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Changelog

Source: NEWS.md

nanonext 1.4.0.9000 (development)

nanonext 1.4.0

CRAN release: 2024-12-02

New Features
  • New interface to Pipes moves to using integer pipe IDs rather than Pipe (external pointer) objects:
    • send() and send_aio() gain the argument ‘pipe’ which accepts an integer pipe ID for directed sends (currently only supported by Sockets using the ‘poly’ protocol).
    • A ‘recvAio’ now records the integer pipe ID, where successful, at $aio upon resolution.
    • Pipe objects (of class ‘nanoPipe’) are obsoleted.
  • Adds monitor() and read_monitor() for easy monitoring of connection changes (pipe additons and removals) at a Socket.
Updates
  • collect_pipe() is removed given the pipe interface changes.

nanonext 1.3.2

CRAN release: 2024-11-14

Updates
  • Hotfix for CRAN (updates to tests only).

nanonext 1.3.1

CRAN release: 2024-11-13

Updates
  • Performs interruptible ‘aio’ waits using a single dedicated thread, rather than launching new threads, for higher performance and efficiency.
  • Performance enhancements for ‘ncurlAio’ and ‘recvAio’ promises methods.
  • Updates bundled ‘libnng’ to v1.9.0 stable release.
  • The package has a shiny new hex logo.

nanonext 1.3.0

CRAN release: 2024-10-04

New Features
Updates
  • serial_config() now validates all arguments and returns them as a list. Full validation is also performed when the option is set for additional safety.
  • Warning messages for unserialization or conversion failures of received data are now suppressable.
  • Upgrades reply() to always return even when there is an evaluation error. This allows it to be used safely in a loop without exiting early, for example.
  • Removes deprecated and defunct next_config().
  • Internal performance enhancements.
  • Updates bundled ‘libnng’ v1.8.0 with latest patches.

nanonext 1.2.1

CRAN release: 2024-08-19

Updates
  • Re-optimizes custom serialization (whilst addressing CRAN clang-UBSAN checks).

nanonext 1.2.0

CRAN release: 2024-08-17

New Features
  • Adds serial_config() to create configurations that can be set on Sockets to make use of custom serialization and unserialization functions for reference objects (plugs into the ‘refhook’ system of native R serialization).
  • 'opt<-'() now accepts the special option ‘serial’ for Sockets, which takes a configuration returned from serial_config().
  • Adds the ‘poly’ protocol for one-to-one of many socket connections (NNG’s pair v1 polyamorous mode).
  • Adds is_ncurl_session() as a validation function.
  • Adds collect_pipe() for obtaining the underlying Pipe from a ‘recvAio’. This affords more granular control of connections, with the ability to close individual pipes.
  • send_aio() now accept a Pipe to direct messages to a specific peer for supported protocols such as ‘poly’.
Updates
  • Send mode ‘next’ is folded into the default ‘serial’, with custom serialization functions applying automatically if they have been registered.
  • The session-wide next_config() is now deprecated and defunct, in favour of the new serial_config().
  • ncurl_session() now returns ‘errorValue’ 7 (Object closed) when attempting to transact over a closed session or closing a closed session, rather than throwing an error.
  • collect_aio() and collect_aio_() no longer append empty names when acting on lists of Aios where there were none in the first place.
  • Removes hard dependency on stats and utils base packages.
  • Requires R >= 3.6.

nanonext 1.1.1

CRAN release: 2024-06-23

New Features
Updates
  • request() specifying argument ‘cv’ other than NULL or a ‘conditionVariable’ will cause the pipe connection to be dropped when the reply is (asynchronously) completed.
  • Removes deprecated functions strcat(), recv_aio_signal() and request_signal().
  • Drops base64enc() and base64dec() in favour of those from the {secretbase} package.
  • msleep() now ignores negative values rather than taking the absolute value.
  • later is now relaxed to a soft ‘suggests’ dependency (only required if using promises).
  • promises is added as a soft ‘enhances’ dependency.

nanonext 1.1.0

CRAN release: 2024-06-04

New Features
Updates
  • recv_aio() and request() add argument ‘cv’ allowing optional signalling of a condition variable. The separate functions recv_aio_signal() and request_signal() are deprecated.
  • strcat() is deprecated as considered non-core - it is recommended to replace usage with sprintf().
  • status_code() now returns the status code combined with the explanation as a character string.
  • Performance enhancements for unresolved(), call_aio() and call_aio_().
  • Updates bundled ‘libnng’ v1.8.0 with latest patches.

