charport 0.2.0 (2026-11-06)

• New charpack class: a compact ALTREP character vector whose strings live in one R raw vector, for many short vectors. A Reader reaches any element directly, without allocating. as_charpack() converts to one and is_charpack() tests for one. In C++, charpack::from_store() copies a finished charvec::Store into one, so a producer can build with the charvec builders and choose the class at the end. Reading an element through ordinary R access materializes the whole charpack; a Reader keeps it packed, and so do vector subsets such as x[i], which return a new charpack.
• charvec::alloc_na(), charvec::get_store() and charvec::Writer fill a charvec in place after it is created.
• On R >= 4.6, Reader now handles base wrap_string ALTREP without materialization.
• charport_materialize() also materializes a charpack.
• Fix x[i] on a charvec returning NA for a real index between length(x) and length(x) + 1, instead of the last element.
• A filled charpack serializes in its compact form, like charvec, without materializing; on a little-endian host its raw vector is written and read back without a copy. Both write little-endian on every host; big-endian charvec states from earlier versions still load.
• Serialization is now safe across locales. A charvec or charpack with native-encoded strings is saved in packed form only in a UTF-8 locale; elsewhere it is saved as an ordinary character vector, so R converts its strings on reading, and the source stays packed. Native strings in a packed state read outside a UTF-8 locale are marked UTF-8. charvec states are now version 2; version 1 states from 0.1 still load, with native strings read as the current locale’s, as before.
• New C function charport_native_is_utf8() (C++: charport::native_is_utf8()) reports whether R currently reads native strings as UTF-8, following Sys.setlocale().
• Reader now calls a registered class’ init first, and otherwise falls back to STRING_PTR_RO.

charport 0.1.1 (2026-09-18)

• Fix ODR issue for exported header functions.

charport 0.1.0 (2026-09-08)

• Initial CRAN release.