fixes-#2509-Removed-ncdf4.helpers-dependency

[rahul799]

Description

Motivation and Context

Review Time Estimate

• Immediately
• Within one week
• [x ] When possible

Types of changes

• [ x] Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)

Checklist:

• My change requires a change to the documentation.
• I have updated the CHANGELOG.md.
• I have updated the documentation accordingly.
• I have read the CONTRIBUTING document.
• I have added tests to cover my changes.
• All new and existing tests passed.

[robkooper]

If ncdf4.helpers is no longer needed, can it be removed from the DEPENDENCIES as well?

[ashiklom]

Thanks for taking this on! I had a few suggested fixes. In addition, per @robkooper 's comment above, please remove ncdf4.helpers from any files where it is listed as a dependency so we no longer try to install it.

[infotroph]

Thanks for taking this on! I see a couple of small changes, but they should be easy to do and once this is merged it will render #2510 moot.

[infotroph]

Also, can you please add a line for this in the "changed" section of CHANGELOG.md? Possible phrasing:

- PEcAn.JULES: Removed dependency on `ncdf4.helpers` package, which has been removed from CRAN (#2511).

[infotroph]

@rahul799 Thanks, I think this is ready to go now

@mdietze Travis passes on oldrel, fails on R-release and R-devel from R documentation changes in R 3.6.2. Once all other reviewers have signed off, I suggest merging this now and resolving the documentation failure in a separate PR

[infotroph]

@rahul799 BTW, a timesaver for future PRs: I like that you're including issue numbers in your branch names and I suggest continuing that, but if you also mention the issue number somewhere in the text of the PR description then GitHub will automatically link to the issue page, which is nice for easy reference during review. And if you mention it in a form like "Fixes #2509", the issue will be closed automatically when the PR gets merged.