nanonext 1.0.0

CRAN release: 2024-05-01

New Features
  • Integrates with the later package to provide the foundation for truly event-driven (non-polling) promises (thanks @jcheng5 for the initial prototype in #28), where side-effects are enacted asynchronously upon aio completion.
    • request() and request_signal() modified internally to support conversion of ‘recvAio’ to event-driven promises.
    • later dependency ensures asynchronous R code is always run on the main R thread.
    • later is lazily loaded the first time a promise is used, and hence does not impact the load time of nanonext or dependent packages.
Updates
  • stop_aio() now causes the ‘aio’ to resolve to an ‘errorValue’ of 20 (Operation canceled) if successfully stopped.
  • nng_error() now returns the error code combined with the message as a character string.
  • Integer file descriptors are no longer appended to ‘nanoSocket’ attributes.
  • Adds ‘xz’ to SystemRequirements (as was the case previously but not explicitly specified) (thanks @gaborcsardi).
  • Re-aligns bundled ‘libmbedtls’ to v3.5.2 and optimises bundle size.
  • Updates minimum ‘libnng’ version requirement to v1.6.0.
  • Upgrades bundled ‘libnng’ to v1.8.0.

nanonext 0.13.5.2

CRAN release: 2024-04-06

Updates
  • Safer and more efficient memory reads for ‘next’ serialization corrects for CRAN UBSAN-clang check errors.

nanonext 0.13.5.1

CRAN release: 2024-04-05

New Features
  • next_config() gains argument ‘class’ and ‘vec’, enabling custom serialization for all reference object types supported by R serialization.
  • An integer file descriptor is appended to ‘nanoSockets’ as the attribute ‘fd’ - see updated documentation for socket().
Updates
  • Removes SHA-2 cryptographic hash functions (please use the streaming implementation in the secretbase package).

nanonext 0.13.2

CRAN release: 2024-03-01

Updates
  • Fixes cases of ‘built for newer macOS version than being linked’ installation warnings on MacOS.
  • Upgrades bundled ‘libnng’ to v1.7.2.

nanonext 0.13.0

CRAN release: 2024-02-07

Updates

Please note the following potentially breaking changes, and only update when ready:

  • Default behaviour of send() and recv() aligned to non-blocking for both Sockets and Contexts (facilitated by synchronous context sends in NNG since v1.6.0).
  • ncurl(), ncurl_aio() and ncurl_session() now restrict ‘header’ and ‘response’ arguments to character vectors only, no longer accepting lists (for safety and performance).
  • Unserialization / decoding errors where the received message cannot be translated to the specified mode will output a message to stderr, but no longer generate a warning.
  • SHA functions now skip serialization headers for serialized R objects (ensuring portability as these contain R version and encoding information). This means that, for serialized objects, hashes will be different to those obtained using prior package versions.
  • sha1() is removed as a hash option.

Other changes:

  • messenger() specifying ‘auth’ now works reliably on endpoints using different R versions/platforms due to the above hashing portability fix.
  • Internal memory-efficiency and performance enhancements.
  • Upgrades bundled ‘libmbedtls’ to v3.5.2.

nanonext 0.12.0

CRAN release: 2024-01-10

This is a major performance and stability release bundling the ‘libnng’ v1.7.0 source code.

New Features
  • pipe_notify() argument ‘flag’ allows supplying a signal to be raised on a flag being set upon a pipe event.
Updates
  • More compact print methods for ‘recvAio’, ‘sendAio’, ‘ncurlAio’, ‘ncurlSession’ and ‘tlsConfig’ objects.
  • random() now explicitly limits argument ‘n’ to values between 0 and 1024.
  • next_config() now returns a pairlist (of the registered serialization functions) rather than a list (for efficiency).
  • Using mode ‘next’, serialization functions with incorrect signatures are now simply ignored rather than raise errors.
  • ‘nanoStream’ objects simplified internally with updated attributes ‘mode’ and ‘state’.
  • Deprecated function .until() is removed.
  • Eliminates potential memory leaks along certain error paths.
  • Fixes bug which prevented much higher TLS performance when using the bundled ‘libnng’ source.
  • Upgrades bundled ‘libnng’ to v1.7.0 release.

nanonext 0.11.0

CRAN release: 2023-12-04

This is a major stability release bundling the ‘libnng’ v1.6.0 source code.

