R help - Feb 2025 - install.packages and package dependencies

It appears that install.packages does not automatically install package
dependencies when the package is installed via a URL. As an example, here
is what I get when I attempt to install the latest ggplot2 tarball via its
URL on CRAN:
> install.packages("
https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/ggplot2_3.5.1.tar.gz")
inferring 'repos = NULL' from 'pkgs'
trying URL 'https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/ggplot2_3.5.1.tar.gz'
Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 3604371 bytes (3.4 MB)
=================================================downloaded 3.4 MB

ERROR: dependencies ?cli?, ?glue?, ?gtable?, ?isoband?, ?lifecycle?,
?rlang?, ?scales?, ?tibble?, ?vctrs?, ?withr? are not available for package
?ggplot2?
* removing
?/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.4-arm64/Resources/library/ggplot2?
Warning in install.packages :
  installation of package
?/var/folders/m7/ztk511fj6vl4m6bw7vh47nk40000gn/T//RtmpmmFBOH/downloaded_packages/ggplot2_3.5.1.tar.gz?
had non-zero exit status
>
Is there a parameter I can give to install.packages so that it will
automatically install all the packages the package (in this example
ggplot2) needs? I've read the documentation of install.packages several
times, and am confused by the interplay of the various parameters. When I
type getOption('repos') I get:

                       CRAN
"https://cran.rstudio.com/"
attr(,"RStudio")
[1] TRUE

Without this it looks like installing from a URL is a 2-step process:

install.packages(c(<packages the package needs>))
install.packages("<url of package tarball>")

I am aware that there are some contributed packages (such as devtools and
remotes) that do this for you in a single line. But I am curious whether
this is possible via install.packages alone.

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

I don't think install.packages() can do what you want.  If you are 
specifying a URL, then install.packages() assumes it has no way to know 
where the other dependencies are supposed to come from.

The typical way I install an unusual version of a package is to install 
the CRAN version first (install.packages("ggplot2") will do that, and 
will get all the deps), then reinstall the special version, and hope 
I've got all the right dependencies.

Duncan Murdoch

On 2025-02-06 12:36 p.m., arilamstein at gmail.com
wrote:
> It appears that install.packages does not automatically install package
> dependencies when the package is installed via a URL. As an example, here
> is what I get when I attempt to install the latest ggplot2 tarball via its
> URL on CRAN:
> 
>> install.packages("
> https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/ggplot2_3.5.1.tar.gz")
> inferring 'repos = NULL' from 'pkgs'
> trying URL
'https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib/ggplot2_3.5.1.tar.gz'
> Content type 'application/x-gzip' length 3604371 bytes (3.4 MB)
> =================================================> downloaded 3.4 MB
> 
> ERROR: dependencies ?cli?, ?glue?, ?gtable?, ?isoband?, ?lifecycle?,
> ?rlang?, ?scales?, ?tibble?, ?vctrs?, ?withr? are not available for package
> ?ggplot2?
> * removing
>
?/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.4-arm64/Resources/library/ggplot2?
> Warning in install.packages :
>    installation of package
>
?/var/folders/m7/ztk511fj6vl4m6bw7vh47nk40000gn/T//RtmpmmFBOH/downloaded_packages/ggplot2_3.5.1.tar.gz?
> had non-zero exit status
>>
> 
> Is there a parameter I can give to install.packages so that it will
> automatically install all the packages the package (in this example
> ggplot2) needs? I've read the documentation of install.packages several
> times, and am confused by the interplay of the various parameters. When I
> type getOption('repos') I get:
> 
>                         CRAN
> "https://cran.rstudio.com/"
> attr(,"RStudio")
> [1] TRUE
> 
> Without this it looks like installing from a URL is a 2-step process:
> 
> install.packages(c(<packages the package needs>))
> install.packages("<url of package tarball>")
> 
> I am aware that there are some contributed packages (such as devtools and
> remotes) that do this for you in a single line. But I am curious whether
> this is possible via install.packages alone.
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

On Thu, 6 Feb 2025 09:36:23 -0800
arilamstein at gmail.com wrote:
> It appears that install.packages does not automatically install
> package dependencies when the package is installed via a URL. [...]
> When I type getOption('repos') I get:
> 
>                        CRAN
> "https://cran.rstudio.com/"
> attr(,"RStudio")
> [1] TRUE
Do you set this value somewhere (via an environment variable or start
up file)?  Or is it this value because you use RStudio as IDE?

If you use RStudio, please be aware that RStudio has its own version of
install.packages():

RStudio> install.packages
function (...) 
.rs.callAs(name, hook, original, ...)
<environment: 0x12a530f00>

So if you are using RStudio, you will have to talk with Posit about
changing the behaviour of install.packages().

If you want the behaviour of utils::install.packages() to change, I am
sure that R-Core will consider any diff that implements the
new/improved behaviour. :-)

Cheers,

	Berwin