin API fix
- 1y agoremapCitation updated to the R Journal article
- 1y agoremapUBSAN fix, parallel patch and sf search-path independence
- 1y agoCobblerCobbler 3.3.7 closes an admin-API authentication bypass
- 2y agoCobblerCobbler 3.3.6 adds EFI support to buildiso
- 2y agoCobblerCobbler 3.3.5 adds collection indices and lazy loading
- 2y agoCobblerCobbler 3.3.4 extends packaging to Ubuntu 22.04 and Debian 12
- 3y agoremappredict() can return an upper bound on combined standard errors
- 4y agoCobblerCobbler 3.3.3 adds resolved-value XML-RPC endpoints for Uyuni
- 5y agoremapRegions without observations no longer break the prediction surface
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Cobbler and remap?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Cobbler and remap 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 Cobbler better than remap?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Cobbler and remap 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Cobbler?
Top Cobbler alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Cobbler alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/cobbler for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to remap?
Top remap alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "remap alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/remap for the full list with editorial commentary on each.