[Rd] library() asks user to accept license of some built-in packages

Mikko Korpela mikko.korpela at helsinki.fi
Tue Sep 27 11:49:09 CEST 2016


When 'getOption("checkPackageLicense")' is 'TRUE' and the user calls 
'library(grid)' for the first time, R asks the user to either accept or 
decline the package license. This should not be necessary as the package 
license is "Part of R ..." with "..." denoting the R version number, and 
R is free and open source.

The unnecessary license question is asked for the built-in packages 
"compiler", "grid" and "parallel".

The source file where the checks happen is 
"src/library/base/R/library.R". I think one solution could be to add 
something like

if(identical(pkgInfo$DESCRIPTION[["Priority"]], "base")) return()

to the beginning of checkLicense(), or add more packages to the 
hard-coded exemption list checked before calling checkLicense().

Also, in find.package(), the shortcut list of standard packages is 
missing "compiler".

-- 
Mikko Korpela
Department of Geosciences and Geography
University of Helsinki



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