[R] CRAN version branch for Windows packages

[(Ted Harding)]

Hi Folks,

This query arises out of a call for help from a friend
who has been running R version 1.9 unbder Windows XP,
and wanted advice on using install.packages() in order
to install the Windows binary of the package "Epi".

Since this environment is outside my personal experience,
I could only help in a general way. I did manage to track
his problem down to the fact that package "Epi" did not
come on the scene until R version 2.1 was out, so there
was no "Epi" under

  http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/contrib/1.9

which was where his install.packages() looked in the first
instance. Nor under 2.0 of course.

I could not make out from the documentation how (or whether)
one could persuade it to look for the binary under a different
version branch. So I suggested he download the ZIP file and
try with "repos=NULL", as suggested (though without detail)
in the documentation. However, in the end he resolved the
issue by upgrading R to 2.2 which was no doubt a good idea
in its own right.

But this still leaves me wondering (for possible future
reference) how, if one is using an old version of R under
Windows, one can instruct install.packages to look under
a later version for a Windows binary which only came on
the scene later.

With thanks, and best wsihes to all,
Ted.

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E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
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Date: 18-Dec-05                                       Time: 18:44:08
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