R devel - Nov 2018 - Change windows installer default to only install 64 bit R

The R Installer by default installs both the 32 and 64 bit versions of
R. This can cause user confusion as they have multiple versions of R
installed and are then unsure which to use, or mistakenly open the
wrong version.

We can remove much of this ambiguity by changing the default choice in
the installer to only install the 64 bit version in the installer. If
users do need the 32 bit version it is still simple for them to
install it by checking the appropriate box during installation.

The following diff (also attached) simply reorders the options in the
install dialog to make 64 bit only installs the default. If users do
not have 64 bit support in their OS the options fallback to 32 bit
install by default, the same as they do currently in that situation.

There also seemed to be a bug in that 32 bit installs did not include
the message translations, which is also fixed.

Thanks for your consideration,

Jim

Index: src/gnuwin32/installer/types3264.iss
==================================================================---
src/gnuwin32/installer/types3264.iss (revision 75569)
+++ src/gnuwin32/installer/types3264.iss (working copy)
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@

 [Types]
+Name: "user64"; Description: "64-bit {cm:user}"; Check:
Is64BitInstallMode
 Name: "user"; Description: {cm:user}; Check: Is64BitInstallMode
 Name: "user32"; Description: "32-bit {cm:user}"
-Name: "user64"; Description: "64-bit {cm:user}"; Check:
Is64BitInstallMode
 Name: "custom"; Description: {cm:custom}; Flags: iscustom

 [Components]
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@
 Name: "main"; Description: "Core Files"; Types: user user32
user64  custom
 Name: "i386"; Description: "32-bit Files"; Types: user
user32 custom
 Name: "x64"; Description: "64-bit Files"; Types: user
user64 custom
-Name: "translations"; Description: "Message translations";
Types:
user user64 custom
+Name: "translations"; Description: "Message translations";
Types:
user user32 user64 custom

On Fri, Nov 9, 2018 at 5:47 PM Jim Hester <james.f.hester at gmail.com>
wrote:
> We can remove much of this ambiguity by changing the default choice in
> the installer to only install the 64 bit version in the installer. If
> users do need the 32 bit version it is still simple for them to
> install it by checking the appropriate box during installation.
I tested the patch and confirm that this works as intended. By
default, the R installer will leave the "32-bit Files" unchecked on
Windows 64 machines.

I also think this proposal makes sense. Most users do not need 2
versions of R on their machine, and it is a common source of problems.
I agree with Jim that installing the 32bit version of R on 64bit
Windows would better be opt-in rather than default.