Duncan Murdoch
2025-Dec-21 10:11 UTC
[R] update.packages() fails due to searching for old versions of packages
I see the same thing in R 4.5.2 on MacOS Sequoia 15.7.2. The problem
happens in install.packages() as well, e.g. I get the same error with
install.packages("e1071")
A workaround is to ask for `type="source"`, as long as you're
prepared
to recompile the new package.
I think the issue is that there is no binary available for the latest
1.7-17 version. The database says the binary for 1.7-16 is available,
but in fact it is not.
Duncan Murdoch
On 2025-12-20 2:30 p.m., Michael McQuaid wrote:> When I try to update packages, the package manager appears to search for
> old versions of the packages, despite seemingly knowing about the existence
> of newer versions. Here is an example where I try to update the e1071
> package and it seems to recognize that the current version is 1.7-17 but
> then searches for and fails to find 1.7-16. This happens for every package
> I try to update, I've just included one here for brevity. I have tried
> several mirrors including wustl, utk, and iastate. I wonder if there is
> some file on my system pointing to the old version. I also tried updating
> from R 4.5.1 to 4.5.2, but the issue persists. I am on macOS Tahoe 26.2 on
> an M1 Macbook Pro.
>
> $ Rscript -e 'update.packages(oldPkgs=c("e1071"))'
> e1071 :
> Version 1.7-16 installed in /Users/mm223266/Library/R/arm64/4.5/library
> Version 1.7-17 available at https://cloud.r-project.org
> Update? (Yes/no/cancel)
> trying URL '
>
https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/macosx/big-sur-arm64/contrib/4.5/e1071_1.7-16.tgz
> '
> Error in download.file(urls, destfiles, "libcurl", mode =
"wb", ...) :
> cannot open URL '
>
https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/macosx/big-sur-arm64/contrib/4.5/e1071_1.7-16.tgz
> '
> In addition: Warning messages:
> 1: In download.file(urls, destfiles, "libcurl", mode =
"wb", ...) :
> downloaded length 0 != reported length 279
> 2: In download.file(urls, destfiles, "libcurl", mode =
"wb", ...) :
> cannot open URL '
>
https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/macosx/big-sur-arm64/contrib/4.5/e1071_1.7-16.tgz':
> HTTP status was '404 Not Found'
> Warning in download.packages(pkgs, destdir = tmpd, available = available,
:
> download of package ?e1071? failed
>
> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Duncan Murdoch
2025-Dec-22 09:56 UTC
[R] update.packages() fails due to searching for old versions of packages
This was a problem on the CRAN macOS site. Once Simon was informed about it, he fixed it. I tested e1071 and it's fine for me, but he said some mirrors may take a while to catch up, so if you still see the error, try the https://mac.r-project.org mirror. Duncan Murdoch On 2025-12-21 5:11 a.m., Duncan Murdoch wrote:> I see the same thing in R 4.5.2 on MacOS Sequoia 15.7.2. The problem > happens in install.packages() as well, e.g. I get the same error with > > install.packages("e1071") > > A workaround is to ask for `type="source"`, as long as you're prepared > to recompile the new package. > > I think the issue is that there is no binary available for the latest > 1.7-17 version. The database says the binary for 1.7-16 is available, > but in fact it is not. > > Duncan Murdoch > > On 2025-12-20 2:30 p.m., Michael McQuaid wrote: >> When I try to update packages, the package manager appears to search for >> old versions of the packages, despite seemingly knowing about the existence >> of newer versions. Here is an example where I try to update the e1071 >> package and it seems to recognize that the current version is 1.7-17 but >> then searches for and fails to find 1.7-16. This happens for every package >> I try to update, I've just included one here for brevity. I have tried >> several mirrors including wustl, utk, and iastate. I wonder if there is >> some file on my system pointing to the old version. I also tried updating >> from R 4.5.1 to 4.5.2, but the issue persists. I am on macOS Tahoe 26.2 on >> an M1 Macbook Pro. >> >> $ Rscript -e 'update.packages(oldPkgs=c("e1071"))' >> e1071 : >> Version 1.7-16 installed in /Users/mm223266/Library/R/arm64/4.5/library >> Version 1.7-17 available at https://cloud.r-project.org >> Update? (Yes/no/cancel) >> trying URL ' >> https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/macosx/big-sur-arm64/contrib/4.5/e1071_1.7-16.tgz >> ' >> Error in download.file(urls, destfiles, "libcurl", mode = "wb", ...) : >> cannot open URL ' >> https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/macosx/big-sur-arm64/contrib/4.5/e1071_1.7-16.tgz >> ' >> In addition: Warning messages: >> 1: In download.file(urls, destfiles, "libcurl", mode = "wb", ...) : >> downloaded length 0 != reported length 279 >> 2: In download.file(urls, destfiles, "libcurl", mode = "wb", ...) : >> cannot open URL ' >> https://cloud.r-project.org/bin/macosx/big-sur-arm64/contrib/4.5/e1071_1.7-16.tgz': >> HTTP status was '404 Not Found' >> Warning in download.packages(pkgs, destdir = tmpd, available = available, : >> download of package ?e1071? failed >> >> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] >> >> ______________________________________________ >> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> PLEASE do read the posting guide https://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >