R devel - Mar 2011 - New feature for download.packages(): optional resolution of package dependencies

Hi r-devels,

may I ask for an enhancement for download.packages()
to optionally resolve package dependencies similarly to
the respective functionality in install.packages() ?

This would be a major help in compiling a large number of
packages (e.g. by means of download.view() from pkg ctv)
for later offline installations.

Last November, I addressed Duncan Murdoch offline in this
issue, and Duncan then seconded me---so the idea might not
be this silly. He was pointing me to available.packages() which
already provides a dependency list, which though would have
to be parsed.

AFAICS in the svn, as of rev54842, he has not found the time
for looking deeper into this so far. Surely, like most of
you, he has had more urgent issues to work on,  but maybe
someone (else) of you has an idea for an easy but still
sustainable solution.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Cheers,
Peter

On Mar 17, 2011, at 10:26 AM, Dr. Peter Ruckdeschel wrote:
> Hi r-devels,
> 
> may I ask for an enhancement for download.packages()
> to optionally resolve package dependencies similarly to
> the respective functionality in install.packages() ?
> 
> This would be a major help in compiling a large number of
> packages (e.g. by means of download.view() from pkg ctv)
> for later offline installations.
> 
> Last November, I addressed Duncan Murdoch offline in this
> issue, and Duncan then seconded me---so the idea might not
> be this silly. He was pointing me to available.packages() which
> already provides a dependency list, which though would have
> to be parsed.
> 
But you don't have to do it yourself - the code is already there, try

utils:::getDependencies("foo",,available.packages())

That said, just adding something along the lines of

if (!missing(dependencies)) pkg <- getDependencies(pkg, dependencies,
available)

might be simple enough and do the trick ...

Cheers,
Simon

> AFAICS in the svn, as of rev54842, he has not found the time
> for looking deeper into this so far. Surely, like most of
> you, he has had more urgent issues to work on,  but maybe
> someone (else) of you has an idea for an easy but still
> sustainable solution.
> 
> Any suggestions appreciated.
> 
> Cheers,
> Peter
> 
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