install/update.packages() in R-devel has been enhanced in a few ways,
notably to handle multiple repositories, and to allow packages to be
reinstalled under the current version of R.
1) Currently they will ask if you want to delete the downloaded files (if
any) *provided* destdir was not specified. In that case it uses a
subdirectory of the per-session temporary directory, so the files will be
deleted at the end of the R session anyway.
We had a request to make the questioning optional. I propose to remove it
altogether, and either
a) delete the downloaded files at the end of install.packages or
b) leave them in the per-session directory to be deleted at the end of the
session.
that is to force answer 'y' or 'n' respectively. Does anyone
see any
problems with a)?
2) ?packageStatus says
Summarize information about installed packages and packages
available at various repositories, and automatically upgrade
outdated packages. These tools will replace 'update.packages' and
friends in the future and are currently work in progress.
but `progress' seems to have been at a halt for a long time. The one
feature I use it for is finding non-installed packages, and we could
easily add a function non_installed.packages() and an option to
install.packages() to add (selectively) uninstalled packages (and a stop
list might be useful, so you do not get repeatedly asked about packages
which fail).
Do people use it, and if so for what purposes and what improvements would
they like? (I am thinking of, e.g, ways to extract parts of the output.)
--
Brian D. Ripley, ripley@stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595
Prof Brian Ripley <ripley <at> stats.ox.ac.uk> writes: : install/update.packages() in R-devel has been enhanced in a few ways, : notably to handle multiple repositories, and to allow packages to be : reinstalled under the current version of R. The change to updating that I would like would be to check before downloading whether the package is open. Right now using the update menu item in Windows it checks afterwards and if its open fails which means that one has to do the download all over again. If it failed before downloading it would save some wasted downloads.
Prof Brian Ripley wrote:>install/update.packages() in R-devel has been enhanced in a few ways, >notably to handle multiple repositories, and to allow packages to be >reinstalled under the current version of R. > >1) Currently they will ask if you want to delete the downloaded files (if >any) *provided* destdir was not specified. In that case it uses a >subdirectory of the per-session temporary directory, so the files will be >deleted at the end of the R session anyway. > >We had a request to make the questioning optional. I propose to remove it >altogether, and either > >a) delete the downloaded files at the end of install.packages or >b) leave them in the per-session directory to be deleted at the end of the >session. > >that is to force answer 'y' or 'n' respectively. Does anyone see any >problems with a)? > > >I would prefer b), as I am downloading from the Rgui menu and then moves downloaded packages to a c:\download... area which I use to burn CD-roms I distribute to many people. If a) is choosen I guess I could learn to use it from the command line, though. What is the problem with b)? Kjetil>2) ?packageStatus says > > Summarize information about installed packages and packages > available at various repositories, and automatically upgrade > outdated packages. These tools will replace 'update.packages' and > friends in the future and are currently work in progress. > >but `progress' seems to have been at a halt for a long time. The one >feature I use it for is finding non-installed packages, and we could >easily add a function non_installed.packages() and an option to >install.packages() to add (selectively) uninstalled packages (and a stop >list might be useful, so you do not get repeatedly asked about packages >which fail). > >Do people use it, and if so for what purposes and what improvements would >they like? (I am thinking of, e.g, ways to extract parts of the output.) > > >-- Kjetil Halvorsen. Peace is the most effective weapon of mass construction. -- Mahdi Elmandjra
> From: Prof Brian Ripley > > On Sun, 7 Nov 2004, Kjetil Brinchmann Halvorsen wrote: > > > Prof Brian Ripley wrote: > > > > >install/update.packages() in R-devel has been enhanced in > a few ways, > > >notably to handle multiple repositories, and to allow > packages to be > > >reinstalled under the current version of R. > > > > > >1) Currently they will ask if you want to delete the > downloaded files (if > > >any) *provided* destdir was not specified. In that case it uses a > > >subdirectory of the per-session temporary directory, so > the files will be > > >deleted at the end of the R session anyway. > > > > > >We had a request to make the questioning optional. I > propose to remove it > > >altogether, and either > > > > > >a) delete the downloaded files at the end of install.packages or > > >b) leave them in the per-session directory to be deleted > at the end of the > > >session. > > > > > >that is to force answer 'y' or 'n' respectively. Does > anyone see any > > >problems with a)? > > > > > > > > > > > I would prefer b), as I am downloading from the Rgui menu > and then moves > > downloaded packages > > to a c:\download... area which I use to burn CD-roms I > distribute to > > many people. If a) is choosen I guess > > I could learn to use it from the command line, though. What is the > > problem with b)? > > Potentially leaving 1Gb or so of files in a temporary directory. So > probably no big deal.My personal preference would be a). Kjetil's usage seems like a bit of an abuse, and one should be able to write something that does that specific task (e.g., modify update.packages() to something called download.packages()), rather than relying on a function in R that's meant for something else. One thing that concerns me a bit (I haven't check whether the concern is warranted) is package dependency: If the new version of a package on CRAN requires, e.g., a newer version of R than what the user has, what happens then? Andy> Brian > > -- > Brian D. Ripley, ripley@stats.ox.ac.uk > Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ > University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) > 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA) > Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595 > > ______________________________________________ > R-devel@stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-devel > >