R help - Apr 2010 - Upgrading R using the "global library folder" strategy -, what do you think about it?

On 4/25/2010 19:39:52, Tal Galili wrote:
> *c) R core implementation ?!*
> I hope I am not being rude (or jumping into any open doors) in asking this
> but...
> What do you think about implementing this strategy into the R basic
> installation?
>
>
>    
Tal,

As a general rule, I think R should make upgrading as easy and seamless 
as possible. Upgrading strategies seem system-dependent, but we already 
have to download system-specific versions for Windows, OS X, and Linux. 
To me it appears that doing what you're doing on Windows could easily be 
implemented on *nix based systems with shell scripts. So why not have 
the appropriate scripts ask a few questions upon the first installation 
of R (e.g., "Do you want to configure R with a "global" library
for
packages to make future upgrading easier?") and at upgrade time ("Your
previous version of R has a "global" library; do you want the new 
version to use it?). I'd even go so far as to have the shell script 
automatically call an R script to run update.packages().

The point is that most users just want to upgrade, and the upgrade 
procedure can and should (a) make this as seamless as possible and (b) 
allow those who may want to run specialized versions of R opt out of the 
automatic procedure.

     Marsh Feldman

On Mon, 26 Apr 2010, Marshall Feldman wrote:
> So why not have the appropriate 
> scripts ask a few questions upon the first installation of R (e.g.,
"Do you
> want to configure R with a "global" library for packages to make
future
> upgrading easier?") and at upgrade time ("Your previous version
of R has a
> "global" library; do you want the new version to use it?).
I'd even go so far
> as to have the shell script automatically call an R script to run 
> update.packages().
There is a large body of literature on this -- interactive 
questions of non-root users are useless; root user actiuons 
need to be scripted into the package management system 
acessible to automation to be scaleable, and to attain the 
needed administrator level permissions to make changed
> The point is that most users just want to upgrade, and the upgrade
procedure
> can and should (a) make this as seamless as possible and (b) allow those
who
> may want to run specialized versions of R opt out of the automatic
procedure.
and computers in a environment that has to conform to a 
hard specification (think: pharma research for FDA report 
preparation; financial service firms) that the IT department 
manages, cannot tolerate such diversity

There is no easy answer here, as 'one size cannot fit all'

-- Russ herrold