R devel - Jul 2021 - Feature request: Change default library path on Windows

On 25/07/2021 6:17 a.m., Steve Haroz wrote:
>> I think the benefits of fixing the default behavior easily outweigh the
>> backward-compatibility and "there is a documented workaround"
>> arguments.
> 
> Exactly. This is an accessibility issue and a serious barrier for some
> beginners. It's possible to work around the error message, but users
> should not have to do a workaround the very first time they install a
> couple libraries.
> Many users synching with one of several popular cloud services and
> many users whose Documents folder is managed by a Network IT policy
> will run into this issue.
> 
> Moving the R libraries from USER/Documents/R to USER/R will help avoid
> "attrition" of beginners.
Shouldn't it be in one of the AppData directories?  (I'm not sure of 
this; Windows guidelines for file locations are not easy to find, and 
change between versions.)

Duncan Murdoch

> Shouldn't it be in one of the AppData directories?
I asked that same question on twitter. Here was a response
(https://twitter.com/bmwiernik/status/1419033079495147522):
* But it's not for files that should be user-accessible, like a
library (cf. Zotero has preferences in AppData , but library files in
%USERPROFILE%/Zotero)
* So, for example, in R's case it could make sense for the core
packages to be installed in %APPDATA%/R/R-4.1.0/library" rather than
"C:/Program Files/R/R-4.1.0/library" (either is fairly common), but
user packages should be somewhere more accessible.

Here is a quote from
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/design/app-settings/store-and-retrieve-app-data:
"App data is mutable data that is created and managed by a specific
app. It includes runtime state, app settings, user preferences,
reference content (such as the dictionary definitions in a dictionary
app), and other settings"
I don't think libraries fall into the categories of state or settings.

-Steve Haroz