R help - Mar 2012 - Ignoring version numbers when installing packages...

R-helpers:

I'm trying to install a package from r-forge, and I'm wondering if
there is a way to force R to install a package, even if the package
"requires" a certain version of R (short of modifying the DESCRIPTION
file)?  Cheers!

--j

-- 
Jonathan A. Greenberg, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Geography
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
607 South Mathews Avenue, MC 150
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: 415-763-5476
AIM: jgrn307, MSN: jgrn307 at hotmail.com, Gchat: jgrn307, Skype: jgrn3007
http://www.geog.illinois.edu/people/JonathanGreenberg.html

On 30/03/2012 12:05 PM, Jonathan Greenberg wrote:
> R-helpers:
>
> I'm trying to install a package from r-forge, and I'm wondering if
> there is a way to force R to install a package, even if the package
> "requires" a certain version of R (short of modifying the
DESCRIPTION
> file)?  Cheers!
You don't give details, so the explanation is uncertain, but the answer 
is clear: don't do that.

If you are trying to install a binary build, don't do that.  It might 
appear to work but fail in messy ways if you use it in the wrong version 
of R.  Some packages link to R internals, and those might have changed.

If you are trying to install from source, but the author said you need a 
particular version of R, then you could modify the DESCRIPTION file:  
but presumably the author had a reason to ask for a particular version, 
so don't do that either.

Duncan Murdoch