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later

DEVOPS
Velocity0.0

Schedule R function calls to execute later on an event loop

github.com/r-lib/later ↗

later spends its releases keeping R's event loop compiling against moving toolchains.

revent-loopasyncrcppbuild-compatibility
◆Current state
later provides the event loop that lets R schedule callbacks, underpinning shiny, httpuv and most async work in the language. Recent releases are overwhelmingly build and compatibility work: Rcpp error-handling changes, a C23 namespace collision with glibc, and header ordering to satisfy Rcpp auto-includes.
◆Where it's heading
The API is settled enough that the release calendar is set by the surrounding ecosystem rather than by any feature plan. 1.4.5 cleaned house by dropping pre-unwind-protect fallbacks, and 1.4.6 carries the only recent change a user would notice at all — lower CPU use when idle at the console.
◆Prediction
Expect further releases pinned to compiler and Rcpp changes, with the observable surface staying essentially where it is.

◆Recent moves

  1. 5mo ago

    later 1.4.8 tracks Rcpp Rf_error handling changes

    An internal update for compatibility with Rcpp's Rf_error handling. No behavioural change, and squarely in the compatibility-maintenance pattern this package now runs on.

    View source ↗
  2. 5mo ago

    later 1.4.7 fixes a C23 once_flag collision breaking builds

    Fixes a build failure on glibc 2.43 and GCC 15, where C23 moved the once_flag type into stdlib.h and collided with later's vendored tinycthread symbols. Invisible to users but a hard blocker for anyone on a current toolchain.

    View source ↗
  3. 6mo ago

    later 1.4.6 improves idle responsiveness at the R console

    The rare recent release with a user-noticeable effect: better responsiveness when idle at the R console on POSIX systems. The accompanying header move exists to keep R headers from preceding Rcpp headers in generated exports.

    View source ↗
  4. 7mo ago

    later 1.4.5 drops legacy fallbacks, requires R 3.5 and Rcpp 1.0.10

    Raises the floor to R 3.5.0 and Rcpp 1.0.10 so the legacy non-unwind-protect code paths can be deleted outright. A deliberate simplification that trades support for old R versions for one less branch to maintain.

    View source ↗
  5. 11mo ago

    later 1.4.4 fixes test timings only

    A test timing fix, explicitly labelled as having no user-facing changes.

    View source ↗
  6. 11mo ago

    later 1.4.3 stops touching .Random.seed, drops autorun argument

    Removes the long-deprecated autorun argument from create_loop() and stops the package from perturbing .Random.seed at load time. The seed fix matters for anyone chasing irreproducible results in an async pipeline.

    View source ↗