New Features
  • Introduces call_aio_(), a user-interruptible version of call_aio() suitable for interactive use.
  • Introduces wait_() and until_() user-interruptible versions of wait() and until() suitable for interactive use.
  • Implements %~>% signal forwarder from one ‘conditionVariable’ to another.
Updates
  • next_config() replaces nextmode() with the following improvements:
    • simplified ‘refhook’ argument takes a pair of serialization and unserialization functions as a list.
    • registered ‘refhook’ functions apply to external pointer type objects only.
    • no longer returns invisibly for easier confimation that the correct functions have been registered.
  • until() updated to be identical to .until(), returning FALSE instead of TRUE if the timeout has been reached.
  • reap() updated to no longer warn in cases it returns an ‘errorValue’.
  • pipe_notify() arguments ‘add’, ‘remove’ and ‘flag’ now default to FALSE instead of TRUE for easier selective specification of the events to signal.
  • Fixes regression in release 0.10.4 that caused a potential segfault using ncurl() with ‘follow’ set to TRUE when the server returns a missing or invalid relocation address.
  • The weak references interface is removed as ‘non-core’.
  • Upgrades bundled ‘libnng’ to v1.6.0 release.
  • Upgrades bundled ‘libmbedtls’ to v3.5.1.

nanonext 0.10.4

CRAN release: 2023-11-03

New Features
  • nextmode() configures settings for send mode ‘next’. Registers hook functions for custom serialization and unserialization of reference objects (such as those accessed via an external pointer).
  • .until() contains revised behaviour for this synchronisation primitive, returning FALSE instead of TRUE if the timeout has been reached. This function will replace until() in a future package version.
Updates
  • lock() supplying ‘cv’ has improved behaviour which locks the socket whilst allowing for both initial connections and re-connections (when the ‘cv’ is registered for both add and remove pipe events).
  • Improves listener / dialer logic for TLS connections, allowing inter alia synchronous dials.
  • request() argument ‘ack’ removed due to stability considerations.
  • Fixes memory leaks detected with valgrind.
  • Upgrades bundled ‘libmbedtls’ to v3.5.0.

nanonext 0.10.2

CRAN release: 2023-09-27

Updates
  • Addresses one case of memory access error identified by CRAN.

nanonext 0.10.1

CRAN release: 2023-09-26

New Features
  • request() adds logical argument ‘ack’, which sends an ack(nowledgement) back to the rep node upon a successful async message receive.
  • reap() implemented as a faster alternative to close() for Sockets, Contexts, Listeners and Dialers - avoiding S3 method dispatch, hence works for unclassed external pointers created by .context().
  • random() updated to use the Mbed TLS library to generate random bytes. Adds a ‘convert’ argument for specifying whether to return a raw vector or character string.
  • Adds ‘next’ as a mode for send functions, as a 100% compatible R serialisation format (may be received using mode ‘serial’).
Updates
  • write_cert() has been optimised for higher efficiency and faster operation.
  • send() and recv() over contexts now use more efficient synchronous methods where available.
  • Fixes package installation failures where the R default C compiler command contains additional flags (thanks @potash #16).
  • Performance improvements due to simplification of the internal structure of ‘aio’ objects.
  • Rolls forward bundled ‘libnng’ to v1.6.0 alpha (a54820f).

nanonext 0.10.0

CRAN release: 2023-08-31

New Features
  • ncurl_aio() has been separated into a dedicated function for async http requests.
  • Receive functions add mode = 'string' as a faster alternative to ‘character’ when receiving a scalar value.
Updates

Please review the following potentially breaking changes, and only update when ready:

  • ncurl() argument ‘async’ is retired. Please use ncurl_aio() for asynchronous requests.
  • ncurl() now always returns the response message body at $data whether convert is TRUE or FALSE.
  • The argument ‘keep.raw’ for all receive functions (previously-deprecated) is removed.
  • cv_reset() and cv_signal() now both return invisible zero rather than NULL.
  • Function device() is removed partially due to its non-interruptible blocking behaviour.

Other changes:

  • Improvements to recv (mode = ‘serial’) and ncurl():
    • Failure to unserialize, or convert to character, automatically saves the data as a raw vector for recovery, generating a warning instead of an error (as was the case prior to v0.9.2).
  • Improvements to vector send/recv (mode = ‘raw’):
    • Higher performance sending of vector data.
    • Permits sending of NULL, in which case an empty vector of the corresponding mode is received.
    • Character vectors containing empty characters in the middle are now received correctly.
    • For character vectors, respects original encoding and no longer performs automatic conversion to UTF8.
  • Base64 and SHA hash functions now always use big-endian representation for serialization (where this is performed) to ensure consistency across all systems (fixes #14, a regression in nanonext 0.9.2).
  • Package installation now succeeds in certain environments where ‘cmake’ failed to make ‘libmbedtls’ detectable after building (thanks @kendonB #13).
  • Source bundles for ‘libmbedtls’ and ‘libnng’ slimmed down for smaller package and installed sizes.
  • Configures bundled ‘libmbedtls’ v3.4.0 for higher performance.
  • Supported ‘libmbedtls’ version increased to >= 2.5.

nanonext 0.9.2

CRAN release: 2023-08-07

This version contains performance enhancements which have resulted in potentially breaking changes; please review carefully and only update when ready.

