paleobuddy
paleobuddy can now simulate trait-dependent diversification, not just birth-death.
A side-by-side editorial comparison of rjwsacruncher and treespace — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
A thin R wrapper around a Java seasonal-adjustment tool, slowly absorbing the setup work.
rjwsacruncher drives JDemetra+'s JWSACruncher from R, handling parameter files and batch runs of seasonal adjustment workspaces. Recent releases have shifted from wrapping the executable to managing its installation: 0.2.3 adds a downloader for JDemetra+ itself, a check that a given directory really contains the cruncher binary, and tolerance for users pointing at the executable instead of its bin directory.
treespace ships once every year or two, and only when CRAN or a user forces it.
treespace explores and compares sets of phylogenetic and transmission trees, including the tree-distance measures used in outbreak reconstruction. Its release history is entirely reactive: five updates across five years, each triggered by a CRAN policy change, an upstream package removal, or a bug someone reported. The most recent is an Rd cross-reference format patch plus a maintainer email change.
rjwsacruncher drives JDemetra+'s JWSACruncher from R, handling parameter files and batch runs of seasonal adjustment workspaces. Recent releases have shifted from wrapping the executable to managing its installation: 0.2.3 adds a downloader for JDemetra+ itself, a check that a given directory really contains the cruncher binary, and tolerance for users pointing at the executable instead of its bin directory.
The work is defensive. Most of each release addresses a way users misconfigure paths or versions — clearer errors, a startup message naming which cruncher version the options select, and a standalone flag on the downloader. The package is absorbing the friction of a Java dependency it does not control.
Expect continued compatibility work as JDemetra+ 3.x diverges from 2.x, since the version split is already surfaced as a user-facing option rather than resolved internally.
treespace explores and compares sets of phylogenetic and transmission trees, including the tree-distance measures used in outbreak reconstruction. Its release history is entirely reactive: five updates across five years, each triggered by a CRAN policy change, an upstream package removal, or a bug someone reported. The most recent is an Rd cross-reference format patch plus a maintainer email change.
The package is stable and lightly staffed rather than abandoned — bugs that affect correctness do get fixed, and CRAN deadlines are met. But the 2023 update is the telling one: rather than vendor or replace adephylo when it faced removal, the maintainers disabled two tree-vector methods and marked the loss as hopefully temporary. Two years on, nothing in the feed indicates they came back.
The next entry will most likely be another CRAN-compliance patch, on the pattern of four of the last five releases. Whether the Abouheif and sumDD methods ever return is not something these entries give any signal on.
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 rjwsacruncher or treespace.
paleobuddy can now simulate trait-dependent diversification, not just birth-death.
geodist stays dependency-free and fast, and warns you when 'cheap' distances stop being honest.
errors keeps making uncertainty print the way each scientific field expects.
CMAQ went global in v5.5, and has been patching that surface ever since.
enpls has not changed its statistics since 2016 — only its website, twice.
grex is a lookup table with a version number — it ships when the annotation moves.
See all rjwsacruncher alternatives → · See all treespace alternatives →
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. rjwsacruncher and treespace 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.
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. rjwsacruncher and treespace 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.
Top rjwsacruncher alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rjwsacruncher alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rjwsacruncher for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
Top treespace alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "treespace alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/treespace-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.