[Rd] problem with 'install.packages'

[Uwe Ligges]

Spencer Graves wrote:
> 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 

Spencer,

I am using a script that asks Windows if a file is opened in a 
subdirectory of the R library I am going to install or update packages 
in, which basically uses the Windows shell command
   net file

Then simply grep for the package name you want to install...


> "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! 

That's worse and really hard to deal with, I fear.

Best wishes,
Uwe



>       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
>  >
> 
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