[Rd] install.packages on unix / su (PR#8760)

[thomas.friedrichsmeier at gmx.de]

Full_Name: Thomas Friedrichsmeier
Version: R 2.2.1
OS: Debian / Linux
Submission from: (NULL) (84.60.123.243)


Wishlist item:

There is a small problem using intall.packages() (and update.packages()):
Typically I want to install packages for system-wide use, not in a user
directory. Obviously this does not work without superuser rights.
What I would like to be able to do is to specify a "become root" command to use
in install.packages (). Probably this would be done using an extra argument to
install.packages () and update.packages ():

install.packages ([...], install.wrapper=NULL)

The argument value I would typically want to supply on my system (running in a
KDE Session) would be: install.wrapper="kdesu --" . I.e. I would like to run the
R CMD INSTALL command through kdesu.

Technically it would basically function like this:

Instead of

cmd0 <- paste(file.path(R.home("bin"),"R"), "CMD INSTALL")

in install.packages (), it would read

cmd0 <- paste(install.wrapper, file.path(R.home("bin"),"R"), "CMD INSTALL")

This feature would save me a lot of small hazzles.