Potential issue for R 4.3.0

[Yunuuuu]

I'm studying the ggplot2 source code and came across the following lines:

In
https://github.com/tidyverse/ggplot2/blob/main/R/plot-construction.R:

if (getRversion() < "4.3.0") {
  S7::method(`+`, list(class_S3_gg, S7::class_any)) <- add_gg
}

and in https://github.com/tidyverse/ggplot2/blob/main/R/zzz.R:

on_load(
  if (getRversion() > "4.3.0") registerS3method("+", "gg", add_gg)
)

It looks like there’s no method registration for exactly R 4.3.0. Is that intentional, or should it also be handled explicitly?

[teunbrand]

Nice catch, yes I believe the zzz.R one should be >= "4.3.0" instead.

[Yunuuuu]

I'm curious why this check is needed. I've tested removing the branch, and S7::method() still works as expected in R (≥ 4.3.0). For example, the following code runs without issues:

Test <- S7::new_class("Test")

local(S7::method(`+`, list(Test, S7::class_any)) <-
    function(e1, e2) cat("Runing `+`"))
Test() + 1
#> Runing `+`
#> NULL

^{Created on 2025-07-21 with reprex v2.1.0}
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[teunbrand]

I recall that the reason was RConsortium/S7#544 and some unexpected side effects in extensions would happen