[R-sig-Debian] best way to update packages when using Debian packages of R

[Mark Kimpel]

After some frustrations with installing some R packages from source,
usually related to library dependencies or suspected kernel problems
(recent one with Ubuntu and Rmpi) I decided to give Debian a try. I'm
working through the tutorial found at
http://cran.r-project.org/bin/linux/debian/ and I have a couple
questions about how packages are best updated between releases of R.
Many R packages are updated between major releases to fix bugs. How
often are the .deb versions of packages updated? If often, would
apt-get update be preferable to "update.packages"? If I am not
mistaken, the later will download and compile from source. If this is
true, and there is a problem compiling from source because of a
missing dependency or other distribution related problem, would not
this cause a problem when updating? OTOH, I have been firmly told that
one should always update packages before reporting a problem to R-help
or R-devel.

As an aside, now that Lenny is in beta2 stage, has anyone tested the
current .debs against Lenny? If so, problems?

I hope I haven't missed something obvious in the tutorial that answers
these questions.

Thanks,
Mark

-- 
Mark W. Kimpel MD ** Neuroinformatics ** Dept. of Psychiatry
Indiana University School of Medicine

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