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Comparison · Infra & APIs
lintr vs rgm
A side-by-side editorial comparison of lintr and rgm — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
lintr vs rgm: at a glance
What is lintr?
lintr makes the native pipe the default rule and clears out a decade of deprecations
lintr is the static analysis standard for R packages, and its 3.3.0 release does two things at once: it changes pipe_consistency_linter() to require the native pipe, following the Tidyverse Style Guide, and it completes a long deprecation program — six linters fully deprecated, several arguments defunct, and a batch of functions removed outright. The 3.1.x line before it was accuracy work and a maintainer handoff to Michael Chirico.
What is rgm?
A microbiome network model that got itself un-archived by deleting the dependency that killed it.
rgm implements the random graphical model for microbiome interactions across related environments, published in JABES in 2026. The package was archived from CRAN in February 2026 because of its dependency on huge; the recovery release drops that dependency entirely, which cost it the graphical-lasso warm start that used to seed the initial graph — the default is now an empty graph, with warm starts left to the user. A post-processing function returning ggplot diagnostics arrived in the same release.
lintr vs rgm: editorial side-by-side
lintr
0.0INFRA · APIS
lintr makes the native pipe the default rule and clears out a decade of deprecations
◆ Current state
lintr is the static analysis standard for R packages, and its 3.3.0 release does two things at once: it changes pipe_consistency_linter() to require the native pipe, following the Tidyverse Style Guide, and it completes a long deprecation program — six linters fully deprecated, several arguments defunct, and a batch of functions removed outright. The 3.1.x line before it was accuracy work and a maintainer handoff to Michael Chirico.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has been consolidating: overlapping linters renamed and merged, configuration validated up front, and an experimental R-script config offered as a possible replacement for the DCF format. Alongside that, a sustained campaign against false positives and false negatives in individual linters, which is where most contributor effort goes.
◆ Prediction
Expect the six warning-deprecated linters to be removed in the next release as announced, and continued movement on the R-script configuration format if feedback supports it.
rgm
0.0INFRA · APIS
A microbiome network model that got itself un-archived by deleting the dependency that killed it.
◆ Current state
rgm implements the random graphical model for microbiome interactions across related environments, published in JABES in 2026. The package was archived from CRAN in February 2026 because of its dependency on huge; the recovery release drops that dependency entirely, which cost it the graphical-lasso warm start that used to seed the initial graph — the default is now an empty graph, with warm starts left to the user. A post-processing function returning ggplot diagnostics arrived in the same release.
◆ Where it's heading
Three tags shipped inside two hours on one day, and the notes are candid about why: 1.1.0 held the actual work but was never released, 1.2.0 restated it under a higher version to signal the size of the change, and 1.2.1 answered CRAN pre-test feedback. Beyond the archival recovery, the visible work is housekeeping that had accumulated — a shadowed rmvnorm() definition, roxygen import tags that were silently emitting nothing, leftover C++ template scaffolding, and build artifacts under version control. The diagnostics function is the only genuinely new user-facing capability in the window.
◆ Prediction
The immediate task was restoring availability, and that is done; the open question the entries raise is whether losing the graphical-lasso warm start affects convergence in practice, which the new diagnostic plots are positioned to answer.
Alternatives to lintr and rgm
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 lintr or rgm.
WPML
WPML made machine translation the default, and its point releases keep chasing WordPress and page builders.
forestploter
A forest plot package that keeps handing users control of one more graphical detail.
ggInterval
Interval-valued data plotting, spending 2026 making its function names and examples survive CRAN.
contagionchannels
Three releases in ten days, every one of them a CRAN reviewer's correction rather than a code change.
tidyaudit
Pipeline provenance for tidyverse workflows, recording what changed at each step without keeping the data.
Recent activity from lintr and rgm
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3mo agorgmJournal DOI replaces the preprint; promotional wording removed
- 3mo agorgmBack on CRAN after dropping the dependency that caused archival
- 3mo agorgmUnreleased twin of the CRAN recovery release
- 8mo agolintrNative pipe required by default; six linters deprecated ⚡
- 2y agolintrFalse positive and negative fixes; new CRAN maintainer
- 2y agorgmFirst release: simulation, estimation and post-processing
- 2y agolintrExperimental R-script configs; up-front config validation
- 3y agolintrLinter renames for consistency; Super-Linter config discovery
- 3y agolintrTest no longer leaves cache files behind
- 3y agolintrfunction_argument_linter() added; seq_linter() covers dplyr and data.table
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between lintr and rgm?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. lintr and rgm 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 lintr better than rgm?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. lintr and rgm 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 lintr?
Top lintr alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "lintr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/lintr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rgm?
Top rgm alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rgm alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rgm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.