New Features
  • base64dec() argument ‘convert’ now accepts NA as an input, which unserializes back to the original object.
Updates
  • The argument ‘keep.raw’ for all receive functions is deprecated. This is as raw vectors are no longer created as part of unserialisation or data conversion.
  • Higher performance send and receive of serialized R objects.
    • For receive functions, attempting to unserialise a non-serialised message will now error with ‘unknown input format’ rather than fall back to a raw message vector.
  • ncurl() etc. gain higher performance raw to character conversion, resulting in the following changes:
    • Attempting to convert non-text data with embedded nuls will now error instead of silently returning NULL.
    • For efficiency, when ‘convert’ = TRUE, a raw vector is no longer stored at $raw.
  • Higher performance cryptographic hash and base64 conversion functions.
    • Attributes are now taken into account for scalar strings and raw vectors to ensure unique hashes.
  • Experimental threaded function timed_signal() removed.
  • Requires R >= 3.5 to ensure R serialization version 3.

nanonext 0.9.1

CRAN release: 2023-07-12

New Features
  • Enables secure TLS transports tls+tcp:// and wss:// for scalability protocols.
    • listen() and dial() gain the argument ‘tls’ for supplying a TLS configuration object
    • write_cert() generates 4096 bit RSA keys and self-signed X.509 certificates for use with tls_config().
  • weakref(), weakref_key() and weakref_value() implement an interface to R’s weak reference system. These may be used for synchronising the lifetimes of objects with reference objects such as Sockets or Aios, or creating read-only objects accessible by the weakref value alone.
  • strcat() provides a simple, fast utility to concatenate two strings.
Updates
  • tls_config() now accepts a relative path if filenames are supplied for the ‘client’ or ‘server’ arguments.
  • ‘tlsConfig’ objects no longer have a ‘source’ attribute.
  • Fix cases where base64enc() failed for objects exceeding a certain size.
  • stream() has been updated internally for additional robustness.
  • Updates bundled ‘libmbedtls’ v3.4.0 source configuration for threading support.
  • Updates bundled ‘libnng’ to v1.6.0 alpha (c5e9d8a) again, having resolved previous issues.

nanonext 0.9.0

CRAN release: 2023-05-28

The package is now compatible (again) with currently released ‘libnng’ versions. It will attempt to use system ‘libnng’ versions >= 1.5 where detected, and only compile the bundled library where necessary.

New Features
  • Implements tls_config() to create re-usable TLS configurations from certificate / key files (or provided directly as text).
Updates
  • ‘pem’ argument of ncurl(), ncurl_session() and stream() retired in favour of ‘tls’ which takes a TLS Configuration object created by tls_config() rather than a PEM certificate directly.
  • Removes nanonext_version() in favour of the existing nng_version(), along with utils::packageVersion() if required, for greater flexibility.
  • Removes ... argument for context() - retained for compatibility with the ‘verify’ argument, which was removed in the previous release.
  • Package widens compatibility to support system ‘libnng’ versions >= 1.5.0.
  • Bundled ‘libnng’ source rolled back to v1.6.0 pre-release (8e1836f) for stability.

nanonext 0.8.3

CRAN release: 2023-05-06

New Features
  • Implements cv_signal() and timed_signal() for signalling a condition variable, the latter after a specified time (from a newly-created thread).
  • Implements .context(), a performance alternative to context() that does not create the full object.
  • Adds utility nanonext_version() for providing the package version, NNG and mbed TLS library versions in a single string.
  • ncurl() gains a ‘timeout’ argument.
Updates
  • Removes ‘verify’ argument of context() (changed to ‘…’ for compatibility) as request() and request_signal() have been rendered safe internally for use with timeouts.
  • The name of the single argument to msleep() has been changed to ‘time’ from ‘msec’.
  • Functions pipe_notify(), lock() and unlock() now error if unsuccessful rather than returning with a warning.
  • For compiling bundled ‘libmbedtls’ and ‘libnng’ libraries from source, R’s configured C compiler is now chosen over the system default where this is different.
  • Bundled ‘libnng’ source updated to v1.6.0 alpha (c5e9d8a).
  • Bundled ‘libmbedtls’ source updated to v3.4.0.

