[Rd] install.packages question / suggestion

[Uwe Ligges]

Prof Brian Ripley wrote:

> On Fri, 22 Oct 2004, Thomas Stabla wrote:
> 
> 
>>when trying to write an R-file, which automatically installs and updates a 
>>given list of packages, 
> 
> 
> Many of us already have scripts of that sort.
> 
> 
>>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?
> 
> 
> Most definitely.  I might want to install it in another library, or to 
> reinstall it under the current version of R.  It is very easy to tailor 
> the input to meet your needs, as update.packages() does.
> 
> There is install.packages() to help you here.
> 
> 
> 
>>2) I'd like to have another bool argument, which determines, if the 
>>downloaded files should be deleted.
> 
> 
> What do you think 'destdir' is there for?  If set, this check is skipped.
> You can set it to tempdir() if you like, which is wiped at the end of the 
> session.

Arrgh, ignore my former message. Brian is right, of course.

Uwe