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

[Thomas Friedrichsmeier]

> | 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.
>
> One can see this problem as a local system management issue for which
> another possible answer is to add you (and/or the user users installing R
> packages) to, say, group 'admin' and to make /usr/local/lib/R of group
> admin and group-writeable.  Or create a custom group radmin. Or ...

It's about convenience, no more, no less, and so it's a wishlist item, no 
more, and no less.
I don't think the case of a non-root user working on a de-facto single user 
system is too uncommon on linux. It's why tools like kdesu exist in the first 
place. Unless there are strong reasons not to (and there may well be), I 
think adding some convenience option for this particular case may well be 
worth while.

Regards
Thomas


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