[R] Upgrading R means I lose my packages

[Don MacQueen]

Speaking for myself, I think it's easier to just create a script and 
put it somewhere easy to remember.

For example

   my.pkgs <- c('pkg1', 'pkg2')  ## and so on for my preferred packages
   install.packages(my.pkgs, dependencies=TRUE)

Then after each upgrade just source the script.
You will need to create a second list if you use any packages for 
which binaries are not available.

Creating the list the first time might be inconvenient .... but 
thereafter it's easy.

Additional benefits include
    you can use the script when you get a new machine
    you can use the script when a friend or colleague decides to try 
R, and you want them to have the same packages
    you can use the script if you maintain R on more than one platform, as I do

A downside would be if you have a huge number of packages and it 
takes a long time to update them all. But even then, since most 
packages are available as binaries, it should be reasonable. 
Installing a huge number from source will take a long time.

This method is also a little tricky if you have locally written packages.

-Don

At 10:02 PM -0400 8/27/08, James Milks wrote:
>The title says it all.  Does anyone know of a way to save your 
>packages when you upgrade to a new version of R?  This may seem 
>petty, but I'm accumulating enough packages that having to download 
>and install each of them anew every time I install a new version of 
>R is rather of a pain.  Ideally, I would like the new version of R 
>to recognize the packages I've installed on the previous version 
>without needing to reinstall the packages.  Is that possible?
>
>My system: Mac OS 10.5.4.
>Current R version: 2.7.1
>
>Thanks for any suggestions.  My apologies if this has been answered 
>before and my search missed it.
>
>Jim Milks
>
>Degree Candidate
>
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-- 
--------------------------------------
Don MacQueen
Environmental Protection Department
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA, USA
925-423-1062