nanonext 0.8.2

CRAN release: 2023-04-14

New Features
  • lock() and unlock() implemented to prevent further pipe connections from being established at a socket, optionally tied to the value of a condition variable.
Updates
  • context() gains the argument ‘verify’ with a default of TRUE. This adds additional protection to notably the request() and request_signal() functions when using timeouts, as these require a connection to be present.
  • Sending and hashing of language objects and symbols is now possible after fixes to serialisation.
  • until() now works as intended.
  • Removes recently-introduced msg_pipe() and 'weakref<-'() to maintain simplicity of user interface.
  • Internal performance enhancements.

nanonext 0.8.1

CRAN release: 2023-03-27

New Features
  • Implements synchronisation primitives from the NNG library. Condition variables allow the R execution thread to wait until it is signalled by an incoming message or pipe event.
  • Adds msg_pipe() to return the pipe connection associated with a ‘recvAio’ message.
  • Exposes the sha1() cryptographic hash and HMAC generation function from the ‘Mbed TLS’ library (for secure applications, use one of the SHA-2 algorithms instead).
  • Utility function 'weakref<-'() exposes R_MakeWeakRef from R’s C API. Useful for keeping objects alive for as long as required by a dependent object.
Updates
  • ncurl_session() gains a ‘timeout’ argument, and returns an ‘errorValue’ with warning upon error.
  • listen() and dial() gain the new logical argument ‘error’ to govern the function behaviour upon error.
  • Internal performance enhancements.

nanonext 0.8.0

CRAN release: 2023-03-03

New Features
  • Implements stat(), an interface to the NNG statistics framework. Can be used to return the number of currently connected pipes for a socket, connection attempts for a listener/dialer etc.
  • Implements parse_url(), which parses a URL as per NNG. Provides a fast and standardised method for obtaining parts of a URL string.
Updates

Please review the following potentially breaking changes, and only update when ready:

  • Using socket() specifying either ‘dial’ or ‘listen’, a failure to either dial or listen (due to an invalid URL for example) will now error rather than return a socket with a warning. This is safer behaviour that should make it easier to detect bugs in user code.
  • opt() and 'opt<-'() have been implemented as more ergonomic options getter and setter functions to replace getopt() and setopt(). These will error if the option does not exist / input value is invalid etc.
  • subscribe(), unsubscribe() and survey_time() now return the Socket or Context invisibly rather than an exit code, and will error upon invalid input etc.
  • survey_time() argument name is now ‘value’, with a default of 1000L.
  • nano Object methods $opt, $listener_opt, and $dialer_opt re-implemented to either get or set values depending on whether the ‘value’ parameter has been supplied.

Other changes:

  • Bundled ‘libnng’ source updated to v1.6.0 pre-release (8e1836f).
  • Supported R version amended to >= 2.12, when person() adopted the current format used for package description.
  • Internal performance enhancements.

nanonext 0.7.3

CRAN release: 2023-01-22

New Features
Updates
  • For dialers, the ‘autostart’ argument to dial(), socket() and nano() now accepts NA for starting the dialer synchronously - this is less resilient if a connection is not immediately possible, but avoids subtle errors from attempting to use the socket before an asynchronous dial has completed.
  • Closing a stream now renders it inactive safely, without the need to strip all attributes on the object (as was the case previously).
  • messenger() is faster to connect and exits gracefully in case of a connection error.
  • Removes defunct function nano_init().
  • Bundled ‘libnng’ source updated to v1.6.0 pre-release (539e559).
  • Fixes CRAN ‘additional issue’ (clang-UBSAN).

nanonext 0.7.2

CRAN release: 2022-12-12

Updates
  • For raw to character hash conversion, uses snprintf instead of sprintf for CRAN compliance.

nanonext 0.7.1

CRAN release: 2022-11-16

New Features
  • Implements getopt(), the counterpart to setopt() for retrieving the value of options on objects.
Updates
  • The setopt() interface is simplified, with the type now inferred from the value supplied.
  • ncurl() now returns redirect addresses as the response header ‘Location’. This is so that HTTP data can also be returned at $data where this is provided.
  • Eliminates CRAN ‘additional issue’ (clang/gcc-UBSAN).
  • Internal performance optimisations.

nanonext 0.7.0

CRAN release: 2022-11-07

New Features
  • status_code() utility returns a translation of HTTP response status codes.
Updates

Please review the following potentially breaking changes, and only update when ready:

