[Rd] upgrading an R installation to next versoin

[Gabor Grothendieck]

On 6/30/05, J. Hosking <jh910 at juno.com> wrote:
> Gabor Grothendieck wrote:
> > On 6/30/05, J. Hosking <jh910 at juno.com> wrote:
> >
> ...
> 
> >> I keep a separate directory ...\R\library for nonstandard packages,
> >> with environment variable R_LIBS set to the directory name.
> >
> >
> > Do you mean your R_LIBS has two components: one to look in
> > ..\R\rcurrent\library and a second to look in ..\R\library? What does
> > it look like exactly?
> >
> > When you do install.packages(whatever) does it install to the
> > ..\R\library rather than ..\R\rcurrent\library ?   Also, does
> > updates.packages() work as expected for you?
> >
> My R_LIBS environment variable is just
> 
>   R_LIBS=C:\progs\r\library
> 
> and within R I see
> 
>   > .libPaths()
>   [1] "C:/progs/r/library"          "C:/progs/r/rcurrent/library"
> 
> i.e., the default library is automatically appended.  The help for
> .libPaths explains this.  And yes, install.packages() installs to
> C:\progs\R\library and update.packages() works as expected.
> 
> >
> >>My miktex.ini file specifies ...\R\rcurrent\share\texmf as a place
> >>to look for input files.
> >
> >
> > I think its necessary to rebuild the name data base in miktex too
> >     initexmf -u
> > although ignoring that step may work as long as the filenames
> > have not changed.
> 
> You are probably correct, though I have not yet encountered any problems
> that I could attribute to not running initexmf -- no doubt the filenames
> have not changed recently.
> 
> > I was hoping to continue using a vanilla
> > miktex installation as I do now rather than having a custom miktex.ini
> > file.  At any rate my batch file would continue to work even with your setup
> > so I think I should be ok here.
> >
> >
> >>That should take care of your points 3, 4, and 2, respectively.
> >>Duncan's suggestion of an R_ENVIRON environment variable (which
> >>I didn't know about; thanks, Duncan) should take care of point 1.
> >>
> >>Jon Hosking
> >
> >
> > It occurs to me in reading this that I could keep the *.site files in
> > ..\R and then have my miktex update batch file also copy them
> > to the appropriate etc folder.  Thus keeping an R\library folder
> > and running the batch file after each new installation would
> > address 1, 2 and 4 even without using the same name for the
> > rw... folder.  This still does not handle the shortcut key which
> > I would have to handle manually or determine if there is a way
> > I could also add that to my batch file.
> >

Thanks. I think I have it now.  I have:

- placed my *.site files and library folder in C:\Program Files\R
  and have set the R_LIBS variable in Renviron.site to point to 
  C:\Program Files\R\library .

- I have a batch file which I placed on my desktop which runs rgui.exe
  from the bin subfolder of the current version of R (using the registry
  entry to find it).  That desktop shortcut has the Alt+Ctrl+R shortcut
  key associated with it since the batch file itself does not change even
  when I install new versions of R.

- each time I install a new version of R I run a batch file which
  -- copies the R miktex files to the appropriate miktex folder
  -- refreshes the miktex file name data base
  -- copies the *.site files in \Program Files\R to the etc subfolder
     of the current version of R (using the registry entry to find it)

Getting this right is something I have been putting off for some time
now since I was very concerned that I screw up my entire R installation
but with the advice of the two of you I think I have it now.
If any of this functionality could be taken over by the standard
R installation procedure that would be great but in any case I think
I have a solution that works for me now.  Thanks.