[R] /usr/lib/R/library vs /usr/local/lib/R/site-library

[Frank E Harrell Jr]

I would appreciate getting a clarification of /usr/lib/R/library vs /usr/local/lib/R/site-library.  I am running R 1.8 on Debian Linux.  On one occasion doing update.packages() resulted in versions of one or more libraries being placed in one of these directories without removing the old version, and the old version took precedence over the new.  I'm sorry I did not save the steps I used.  I would appreciate reading how best to manage libraries.  Currently I have the following in /usr/local/lib/R/site-library: Design, Hmisc, Rcmdr, acepack, car.  /usr/lib/R/library contains the following:

KernSmooth  boot     eda      lqs      modreg  nnet     stepfun   ts
MASS        class    foreign  methods  mva     rpart    survival
R.css       cluster  grid     mgcv     nlme    spatial  tcltk
base        ctest    lattice  mle      nls     splines  tools

Thanks -Frank
---
Frank E Harrell Jr    Professor and Chair            School of Medicine
                      Department of Biostatistics    Vanderbilt University
---
Frank E Harrell Jr    Professor and Chair            School of Medicine
                      Department of Biostatistics    Vanderbilt University