Change the default branch / rename the package

[eitsupi]

Related to #1152 and eitsupi/neo-r-polars#199

Currently, the repository has two main branches with completely different histories.

• main (Maintenance mode default branch, continued from https://github.com/sorhawell/minipolars)
• next (Active development branch, mirror of https://github.com/eitsupi/neo-r-polars)

In R 4.5 (will be released April-2025), the polars package built from the current main branch has been found not to pass the test and will need to be replaced in the near future by the neopolars package on the next branch.

So I want to change the default branch, rename the two branches, and rename the packages on the two branches. (Since the two packages can exchange data via the Arrow C stream interface, it would be useful if they could coexist.)

1. Change the default branch to next.
2. Rename current main to mini, and current next to main.
3. Rename current polars to minipolars, rename current neopolars to polars.

Edit 2025-05-16:

1. Rename current main to v0, and current next to main.
2. Complete the rewriting of package.
3. Change the default branch from v0 to main
4. Rename current neopolars to polars
5. Release polars 1.0.0
6. Rename current polars to minipolars

We can't do this immediately because the CI setup is still incomplete on the next branch and the package is not fully functional, but it's time to start making plans.

Edit 2025-06-17:

1. Rename current main to v0. (Done in 2025-06-01)
2. Move v0's home to https://github.com/rpolars/r-polars0 and rename current polars to polars0. (Done in 2025-06-07)
3. Change the default branch from v0 to next. (Done in 2025-06-17)
4. Rename current neopolars to polars. (Done in 2025-06-23)
5. Complete the rewriting of package. (Done in 2025-07-17)
6. Release polars 1.0.0. (Done in 2025-07-21)
7. Rename current next to main and finish moving from https://github.com/eitsupi/neo-r-polars to here. (Done in 2025-07-21)

[etiennebacher]

Rename current polars to minipolars, rename current neopolars to polars.

I understand that the original implementation was minipolars, but I think the current polars should be renamed old-polars so that it's clear it's not maintained anymore.

Also, from a user perspective, does the change in default branches and branch renaming affect how the package can be installed? Basically, suppose I want to keep using 0.22.1 for some reason, is there still a way to install this version from r-multiverse/universe even after the switch is made? If so, that should be documented in the release notes and/or readme.

[eitsupi]

I understand that the original implementation was minipolars, but I think the current polars should be renamed old-polars so that it's clear it's not maintained anymore.

Good point. But wouldn't something like polars0 be better for sustainability?
(And when renaming neopolars to polars, make the version 1......)

Also, from a user perspective, does the change in default branches and branch renaming affect how the package can be installed?

Nothing changes for installations that reference commits, tags, or GitHub releases (such as the following), since they are unrelated to the branch name.

Sys.setenv(NOT_CRAN = "true")
remotes::install_github("pola-rs/r-polars@v0.9.0")

For R-universe, it is not possible to have two polars packages in one repository, because it is not possible to have multiple versions of a package with the same name in one repository.
If renamed, they can continue to exist, just as polars and neopolars currently coexist on the rpolars universe.
https://github.com/rpolars/rpolars.r-universe.dev/blob/2c37600e7218f87230e4c55971d2110383dde35f/packages.json#L2-L11

For R-multiverse, it is not possible to have different package releases from two branches of one repository, since it keeps referring to the latest GitHub release ("branch": "*release").
If we want to continue to have the current polars package on the R-multiverse after renaming, we will need to create another repository in the rpolars GitHub organization to mirror the branch and create new releases.

[eitsupi]

I have updated the current main branch to pass R CMD check on R 4.5.0 beta (#1356, #1357).
I have no further modifications planned to the current main branch, so the next release will most likely be the last release from the current main branch.

[eitsupi]

If there are no further comments, I would like to change the current main branch to v0 in the near future.

After that, I will change the current next branch to main. (I think this would break the links pointing to the current main branch, so if you don't mind ditching the name main, we can use another name such as dev or trunk)

[etiennebacher]

I think this would break the links pointing to the current main branch

Won't the links be broken anyway when we rename the current main to v0? If so, I don't mind renaming current main to v0 and next to main

[eitsupi]

While that is true (although references to source code that are not permanent links can be broken at any time to begin with), I believe GitHub has the ability to track the date time of branch renames and links from comments to show historical source code.
I suspect that once the main branch disappears and then reappears, that feature will also lose the ability to track past source code.
But well, it is not a big problem.

[etiennebacher]

But well, it is not a big problem.

Agreed, in any case I guess one could fix the links to current main (future v0) by changing the branch name in the URL.

[eitsupi]

I have renamed the main branch to v0.