[Rd] problem with 'install.packages'

[Spencer Graves]

Hi, All: 

      Is there a way to identify whether any users are using a 
particular package in a shared network R installation? 

      I ask, because we have such a multiple-user installation and when 
I tried to install a package using Rgui that was in use by Rterm on a 
single-user installation, 'install.packages' deleted the existing 
package but failed to install the new version;  see below. 

      I'm concerned especially about the following multiple user 
scenario:  User A on terminalServer1 tries "install.packages('mvtnorm')" 
when user B on terminalServer2 was using 'mvtnorm';  both are using the 
same network installation.  If the results match my experience on a 
single-user installation, the existing version will be deleted but the 
new version will NOT be installed.  Any subsequent new attempt to access 
'mvtnorm' will fail until all current users of 'mvtnorm' quit those 
sessions and someone subsequently invokes 
"install.packages('mvtnorm')".  In fact, user B could have disconnected 
from that session a month ago, and may have long forgotten the R session 
that is still officially active, though perhaps consuming 0 CPU seconds 
in the past month! 

      Thanks,
      Spencer
#######################################
##
## Rgui
##
#######################################
R version 2.6.2 (2008-02-08)
<snip>
 > utils:::menuInstallPkgs()
trying URL 
'http://cran.cnr.berkeley.edu/bin/windows/contrib/2.6/mvtnorm_0.8-3.zip'
Content type 'application/zip' length 214769 bytes (209 Kb)
opened URL
downloaded 209 Kb

package 'mvtnorm' successfully unpacked and MD5 sums checked
Warning: cannot remove prior installation of package 'mvtnorm'

The downloaded packages are in
        C:\Documents and Settings\spencerg\Local 
Settings\Temp\RtmpghgskA\downloaded_packages
updating HTML package descriptions
 > library(mvtnorm)
Error in library(mvtnorm) : there is no package called 'mvtnorm'

 > sessionInfo()
R version 2.6.2 (2008-02-08)
i386-pc-mingw32

locale:
LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252;LC_CTYPE=English_United 
States.1252;LC_MONETARY=English_United 
States.1252;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=English_United States.1252

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base    

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
Error in x[["Version"]] : subscript out of bounds
In addition: Warning message:
In FUN(c("mvtnorm", "tools")[[2L]], ...) :
  DESCRIPTION file of package 'mvtnorm' is missing or broken
 >
#######################################
##
## Concurrent Rterm session
##
#######################################
R version 2.6.2 (2008-02-08)

<snip>

 > dmvnorm(1:2)
[1] 0.01306423
[1] ".GlobalEnv"        "package:mvtnorm"   "package:stats"   
 [4] "package:graphics"  "package:grDevices" "package:utils"   
 [7] "package:datasets"  "package:methods"   "Autoloads"       
[10] "package:base"    
 > detach()
 > dmvnorm(1:2)
Error: could not find function "dmvnorm"
 > library(mvtnorm)
Error in library(mvtnorm) : there is no package called 'mvtnorm'
 > sessionInfo()
R version 2.6.2 (2008-02-08)
i386-pc-mingw32

locale:
LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252;LC_CTYPE=English_United 
States.1252;LC_MONETARY=English_United 
States.1252;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=English_United States.1252

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base    

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
Error in x[["Version"]] : subscript out of bounds
In addition: Warning message:
In FUN(c("mvtnorm", "stepAICc")[[2L]], ...) :
  DESCRIPTION file of package 'mvtnorm' is missing or broken
 >