  • The API has been re-engineered to ensure stability of return types:
    • socket(), context() and stream() will now error rather than return an ‘errorValue’. The error value is included in the error message.
    • send_aio() and recv_aio() now always return an integer ‘errorValue’ at $result and $data respectively.
    • recv() and recv_aio() now return an integer ‘errorValue’ at each of $raw and $data when ‘keep.raw’ is set to TRUE.
    • ncurl() now returns an integer ‘errorValue’ at each of $status, $headers, $raw and $data for both sync and async. Where redirects are not followed, the address is now returned as a character string at $data.
  • For functions that send and receive messages i.e. send(), send_aio(), recv(), recv_aio() and ncurl(), ‘errorValues’ are now returned silently without an accompanying warning. Use is_error_value() to explicitly check for errors.
  • nano_init() is deprecated due to the above change in behaviour.
  • send() no longer has a ‘…’ argument. This has had no effect since 0.6.0, but will now error if additional arguments are provided (please check and remove previous uses of the argument ‘echo’). Also no longer returns invisibly for consistency with recv().
  • listen() and dial() now only take a socket as argument; for nano objects, the $listen() and $dial() methods must be used instead.
  • nano() now creates a nano object with method $context_open() for applicable protocols. Opening a context will attach a context at $context and a $context_close() method. When a context is active, all object methods apply to the context instead of the socket. Method $socket_setopt() renamed to $setopt() as it can be used on the socket or active context as applicable.
  • Non-logical values supplied to logical arguments will now error: this is documented for each function where this is applicable.

Other changes:

  • Integer send()/recv() arguments for ‘mode’ implemented in 0.5.3 are now documented and considered part of the API. This is a performance feature that skips matching the character argument value.
  • Fixes bug introduced in 0.6.0 where Aios returning ‘errorValues’ are not cached with the class, returning only integer values when accessed subsequently.
  • Fixes potential crash when base64dec() encounters invalid input data. Error messages have been revised to be more accurate.
  • Fixes the $ method for ‘recvAio’ objects for when the object has been stopped using stop_aio().
  • Using the $listen() or $dial() methods of a nano object specifying ‘autostart = FALSE’ now attaches the $listener_start() or $dialer_start() method for the most recently added listener/dialer.
  • device() no longer prompts for confirmation in interactive environments - as device creation is only successful when binding 2 raw mode sockets, there is little scope for accidental use.
  • Print method for ‘errorValue’ now also provides the human translation of the error code.
  • Bundled ‘libnng’ source updated to v1.6.0 pre-release (5385b78).
  • Internal performance enhancements.

nanonext 0.6.0

CRAN release: 2022-10-09

New Features
  • Implements base64enc() and base64dec() base64 encoding and decoding using the ‘Mbed TLS’ library.
  • sha224(), sha256(), sha384() and sha512() functions gain an argument ‘convert’ to control whether to return a raw vector or character string.
  • ncurl() gains the argument ‘follow’ (default FALSE) to control whether redirects are automatically followed.
Updates

Please review the following potentially breaking changes, and only update when ready:

  • send() now returns an integer exit code in all cases. The ‘echo’ argument has been replaced by ‘…’, and specifying ‘echo’ no longer has any effect.
  • recv(), recv_aio() and request() now default to ‘keep.raw’ = FALSE to return only the sent object.
  • ncurl() argument ‘request’ renamed to ‘response’ for specifying response headers to return (to avoid confusion); new argument ‘follow’ (placed between ‘convert’ and ‘method’) controls whether redirects are followed, and there is no longer a user prompt in interactive environments.
  • sha224(), sha256(), sha384() and sha512() functions no longer return ‘nanoHash’ objects, but a raw vector or character string depending on the new argument ‘convert’.

Other changes:

  • socket() and nano() now accept non-missing NULL ‘listen’ and ‘dial’ arguments, allowing easier programmatic use.
  • Functions send(), recv(), send_aio(), recv_aio(), setopt(), subscribe(), unsubscribe() and survey_time() are no longer S3 generics for enhanced performance.
  • messenger() uses longer SHA-512 hash for authentication; fixes errors creating a connnection not being shown.
  • The source code of ‘libnng’ v1.6.0 pre-release (722bf46) and ‘libmbedtls’ v3.2.1 now comes bundled rather than downloaded - this is much more efficient as unused portions have been stripped out.
  • Detects and uses system installations of ‘libnng’ >= 1.6.0 pre-release 722bf46 and ‘libmbedtls’ >= 2 where available, only compiling from source when required.
  • R >= 4.2 on Windows now performs source compilation of the bundled ‘libnng’ and ‘libmbedtls’ using the rtools42 toolchain. Installation falls back to pre-compiled libraries for older R releases.
  • Supported R version amended to >= 2.5, when the current new.env() interface was implemented.
  • Internal performance enhancements.

