tidytlg
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
Comparison · Analytics
pkglite vs r2rtf
A side-by-side editorial comparison of pkglite and r2rtf — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
pkglite vs r2rtf: at a glance
What is pkglite?
pkglite's whole job is knowing which files in an R package are text — and it keeps getting better at guessing.
pkglite packs an R package into a single plain-text file and unpacks it again, the mechanism pharmaceutical submissions use to move source through systems that accept text but not archives. The API settled at 0.2.0 with file specification templates, `merge()` and `prune()`. Every release since has improved the same thing: the dictionary that decides whether a file is text or binary, most recently rebuilt from the file extensions found across 21,369 CRAN packages.
What is r2rtf?
The clinical-report table engine learned Chinese, then learned to leave RTF entirely
r2rtf builds the RTF tables, listings and figures that go into clinical study reports, and its recent releases have been about widening who and what it can serve rather than changing how tables are composed. The 1.2.0 release added internationalization — a SimSun font path for Chinese characters plus hyphenation control — and 1.3.0 followed with write_docx() and write_html(), turning the LibreOffice conversion the package had documented into exported functions.
pkglite vs r2rtf: editorial side-by-side
pkglite
0.0ANALYTICS
pkglite's whole job is knowing which files in an R package are text — and it keeps getting better at guessing.
◆ Current state
pkglite packs an R package into a single plain-text file and unpacks it again, the mechanism pharmaceutical submissions use to move source through systems that accept text but not archives. The API settled at 0.2.0 with file specification templates, `merge()` and `prune()`. Every release since has improved the same thing: the dictionary that decides whether a file is text or binary, most recently rebuilt from the file extensions found across 21,369 CRAN packages.
◆ Where it's heading
The failure mode this package cares about is silent — misclassify a binary file as text and the round trip corrupts it, misclassify text as binary and it bloats or drops. So the work is empirical rather than architectural: mine real packages for what extensions actually appear, then widen coverage where specific ecosystems break the pattern. Stan interfaces via rstan brought `src/Makevars` and `src/Makefile` handling; machine learning frameworks brought their own binary formats. Dependencies have gone the other way, with cli removed and replaced by internal equivalents.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next substantive release to widen file specification coverage again for whatever package family the maintainers find breaking the default discovery, since that has been the content of every non-maintenance release for four years.
r2rtf
0.0ANALYTICS
The clinical-report table engine learned Chinese, then learned to leave RTF entirely
◆ Current state
r2rtf builds the RTF tables, listings and figures that go into clinical study reports, and its recent releases have been about widening who and what it can serve rather than changing how tables are composed. The 1.2.0 release added internationalization — a SimSun font path for Chinese characters plus hyphenation control — and 1.3.0 followed with write_docx() and write_html(), turning the LibreOffice conversion the package had documented into exported functions.
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads run through the window. One is output reach: RTF remains the composition target, but the artifacts that come out of it now include DOCX and HTML, and page numbering can be made table-relative across multi-page tables. The other is durability under a moving R and font stack — the ANSI/Unicode converter was rebuilt, the LaTeX mapping table generated from code rather than shipped as sysdata, unlist() usage fixed for R 4.5, and graphics-device leaks that produced stray Rplots.pdf closed off.
◆ Prediction
Having exported DOCX and HTML conversion, the likely next step is filling in what those formats lose relative to RTF — pagination and footnote fidelity are the obvious gaps. The i18n path currently covers Chinese only, so additional font families are the other plausible direction.
Alternatives to pkglite and r2rtf
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 pkglite or r2rtf.
Tplyr
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
rlistings
Clinical listings that keep inheriting their hardest problem — pagination — from the layer below.
hoardr
A cache-directory helper that has shipped nothing but CRAN-triggered patches for seven years.
gigs
gigs redesigned its whole conversion API for rOpenSci, then spent three releases getting the docs to build.
riem
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
See all pkglite alternatives → · See all r2rtf alternatives →
Recent activity from pkglite and r2rtf
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5mo agopkgliteMaintainer email and CI workflow updates
- 7mo agor2rtfDOCX and HTML output become exported functions
- 11mo agor2rtfChinese character support arrives via an i18n font path ⚡
- 1y agor2rtfText colour fixed for figures encoded into RTF
- 1y agor2rtfFootnote handling fixed for R 4.5.0
- 1y agor2rtfUnicode converter rebuilt and mapping table made inspectable
- 1y agopkgliteHandles Stan-interfacing packages and ML binary formats
- 1y agopkgliteExtension dictionary rebuilt from 21,369 CRAN packages
- 2y agopkgliteTest helpers moved to helper.R
- 2y agor2rtfUTF-8 conversion fix and LibreOffice 7.6 support
- 3y agopkgliteMore file types recognised; cli dependency dropped
- 5y agopkgliteFile collections gain merge, prune, and a tests template
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between pkglite and r2rtf?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. pkglite and r2rtf 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 pkglite better than r2rtf?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. pkglite and r2rtf 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 pkglite?
Top pkglite alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "pkglite alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/pkglite for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to r2rtf?
Top r2rtf alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "r2rtf alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/r2rtf for the full list with editorial commentary on each.