---
title: "Testing packages using CRS objects"
author: "Roger Bivand"
output:
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    toc: true
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      collapsed: false
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vignette: >
  %\VignetteIndexEntry{Testing packages using CRS objects}
  %\VignetteEngine{knitr::rmarkdown}
  %\VignetteEncoding{UTF-8}
---

## Introduction

As has been explained in https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=rgdal/vignettes/CRS_projections_transformations.html, coordinate reference systems are represented differently when PROJ < 6 and PROJ >= 6.

To alert interactive users to the possibility that their workflows might be degraded unless they take the representational changes into account, the **sp** `proj4string()` method issues warnings if a `"CRS"` object does not have an accompanying `WKT2 2019` representation (stored in a `comment` attached to the `"CRS"` object). This is because `proj4string()` only returns the PROJ 4 representation, not the accompanying `WKT2 2019` representation if any, so may constitute a loss of information. See also https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-sig-geo/2020-May/028125.html for further discussion.

In general, it is good practice to replace all use in packages of `proj4string()` with `slot(, "proj4string")` and its assignment form by the assignment form of `slot()`; when `sp::proj4string()` is not called, many of the warnings are suppressed anyway.  

On attaching **rgdal**:


```{r, echo=FALSE}
run <- FALSE
if (requireNamespace("rgdal", quietly=TRUE)) run <- TRUE
```


```{r, eval=run}
library(rgdal)
```
a package startup message is displayed if PROJ >= 6 and GDAL >= 3, including the important information that: 

> To mute warnings of possible GDAL/OSR exportToProj4() degradation, use  options("rgdal_show_exportToProj4_warnings"="none") before loading rgdal.

In **sp** 1.4 and **rgdal** 1.5, the default option value is `"all"`, in **sp** >= 1.5 and **rgdal** >= 1.6, the default will be flipped to `"none"`.

## Testing

Both CRAN checks and use of checks by end users may trigger spurious errors, if the versions of PROJ and GDAL differ from those on the development platform. Since the `WKT2 2019` representation is only generated on systems with PROJ >= 6 (and GDAL >= 3), warnings should not be expected when the same code is run on platforms with older versions of PROJ and GDAL. There are many such platforms, including RHEL and CentOS systems, as well as Ubuntu 18 and others. Think of a large lab with a cluster runnning such a system version, and that those installing software may wish to run `R CMD check` or just your test suite to confirm that things are as they should be. They will be dismayed to find that tests fail, but will not be able to find out whether this matters for them. 

Consequently, it is best either not to check warnings that perform differently when run under different versions of upstream external software (PROJ and GDAL), or to condition on the software versions with different expectations depending on the version. 

To mute warnings in all settings, add the option above early in any relevant test file. 

Fine-grained control may be obtained using `rgdal::rgdal_extSoftVersion()`:

```{r, eval=run}
rgdal::rgdal_extSoftVersion()
```
and its shorter version, testing only PROJ >= 6 (and GDAL >= 3):

```{r, eval=run}
rgdal::new_proj_and_gdal()
```
Using this test, a warning might be expected if recent PROJ and GDAL are used, and before the warning default is flipped in **sp** > 1.4 and **rgdal** > 1.5.

In **sf**, use `sf::sf_extSoftVersion()` to determine versions if necessary.

