[R] identify object that causes "Error in loadNamespace(name) : there is no package called ‘R.utils’"

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 13-04-24 5:46 AM, Liviu Andronic wrote:
> Dear all,
> I've bumped into the: "Error in loadNamespace(name) : there is no
> package called ‘R.utils’" error. I've already read a bit on this (
> http://www.cybaea.net/Blogs/Data/A-warning-on-the-R-save-format.html )
> but I have a follow-up question.
>
> Given a workspace that automatically loads a package that I don't
> really need/want (e.g. ‘R.utils’), how do I identify which object
> requires this package to load? I would like to avoid loading ‘R.utils’
> every time I open an R session.

That's not easy, because the code in R that triggers that error has no 
idea of the name of the object it is loading.

You could try a binary search to find out, but it will be tedious:
1. Install R.utils.
2. Load the workspace successfully.
3. Delete half the objects, and save it.
4. Uninstall R.utils, and see if you can load the workspace.

At this point you'll know if there's an object needing R.utils still 
left or not, and you can repeat the steps until you find a single object 
that causes the problem.  (But it might not be the only one, so deleting 
it from the original workspace might not solve your problem.)

A better approach is to *never* save and load workspaces unless you know 
exactly what is in them.  Always reply "no" to the question about saving 
your workspace (or set that as the default).  If you accidentally end up 
with a workspace being loaded, delete it.

Duncan Murdoch

>
> Regards,
> Liviu
>
>
>> sessionInfo()
> R version 2.15.3 (2013-03-01)
> Platform: i686-pc-linux-gnu (32-bit)
>
> locale:
>   [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8       LC_NUMERIC=C
> LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
>   [4] LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8     LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8
> LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
>   [7] LC_PAPER=C                 LC_NAME=C
> LC_ADDRESS=C
> [10] LC_TELEPHONE=C             LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8
> LC_IDENTIFICATION=C
>
> attached base packages:
> [1] datasets  grDevices splines   graphics  utils     stats
> methods   base
>
> other attached packages:
>   [1] R.utils_1.23.2    R.oo_1.13.0       R.methodsS3_1.4.2
> tables_0.7.57     reshape2_1.2.2
>   [6] car_2.0-15        nnet_7.3-6        MASS_7.3-23
> Hmisc_3.10-1      survival_2.37-2
> [11] foreign_0.8-53
>
> loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
> [1] cluster_1.14.3   grid_2.15.3      lattice_0.20-13  plyr_1.8
>   rstudio_0.97.312
> [6] stringr_0.6.2    tools_2.15.3
>
>