nanonext 0.5.5

CRAN release: 2022-09-04

Updates
  • Installation succeeds under Linux where library path uses ‘lib64’ instead of ‘lib’, and fails gracefully if ‘cmake’ is not found.

nanonext 0.5.4

CRAN release: 2022-09-02

New Features
  • Implements sha224(), sha256(), sha384() and sha512() series of fast, optimised cryptographic hash and HMAC generation functions using the ‘Mbed TLS’ library.
  • ncurl() and stream() gain the argmument ‘pem’ for optionally specifying a certificate authority certificate chain PEM file for authenticating secure sites.
  • ncurl() gains the argument ‘request’ for specifying response headers to return.
  • ncurl() now returns additional $status (response status code) and $headers (response headers) fields.
  • messenger() gains the argument ‘auth’ for authenticating communications based on a pre-shared key.
  • random() gains the argument ‘n’ for generating a vector of random numbers.
Updates
  • ‘libmbedtls’ is now built from source upon install so the package always has TLS support and uses the latest v3.2.1 release. Windows binaries also updated to include TLS support.
  • nng_version() now returns the ‘Mbed TLS’ library version number.
  • device() gains a confirmation prompt when running interactively for more safety.
  • Fixes issue with ncurl() that caused a 26 cryptography error with certain secure sites using SNI.

nanonext 0.5.3

CRAN release: 2022-08-08

Updates
  • Configure script provides more information by default.
  • Allows integer send/recv ‘mode’ arguments (note: this is an undocumented performance feature with no future guarantees).
  • Aio ‘timeout’ arguments now default to NULL for applying the socket default, although non-breaking as -2L will also work.
  • msleep() made safe (does not block) in case of non-numeric input.
  • Internal performance optimisations.

nanonext 0.5.2

CRAN release: 2022-07-07

New Features
  • Adds mclock(), msleep() and random() utilities exposing the library functions for timing and cryptographic RNG respectively.
  • socket() gains the ability to open ‘raw’ mode sockets. Please note: this is not for general use - do not set this argument unless you have a specific need, such as for use with device() (refer to NNG documentation).
  • Implements device() which creates a socket forwarder or proxy. Warning: use this in a separate process as this function blocks with no ability to interrupt.
Updates
  • Internal performance optimisations.

nanonext 0.5.1

CRAN release: 2022-06-10

Updates
  • Upgrades NNG library to 1.6.0 pre-release (locked to version 722bf46). This version incorporates a feature simplifying the aio implementation in nanonext.
  • Configure script updated to always download and build ‘libnng’ from source (except on Windows where pre-built libraries are downloaded). The script still attempts to detect a system ‘libmbedtls’ library to link against.
  • Environment variable ‘NANONEXT_SYS’ introduced to permit use of a system ‘libnng’ install in /usr/local. Note that this is a manual setting allowing for custom NNG builds, and requires a version of NNG at least as recent as 722bf46.
  • Fixes a bug involving the unresolvedValue returned by Aios (thanks @lionel- #3).

nanonext 0.5.0

CRAN release: 2022-05-10

New Features
  • $context() method added for creating new contexts from nano Objects using supported protocols (i.e. req, rep, sub, surveyor, respondent) - this replaces the context() function for nano Objects.
  • subscribe() and unsubscribe() now accept a topic of any atomic type (not just character), allowing pub/sub to be used with integer, double, logical, complex, or raw vectors.
  • Sending via the “pub” protocol, the topic no longer needs to be separated from the rest of the message, allowing character scalars to be sent as well as vectors.
  • Added convenience auxiliary functions is_nano() and is_aio().
Updates
  • Protocol-specific helpers subscribe(), unsubscribe(), and survey_time() gain nanoContext methods.
  • Default protocol is now ‘bus’ when opening a new Socket or nano Object - the choices are ordered more logically.
  • Closing a stream now strips all attributes on the object rendering it a nil external pointer - this is for safety, eliminating a potential crash if attempting to re-use a closed stream.
  • For receives, if an error occurs in unserialisation or data conversion (e.g. mode was incorrectly specified), the received raw vector is now available at both $raw and $data if keep.raw = TRUE.
  • Setting ‘NANONEXT_TLS=1’ now allows the downloaded NNG library to be built against a system mbedtls installation.
  • Setting ‘NANONEXT_ARM’ is no longer required on platforms such as Raspberry Pi - the package configure script now detects platforms requiring the libatomic linker flag automatically.
  • Deprecated send_ctx(), recv_ctx() and logging removed.
  • All-round internal performance optimisations.

