R devel - Feb 2020 - Default for checkBuilt in update.packages() should be TRUE

The checkBuilt argument to update.packages() currently defaults to 
FALSE.  This means that packages built and installed under R 3.6.2 will 
not be updated by R 4.0.0, and leads to confusion (e.g. 
https://stackoverflow.com/q/60356442/2554330, where tidyverse can't be 
updated because some of its many dependencies haven't been updated).

The default should be TRUE, even though this will lead to some packages 
being updated unnecessarily, because the cost of an unnecessary update 
is so much less than the cost of missing a necessary update.

Duncan Murdoch

I suppose it is too late to change the name but checkBuilt does not 
immediately clarify to me what it does. It does not check whether I have 
built a package for instance. Having read Duncan's post at least I now 
know that I should set it as TRUE until the default is changed.

Michael

On 24/02/2020 10:48, Duncan Murdoch wrote:
> The checkBuilt argument to update.packages() currently defaults to 
> FALSE.? This means that packages built and installed under R 3.6.2 will 
> not be updated by R 4.0.0, and leads to confusion (e.g. 
> https://stackoverflow.com/q/60356442/2554330, where tidyverse can't be 
> updated because some of its many dependencies haven't been updated).
> 
> The default should be TRUE, even though this will lead to some packages 
> being updated unnecessarily, because the cost of an unnecessary update 
> is so much less than the cost of missing a necessary update.
> 
> Duncan Murdoch
> 
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> R-devel at r-project.org mailing list
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> 
-- 
Michael
http://www.dewey.myzen.co.uk/home.html