[Rd] contrib.url in non-interactive mode

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On 14/02/2014 10:03, Renaud Gaujoux wrote:
> Hi,
>
> is it intended that one cannot install packages in non-interactive mode,
> without explicitly setting a CRAN mirror (see below)?
> Couldn't a default mirror be used in that case?
> Thank you.

You seem to be talking about installing from CRAN.  The intention is 
indeed that in non-interactive use you have to select the repositories 
you want to use.  See ?setRepositories and its links.

It is up to you to set a default mirror: we have little idea where you 
live (and it may not be where your email address suggests).  Geolocation 
of mirrors had been mooted but not implemented (and in a corporate 
setting is not 100% reliable).  The whole point of mirrors is to spread 
the load: without them there would be no CRAN as the main host would not 
allow the traffic.

This would have been appropriate for R-help, if it would not have been 
answered by doing the homework required by the posting guide (which also 
requires no HTML ...).

>
> Bests,
> Renaud
>
> $ Rscript --vanilla -e "install.packages('whatever')"
> Installing package into '/home/renaud/R/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-library/3.0'
> (as 'lib' is unspecified)
> Error in contrib.url(repos, type) :
>    trying to use CRAN without setting a mirror
> Calls: install.packages -> grep -> contrib.url
> Execution halted
>
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
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>


-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
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