[Rd] install.packages question / suggestion

[Uwe Ligges]

Thomas Stabla wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> when trying to write an R-file, which automatically installs and updates a 
> given list of packages, I had two problems with install.packages()
> 
> 1) install.packages("<package>") will install <package>, no matter if 
>    <package> has already been installed.
> 2) the readline() at the end of install.packages, which asks the user, if 
>    the downloaded files should be deleted, makes it difficult to 
>    delete packages automatically after installation (I must admit, I'm not 
>    quite familiar with R CMD BATCH)
> 
> 
> Question/Request:
> Is the behaviour in 1) intended?

Yes, if a former installation is broken, we want to be able to 
reinstall, of course.
If you don't want, just check (e.g. via installed.packages()) whether 
you already got it - or use update.packages().


> 2) I'd like to have another bool argument, which determines, if the 
> downloaded files should be deleted.

This might be useful. Are you going to provide a patch?

Uwe Ligges



> Suggestion:
> To change 1) I've made a small change to 
> 
>   R-2.0.0/src/library/utils/unix/install.packages.R
> 
> adding one line and moving another one. Here's the diff output
> 
> 
> --- install.packages.R  2004-10-02 19:07:34.000000000 +0200
> +++ install.packages.modified.R 2004-10-22 18:22:01.275986160 +0200
> @@ -25,9 +25,9 @@
>      }
>      if(is.null(available))
>          available <- CRAN.packages(contriburl = contriburl, method = 
> method)
> +    have <- .packages(all.available = TRUE)
>      if(dependencies) { # check for dependencies, recursively
>          p0 <- p1 <- unique(pkgs) # this is ok, as 1 lib only
> -        have <- .packages(all.available = TRUE)
>          repeat {
>              if(any(miss <- ! p1 %in% row.names(available))) {
>                  cat("dependencies ", paste(sQuote(p1[miss]), sep=", "),
> @@ -54,6 +54,8 @@
>          }
>      }
> 
> +    pkgs <- pkgs[ ! pkgs %in% have ]
> +
>      foundpkgs <- download.packages(pkgs, destdir = tmpd, available = available,
>                                     contriburl = contriburl, method = method)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Best Regards,
> Thomas Stabla
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> --- install.packages.R	2004-10-02 19:07:34.000000000 +0200
> +++ install.packages.modified.R	2004-10-22 18:22:01.275986160 +0200
> @@ -25,9 +25,9 @@
>      }
>      if(is.null(available))
>          available <- CRAN.packages(contriburl = contriburl, method = method)
> +    have <- .packages(all.available = TRUE)
>      if(dependencies) { # check for dependencies, recursively
>          p0 <- p1 <- unique(pkgs) # this is ok, as 1 lib only
> -        have <- .packages(all.available = TRUE)
>          repeat {
>              if(any(miss <- ! p1 %in% row.names(available))) {
>                  cat("dependencies ", paste(sQuote(p1[miss]), sep=", "),
> @@ -54,6 +54,8 @@
>          }
>      }
>  
> +    pkgs <- pkgs[ ! pkgs %in% have ]
> +    
>      foundpkgs <- download.packages(pkgs, destdir = tmpd, available = available,
>                                     contriburl = contriburl, method = method)
>  
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
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