Changes in upcoming ggplot2 version

[teunbrand]

Hi there,

We have been preparing a new release of ggplot2 and during a reverse dependency check, it became apparent that the prospective ggplot2 3.5.0 would break ggthemes.

As a brief summary, we've modified the scale's call field to hold a more informative call for the use in error messages and warnings. Unfortunately, this means that the scale equality assumptions in ggthemes no longer hold. This PR does two things:

• It updates the tests to check for scale equality that doesn't depend on the call field.
• It pre-emptively replaces recently deprecated theme arguments. This isn't strictly necessary as there is a fallback, but it reduces the warnings a bit.

To test the code changes with the release candidate, you can install it with the code below:

remotes::install_github("tidyverse/ggplot2", ref = remotes::github_pull("5592"))

The release of ggplot2 3.5.0 is scheduled for the 12th of February. The progress of the release can be tracked in tidyverse/ggplot2#5588. We hope that this PR might help ggthemes get out a fix if necessary.

[teunbrand]

This is just a kind reminder that the release is scheduled soon.

[jrnold]

Thanks! I'll get this merged.

Do these changes require updating the minimum version of ggplot2 in the dependencies?

[jrnold]

Can you rebase against main and update NEWS.md with a description of the changes?

[teunbrand]

Do these changes require updating the minimum version of ggplot2 in the dependencies?

They do not, it should be forwards and backwards compatible.

[jrnold]

Thanks! Merged. Today, I'll be fixing up misc issues that have arisen over time. I'll submit a new version to CRAN by eod pacific time.

[jrnold]

By the way - I'm looking for someone to take over as maintainer of ggthemes. Do you know anyone?

[teunbrand]

I can ask around in a group of fellow ggplot2 enthusiasts, but given that is only a handful of people. My advise would be to ask around on social media and then check if a candidate has prior experience maintaining a ggplot related package.