CRAN release 0.8.0

• mirai 0.8.0 is a major feature release. Special thanks to @wlandau for suggestions, discussion and testing for many of the new capabilities.
• Compute profiles have been introduced through a new .compute argument in daemons() and mirai() for sending tasks with heterogeneous compute requirements.
  • daemons() can create new profiles to connect to different resources e.g. servers with GPU, accelerators etc.
  • mirai() tasks can be sent using a specific compute profile.
• daemons() interface has a new url argument along with dispatcher for using a background dispatcher process to ensure optimal FIFO task scheduling (now the default).
  • Supplying a client URL with a zero port number :0 will automatically assign a free ephemeral port, with the actual port number subsequently reported by daemons().
  • Calling with no arguments now provides an improved view of the current number of connections / daemons (URL, online and busy status, tasks assigned and completed, instance), replacing the previous daemons("view") functionality.
• dispatcher() is implemented as a new function for the dispatcher.
• server() gains the following arguments:
  • asyncdial to specify how the server dials into the client.
  • maxtasks for specifying a maximum number of tasks before exiting.
  • idletime for specifying an idle time, since completion of the last task before exiting.
  • walltime for specifying a soft walltime before exiting.
  • timerstart for specifying a minimum number of task completions before starting timers.
• Invalid URLs provided to daemons() and server() now error and return immediately instead of potentially causing a hang.
• eval_mirai() is removed as an alias for mirai().
• 'mirai' processes are no longer launched in Rscript sessions with the --vanilla argument to enable site / user profile and environment files to be read.
• Requires nanonext >= 0.8.0.
• Internal performance enhancements.

CRAN release 0.7.2

• Internal performance enhancements.

CRAN release 0.7.1

• Allow user interrupts of call_mirai() again (regression in 0.7.0), now returning a 'miraiInterrupt'.
• Adds auxiliary function is_mirai_interrupt() to test if an object is a 'miraiInterrupt'.
• Requires nanonext >= 0.7.0: returned 'errorValues' e.g. mirai timeouts are no longer accompanied by warnings.
• Internal performance enhancements.

CRAN release 0.7.0

• daemons() now takes 'n' and '.url' arguments. '.url' is an optional client URL allowing mirai tasks to be distributed across the network. Compatibility with existing interface is retained.
• The server function server() is exported for creating daemon / ephemeral processes on network resources.
• Mirai errors are formatted better and now print to stdout rather than stderr.
• Improvements to performance and stability requiring nanonext >= 0.6.0.
• Internal enhancements to error handling in a mirai / daemon process.

CRAN release 0.6.0

• Notice: older package versions will no longer be supported by 'nanonext' >= 0.6.0. Please ensure you are using the latest version of 'mirai' or else refrain from upgrading 'nanonext'.
• Internal enhancements to daemons() and %>>% deferred evaluation pipe.

CRAN release 0.5.3

• mirai() gains a '.args' argument for passing a list of objects already in the calling environment, allowing for example mirai(func(x, y, z), .args = list(x, y, z)) rather than having to specify mirai(func(x, y, z), x = x, y = y, z = z).
• Errors from inside a mirai will now return the error message as a character string of class 'miraiError' and 'errorValue', rather than just a nul byte. Utility function is_mirai_error() should be used in place of is_nul_byte(), which is no longer re-exported.
• is_error_value() can be used to test for all errors, including timeouts where the '.timeout' argument has been used.
• All re-exports from 'nanonext' have been brought in-package for better documentation.

CRAN release 0.5.2

• Internal optimisations requiring nanonext >= 0.5.2.

CRAN release 0.5.0

• Implements the %>>% deferred evaluation pipe.
• Adds '.timeout' argument to mirai() to ensure a mirai always resolves even if the child process crashes etc.

CRAN release 0.4.1

• Exits cleanly when daemons have not been explicitly zeroed prior to ending an R session.
• Fixes possible hang on Windows when shutting down daemons.

CRAN release 0.4.0

• Back to a pure R implementation thanks to enhanced internal design at nanonext.
• Adds auxiliary function is_mirai() to test if an object is a mirai.
• Versioning system to synchronise with nanonext e.g. v0.4.x requires nanonext >= 0.4.0.