[Rd] Idea for install.packages on (certain) linux distributions

[Carlos J. Gil Bellosta]

Hello,

I do not know whether this idea would be considered useful or not. Or 
easy to implement.

But it is the case that on certain Linux distributions there are OS 
packages with precompiled R packages. However, install.packages (and 
related functions) download the source ones.

Would it be possible to add an extra "repository" (or option) on 
install.packages that would direct R to use the OS level package manager 
(apt-get, yum or the like) so as to install the precompiled packages 
from the distribution mirrors instead of the CRAN ones?

Best regards,

Carlos J. Gil Bellosta
http://www.datanalytics.com