rollupTree
The recursive-computation engine under massProps grows the accessors its consumer needed
Comparison · Infra & APIs
inlabru vs massProps
A side-by-side editorial comparison of inlabru and massProps — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
inlabru vs massProps: at a glance
What is inlabru?
A Bayesian spatial modelling package rebuilding its foundations one breaking release at a time
inlabru wraps INLA for spatial, point-process and latent-Gaussian models in R. It is mid-modernisation: since 2.12.0 cut the sp stack, each release has renamed part of the public surface, standardised how external packages attach custom mappers, or replaced internal machinery. 2.15.0 is the latest step, pairing a new predictor evaluation and linearisation implementation with broom's tidy(), glance() and augment() methods and four non-zero-truncated observation families.
What is massProps?
A mass-properties rollup spends a year on documentation and follows its sibling's API
massProps computes mass, centre of mass and inertia tensors — and their uncertainties — over tree-structured assemblies, the calculation systems engineers run on a spacecraft or vehicle breakdown. It sits on top of rollupTree, the same author's generic recursive-computation engine, and its most recent release exists only to adopt accessor functions that sibling added two weeks earlier.
inlabru vs massProps: editorial side-by-side
inlabru
2.5INFRA · APIS
A Bayesian spatial modelling package rebuilding its foundations one breaking release at a time
◆ Current state
inlabru wraps INLA for spatial, point-process and latent-Gaussian models in R. It is mid-modernisation: since 2.12.0 cut the sp stack, each release has renamed part of the public surface, standardised how external packages attach custom mappers, or replaced internal machinery. 2.15.0 is the latest step, pairing a new predictor evaluation and linearisation implementation with broom's tidy(), glance() and augment() methods and four non-zero-truncated observation families.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc is consolidation of the extension surface rather than expansion of the model catalogue. Every release adds mappers or families with one hand and removes a dependency, a re-export or a deprecated path with the other — plyr in 2.15.0, fmesher's Depends entry in 2.14.1, sp and ggmap in 2.12.0. The compatibility flag bru_compat_pre_2_14_enable and the temporary fm_int/fm_pixels re-exports show a maintainer sequencing breaks across releases instead of landing them together.
◆ Prediction
The 2.14 compatibility flag is still defaulting to TRUE and the fmesher re-exports are described in the entries as temporary, so the next obvious move is a release that flips bru_compat_pre_2_14_enable off and drops those re-exports.
massProps
0.0INFRA · APIS
A mass-properties rollup spends a year on documentation and follows its sibling's API
◆ Current state
massProps computes mass, centre of mass and inertia tensors — and their uncertainties — over tree-structured assemblies, the calculation systems engineers run on a spacecraft or vehicle breakdown. It sits on top of rollupTree, the same author's generic recursive-computation engine, and its most recent release exists only to adopt accessor functions that sibling added two weeks earlier.
◆ Where it's heading
Every release in the window is documentation, benchmarks, or keeping in step with rollupTree. The inertia tensor and radius-of-gyration uncertainty equations have been reformatted and re-explained three separate times, which suggests the hard part of this package is not the computation but making the covariance treatment legible to the engineers meant to trust it. Development effort clearly sits in the engine underneath, not here.
◆ Prediction
The pattern is unambiguous: rollupTree ships an API change and massProps follows within a fortnight. Whatever the engine does next is what appears here next, and on this evidence it will arrive as a one-line release note.
Alternatives to inlabru and massProps
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 inlabru or massProps.
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
GeoThinneR
Spatial thinning grows a result object, and the API breaks to make room for it
See all inlabru alternatives → · See all massProps alternatives →
Recent activity from inlabru and massProps
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 23d agoinlabruPredictor linearisation rewritten; broom tidiers, truncated families
- 3mo agoinlabruBugfix release: factor contrasts, raster extraction, error classes
- 5mo agoinlabruNew mappers, standardised cgeneric support, bru_obs storage refactor
- 6mo agomassPropsSwitched to rollupTree's new row accessors
- 6mo agomassPropsError in the inertia tensor uncertainty documentation
- 1y agoinlabruMapper classes shortened to bm_*, experimental predictor aggregation
- 1y agomassPropsBenchmark results and equation layout cleaned up
- 1y agomassPropsCombine functions given consistent formal parameters
- 1y agomassPropsExamples shrunk to fit CRAN runtime limits
- 1y agoinlabruDrops sp and ggmap for an sf-native spatial stack ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between inlabru and massProps?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. inlabru is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is inlabru better than massProps?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. inlabru is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to inlabru?
Top inlabru alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "inlabru alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/inlabru for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to massProps?
Top massProps alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "massProps alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/massprops for the full list with editorial commentary on each.