LuaRocks vs R-universe

LuaRocks is a package manager for Lua, with LuaRocks.org hosting rocks and rockspecs for Lua modules. Its command line uses manifests to find packages, choose a version and platform match, and install the corresponding files locally. Rocks carry version dependency information, which LuaRocks uses to install dependencies and load the appropriate module version. Package collections can be organized through the root manifest, per-user manifests, or custom manifests; development versions are kept in a separate manifest and are not installed by default. LuaRocks supports offline installation and platforms including Linux, macOS, Windows, Unix, FreeBSD, and Cygwin. Module authors can register and upload a rockspec, then publish rock files for a version; the current release supports the `luarocks upload` command. The application is described as pure Lua with no library dependencies, though its current release uses helper tools. LuaRocks is free, with a listed price of free.

R-universe is rOpenSci’s platform for publishing and discovering research software in R. Its searchable catalogue covers R software, articles, and datasets, using R-specific indexing and ranking. Package and universe pages provide detailed information and rendered material. Users and developers can run personal CRAN-like package repositories whether or not they publish packages on CRAN; R-universe builds and deploys packages from Git repositories into installation repositories. It also provides a continuous integration development environment without configuration to help identify potential breakage before release. WebAssembly binary support is experimental. Publishing a packages.json registry requires a GitHub account and the R-universe GitHub app, although package repositories may be hosted on other public Git servers such as GitLab. Unauthenticated APIs support listing universes and packages, retrieving package information, and searching. The service is free at free and is available through web, API, Linux, macOS, and Windows. rOpenSci initiated and governs the platform. R-universe does not vet packages; each universe owner is responsible for policies and quality control.