nanonext 0.4.0

CRAN release: 2022-04-10

New Features
  • New stream() interface exposes low-level byte stream functionality in the NNG library, intended for communicating with non-NNG endpoints, including but not limited to websocket servers.
  • ncurl() adds an ‘async’ option to perform HTTP requests asynchronously, returning immediately with a ‘recvAio’. Adds explicit arguments for HTTP method, headers (which takes a named list or character vector) and request data, as well as to specify if conversion from raw bytes is required.
  • New messenger() function implements a multi-threaded console-based messaging system using NNG’s scalability protocols (currently as proof of concept).
  • New nano_init() function intended to be called immediately after package load to set global options.
Updates
  • Behavioural change: messages have been upgraded to warnings across the package to allow for enhanced reporting of the originating call e.g. via warnings() and flexibility in handling via setting options().
  • Returned NNG error codes are now all classed as ‘errorValue’ across the package.
  • Unified send() and recv() functions, and their asynchronous counterparts send_aio() and recv_aio(), are now S3 generics and can be used across Sockets, Contexts and Streams.
  • Revised ‘block’ argument for send() and recv() now allows an integer value for setting a timeout.
  • send_ctx() and recv_ctx() are deprecated and will be removed in a future package version - the methods for send() and recv() should be used instead.
  • To allow for more flexible practices, logging is now deprecated and will be removed entirely in the next package version. Logging can still be enabled via ‘NANONEXT_LOG’ prior to package load but logging() is now defunct.
  • Internal performance optimisations.

nanonext 0.3.0

CRAN release: 2022-03-10

New Features
  • Aio values $result, $data and $raw now resolve automatically without requiring call_aio(). Access directly and an ‘unresolved’ logical NA value will be returned if the Aio operation is yet to complete.
  • unresolved() added as an auxiliary function to query whether an Aio is unresolved, for use in control flow statements.
  • Integer error values generated by receive functions are now classed ‘errorValue’. is_error_value() helper function included.
  • is_nul_byte() added as a helper function for request/reply setups.
  • survey_time() added as a convenience function for surveyor/respondent patterns.
  • logging() function to specify a global package logging level - ‘error’ or ‘info’. Automatically checks the environment variable ‘NANONEXT_LOG’ on package load and then each time logging(level = "check") is called.
  • ncurl() adds a ‘…’ argument. Support for HTTP methods other than GET.
Updates
  • listen() and dial() now return (invisible) zero rather than NULL upon success for consistency with other functions.
  • Options documentation entry renamed to opts to avoid clash with base R ‘options’.
  • Common format for NNG errors and informational events now starts with a timestamp for easier logging.
  • Allows setting the environment variable ‘NANONEXT_ARM’ prior to package installation
    • Fixes installation issues on certain ARM architectures
  • Package installation using a system ‘libnng’ now automatically detects ‘libmbedtls’, removing the need to manually set ‘NANONEXT_TLS’ in this case.
  • More streamlined NNG build process eliminating unused options.
  • Removes experimental nng_timer() utility as a non-essential function.
  • Deprecated functions ‘send_vec’ and ‘recv_vec’ removed.

nanonext 0.2.0

CRAN release: 2022-02-10

New Features
  • Implements full async I/O capabilities
  • New request() and reply() functions implement the full logic of an RPC client/server, allowing processes to run concurrently on the client and server.
    • Designed to be run in separate processes, the reply server will await data and apply a function before returning a result.
    • The request client performs an async request to the server and returns immediately with an Aio.
  • New ncurl() minimalistic http(s) client.
  • New nng_timer() utility as a demonstration of NNG’s multithreading capabilities.
  • Allows setting the environment variable ‘NANONEXT_TLS’ prior to package installation
    • Enables TLS where the system NNG library has been built with TLS support (using Mbed TLS).
Updates
  • Dialer/listener starts and close operations no longer print a message to stderr when successful for less verbosity by default.
  • All send and receive functions, e.g. send()/recv(), gain a revised ‘mode’ argument.
    • This now permits R serialization as an option, consolidating the functionality of the ’_vec’ series of functions.
  • Functions ‘send_vec’ and ‘recv_vec’ are deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
  • Functions ‘ctx_send’ and ‘ctx_recv’ have been renamed send_ctx() and recv_ctx() for consistency.
  • The $socket_close() method of nano objects has been renamed $close() to better align with the functional API.

nanonext 0.1.0

CRAN release: 2022-01-25

  • Initial release to CRAN, rOpenSci R-universe and Github.