Hi, \description paragraph in man page for download.packages doesn't seem to have anything to do with download.packages: These functions can be used to automatically compare the version numbers of installed packages with the newest available version on the repositories and update outdated packages on the fly. But maybe I'm missing some secret capabilities of download.packages... Thanks! H. -- Herv? Pag?s Program in Computational Biology Division of Public Health Sciences Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center 1100 Fairview Ave. N, M1-B514 P.O. Box 19024 Seattle, WA 98109-1024 E-mail: hpages at fhcrc.org Phone: (206) 667-5791 Fax: (206) 667-1319