EvoPhylo
EvoPhylo added BEAST2 alongside MrBayes, then went quiet for two years.
Comparison · Analytics
lineup2 vs mutagen
A side-by-side editorial comparison of lineup2 and mutagen — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
lineup2 vs mutagen: at a glance
What is lineup2?
lineup2 ships once every few years, and 2026's release is a logo and a core-count tweak.
lineup2 provides distance-based tools for detecting sample mix-ups between related datasets — comparing rows and columns of two matrices to find swapped or mislabeled samples. Its visible history is four releases spread across six years, and the capability surface has barely moved since plot_sample() and the propdiff distance arrived in 0.4. Version 0.8 in July 2026 adds a package logo and redefines cores=0 to mean all-but-one core.
What is mutagen?
A young package porting Stata's egen row-wise helpers to the tidyverse, one function per release
mutagen provides row-wise column-generation helpers for R data frames in the spirit of Stata's egen — gen_rowmean(), gen_rowsum(), gen_rowsd(), gen_rownonmiss() and about a dozen siblings. It reached 0.5.0 within three months of its first release, adding two or three functions each time. The most recent release adds gen_coldiff() and renames two functions to fit the naming scheme.
lineup2 vs mutagen: editorial side-by-side
lineup2
0.0ANALYTICS
lineup2 ships once every few years, and 2026's release is a logo and a core-count tweak.
◆ Current state
lineup2 provides distance-based tools for detecting sample mix-ups between related datasets — comparing rows and columns of two matrices to find swapped or mislabeled samples. Its visible history is four releases spread across six years, and the capability surface has barely moved since plot_sample() and the propdiff distance arrived in 0.4. Version 0.8 in July 2026 adds a package logo and redefines cores=0 to mean all-but-one core.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a finished, single-purpose package in maintenance. The substantive changes across the whole window are plotting conveniences and one parallelism default; nothing in the entries points at new distance measures, new input formats, or expanded scope. The release cadence — five years between 0.6 and 0.8 — reads as a tool the author considers done.
◆ Prediction
Further releases are likely to stay small: a plotting option, a parallelism detail, or a check-farm fix. The entries give no signal of planned feature work.
mutagen
0.0ANALYTICS
A young package porting Stata's egen row-wise helpers to the tidyverse, one function per release
◆ Current state
mutagen provides row-wise column-generation helpers for R data frames in the spirit of Stata's egen — gen_rowmean(), gen_rowsum(), gen_rowsd(), gen_rownonmiss() and about a dozen siblings. It reached 0.5.0 within three months of its first release, adding two or three functions each time. The most recent release adds gen_coldiff() and renames two functions to fit the naming scheme.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is filling out a known surface rather than discovering one: the reference implementation exists in Stata, so development is a matter of working through the list. Alongside that, the naming convention is still settling — gen_rowmatch became gen_rowany, gen_percent became gen_colpercent, gen_na_listcol became gen_listcol_na — which is normal for a pre-1.0 package but means callers should expect further renames. Contributions are arriving from several first-time contributors.
◆ Prediction
The gen_col* prefix has only two members against a dozen gen_row* functions, so column-wise coverage is the obvious gap; expect it to fill before the naming stabilises for a 1.0.
Alternatives to lineup2 and mutagen
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 lineup2 or mutagen.
treespace
treespace ships once every year or two, and only when CRAN or a user forces it.
Rpath
Rpath 1.1.0 learns to read Ecopath's own files, easing migration off the desktop tool.
TAF
TAF keeps turning ICES stock assessments into reproducible, dependency-pinned projects.
parallelDist
parallelDist is in pure preservation mode — one build fix every few years.
cairo
Cairo finally catches R's graphics engine, all the way to GE API 16.
See all lineup2 alternatives → · See all mutagen alternatives →
Recent activity from lineup2 and mutagen
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agolineup2cores=0 now leaves one core free
- 8mo agomutagengen_coldiff() added; two functions renamed for consistency
- 9mo agomutagengen_rowsum() and gen_rowsd() added
- 9mo agomutagengen_rownonmiss() and gen_rowall() added
- 9mo agomutagenRow mean, median and missingness helpers; gen_rowmatch renamed
- 11mo agomutagenFirst release with the row-wise gen_* family
- 5y agolineup2plot_sample() gains xlim and ylim control
- 5y agolineup2plot_sample() and the propdiff distance added
- 5y agolineup2Package description revised for CRAN resubmission
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between lineup2 and mutagen?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. lineup2 and mutagen 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 lineup2 better than mutagen?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. lineup2 and mutagen 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 lineup2?
Top lineup2 alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "lineup2 alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/lineup2-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to mutagen?
Top mutagen alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "mutagen alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mutagen-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.